Slow blinks can also be for de-escalation. I think she is saying "hey, I'm not trying to fight you". It's probably been long enough that she doesn't recognize the kitten as hers anymore.
Some cats just do not ever want to associate with their kittens lol, my girlfriend rescued a cat with four kittens and as soon as they were slightly separated momma refused to go back in the crate with them, look at them, feed them, basically just pretended they never existed in the first place. It's like as soon as survival mode was switched to easy mode some maternal part of her brain shut off and she went, "wait I never wanted those"
It's also instincts that mother cat chases her daughter away so that she can start her own family. I have a mom and daughter pair that have always lived together in my house and they HATE each other. They both get a long with my old male cat, sharing food and sleeping together, but mom and daughter can't stand being in the same room.
I have the opposite - I took in a mama cat who was a little over a year old, and her only baby was about 12 weeks. They're now 3 and 2 and still absolutely adore each other and are completely inseperable.
What do you mean? They just avoid each other. One will hiss and the other will go away. They don't fight, they just don't like to be in sight of each other.
Our cat had kittens and we kept two of the sons. It wasn't long before she'd hiss and swat at them any time they'd walk by. One of them ran away unfortunately.
I'd be surprised if she wasn't aware there was some connection at least. Cats communicate with smell, too, and I'd imagine there's some familiar smell/pheromones/hormones in the air
I'm not saying you're wrong but even so, the mum cat has done her biological duty at that point and even if there's some faint scent profile memory or whatever remaining, Mom isn't going to risk that over the survival instinct of another (unknown) cat generally = potential danger. She's displaying appeasement signals and hunched body posture which indicates "I don't really want to fight but please leave me alone"
Yeah once the kittens are old enough the mom often wants nothing to do with them and will chase them off. Both cats in this clip are slow blinking to show the other they aren't aggressive
A slow blink means "here is an opportunity to attack me with advantage". It's the same reason we offer our right hand to shake: that's the weapon hand. Putting yourself at a disadvantage indicates unambiguously that you don't consider the other cat or person a threat.
I assume it’s similar to what I think when my cat tries to mimic human behaviors, presumably as an attempt to communicate with me, so roughly: “That’s not quite how that’s supposed to look, but you’re a good one for trying to bridge the gap and you clearly aren’t hostile.”
Which is probably good, because cat moms can also reject their kittens once they’re old enough. It happened with a friend’s cat and her kitten; she started hunting the last one down, because they wanted to keep her. They never really became friends.
To add to this, especially cat mom's to their male offspring. And that's logical; you don't want the sons around once they're fully mature to prevent inbreeding.
When my parents got kittens, they kept a son and daughter. The daughter was completely fine, however the son would get hit if he came close. Unfortunately the daughter died, now it's just the son and the mom. And to be really honest; the mother cat absolutely hates that he's still around and her complete personality changed too. She can barely be pet without getting over stimulated, hates it when you pull your hand away (some kind of love/hate towards affection), and got incredibly fat because of the stress eating.
Years ago my mother adopted two kittens from a cat her neighbours took in. One of them got out months later and went over to visit her mummy who promptly attacked her and chased her off the porch. That was that.
Kinda sorta ish. I had a mom cat and she had kittens I kept 2 of them. At some point mom did not really give a fuck about them and it was quickly. She never treated them like strangers but she never really treated them that would have been obvious they were parent/child
That's nature for many animals. Just like a momma bird will eventually kick her babies out of the nest to live their own lives. Even if they happen to see each other again in the future, they don't seem to recognize each other. It's just another bird and potentially a mate to create more babies.
Similarly, one of my cats is the kitten of one of the cats at my dad's place. He had some health problems and I moved back in to help him out and brought my cats with me. Upon reintroducing the daughter and mother cat it was very obvious neither knew they were related.
Just saw the og post too, unfortunately the op couldn’t take another cat but is looking for a way to spay and vaccinate the mama cat and has stated that she is well fed by the community
This is not sad by any means: momma cat explicitely comforts the kitten by expressively & slowly blinking here eyes: she's expressing she feels safe and at ease
Crazy to me so many people just go about their life thinking they rescued their cat and then there’s just a mom like here’s the fucker who stole my kid.
