The mama has started weaning her kittens
Dec. 6th, 2011 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyStarting at three months (a week earlier, actually) is pretty normal in my experience, though you wouldn't know it from Google, where you find people swearing that kittens are weaned by 8 or 10 weeks. Some even will say that the mom initiates this process at a month! Well, kittens will start on solids at around that point (although it's perfectly normal for them to not start solids until six weeks), but that isn't weaning in the sense of something the MOM has to do, not letting them nurse as much.
Most cats that I've seen wean, they do it by simply moving every time their kittens attempt to latch on. They get up or they roll over. This takes about as long as you expect, as kittens can be very persistent! This one is taking a more forceful approach - often, now, when a kitten approaches her and nuzzles, she growls at them. Moving is ambiguous, but they all get the message in a well-timed growl. Of course, this has the side effect of making them unsure of their mother, which means they're spending a lot more time snuggling with me. I might shove them off my lap from time to time, but I don't growl at them, not even in words!
The boys are being taken in to be fixed this weekend. Then it's just the girls and mom who need to be done.
Most cats that I've seen wean, they do it by simply moving every time their kittens attempt to latch on. They get up or they roll over. This takes about as long as you expect, as kittens can be very persistent! This one is taking a more forceful approach - often, now, when a kitten approaches her and nuzzles, she growls at them. Moving is ambiguous, but they all get the message in a well-timed growl. Of course, this has the side effect of making them unsure of their mother, which means they're spending a lot more time snuggling with me. I might shove them off my lap from time to time, but I don't growl at them, not even in words!
The boys are being taken in to be fixed this weekend. Then it's just the girls and mom who need to be done.
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Date: 2011-12-07 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 06:10 am (UTC)I actually have succeeded in teaching Callie (Ms. Poor Social Skills) NOT to fetch.
She was very proud that she could catch the ball I threw, and happy to show off that she knew to come when called... but after I tuggled the ball out of her mouth a few times and tossed it off again she ran off with it before I could trick her into coming over again.
It only took her 4 repetitions to figure it out!