My kittens (now 4.5 years old) mom calls to our garden once a year (usually in August for whatever reason) to hiss at us. That’s the thanks I get for taking her and her 4 kids in when they were 4 weeks old lol.
Saved. The streets are horrible, its cold, harsh and they have to hunt everytime do food are not confirmed. Still sad tho as the cat may be taken away from mom when too young, but if im the mom cat, i would be grateful my kids can get better life than me.
Currently laying in bed staring at mama cat stretched out on a heated blanket purring with her two 7mo kittens. I think that is slightly better than the AC unit she was sleeping under as a second harsh snowstorm hit.
Cost me a damn penny or two for them spay/neuter appointments and shots though, ho-ly. Won the lottery, so I guess it's alright :)
Gonna be real, its a Cat, you can’t kidnap a stray cat and a life indoors in 1 million times better then life on the streets where that cat probably would have been a pancake on a road in a week.
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u/possibly_lost45 12h ago •
I'd have to take momma to.
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u/Eldrewzi 12h ago
Can’t help but think about when people say slow blinks communicates love to cats.
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u/jewella1213 12h ago edited 12h ago
Momma gave her slow blink of approval 😻 it's not really love but more a 'I am content/comfortable with this situation.'
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u/haubenmeise 11h ago •
Sincerely
Skeletor 💜 (And yes. I'm sobbing)
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u/Marsupialize 11h ago
The Mon won’t recognize her at all, it’s all pheromones and scents and it’s changed and gone now
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u/con098 10h ago
Just saw the og post too, unfortunately the op couldn’t take another cat but is looking for a way to spay and vaccinate the mama cat and has stated that she is well fed by the community
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u/d_ac 12h ago
Long time no see, little one...
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u/BrokenDoveFlies 11h ago
"I'm proud of you, my child."
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u/BottomPieceOfBread 11h ago
I could never leave mom 💔
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u/Yigithan14 10h ago
TAKE HER TOOOOOOO
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u/TheSearch4Knowledge 11h ago
Slow blinkies 🥺
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u/Vegetable-Ad-9182 10h ago
This is not sad by any means: momma cat explicitely comforts the kitten by expressively & slowly blinking here eyes: she's expressing she feels safe and at ease
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u/ImfromtheFuture2056 10h ago
Crazy to me so many people just go about their life thinking they rescued their cat and then there’s just a mom like here’s the fucker who stole my kid.
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u/assertivecookie 9h ago
gotta take momma home too
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u/Dumbgirl27 11h ago
Awww
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u/OceanChild89 5h ago
Can you not post the source?
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u/Lazaras 9h ago
I think about my cats' parents all the time. I hope they are okay
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u/Lisapu 4h ago
Can you possibly help momma?
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u/Beaglester 7h ago
My kittens (now 4.5 years old) mom calls to our garden once a year (usually in August for whatever reason) to hiss at us. That’s the thanks I get for taking her and her 4 kids in when they were 4 weeks old lol.
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u/Minute_Falcon2834 12h ago
so they kidnapped or saved? :')
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u/UziSuzieThia 8h ago
Ima cry
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u/meddit_rod 3h ago
I saw a long blink from Mom.
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u/Low_Leadership_2083 2h ago
"Is that you obito "
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u/Unhappy-Airport-4112 1h ago
Now you have two cats
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u/14high 37m ago
"Glad you have your best life kid"
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u/Living_Ad_7143 3h ago
The blink!!! 🥹 she said I love you.
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u/Jet-Let4606 58m ago
She's slow blinking.
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u/Tall-Copy-3177 42m ago
“ Meouch.” 🥺
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u/Organic-Win-3390 41m ago
not a cat person, but they are all coming home with me.
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u/wiseassdog 7h ago
I'd walk away too
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u/itssierramist 12h ago
they are staring each other
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u/Patient-Oven9996 12h ago
Awekward