Homing mum and kittens

[Whatoflife]

I work with a small cat rescue charity.
Is it advisable to home a single kitten with mum? (5 kittens total)
I’m sure I’ve read that this is no longer advisable (in the same way that litter mate puppies shouldn’t be homed together) but I can’t find any decent research apart from peoples personal experience of ‘worked fine for me’.
tia

That’s interesting. We had a mum and son but that was years and years ago.

I’ve seen several mum + kitten pairs for adoption at different rescues so it can’t be universally accepted as bad surely?

@stormsandsunshine yes same but I’ve worked in and with many rescues over the years and I know a lot of the smaller rescues are pretty behind with up to date thinking in the world of cat behaviour.
I’d like to know what International Cat Care, or Battersea or one of the other leaders in cat behaviour think.

Surely most kittens are homed alone without their mum? The crucial thing is that the kittens are not separated from their mum too soon. Ideally no younger than 3 months when separated.

I fostered a mum & her 5-month old son.

They got on fairly well, she still groomed him & they played together sometimes, but she spent quite a lot of time sleeping in the high up spots that he couldn’t yet reach.

When he was rehomed I could hear her huge sigh of relief. She transformed more or less overnight into a playful, purry cat who was always near me.

@EmpressaurusKitty yes I expect this is true of most mums homed with kittens, they’d rather have a bit of peace and quiet!

@RogueFemale yes I expect that’s true and of course 12 weeks is ideal. But I’m looking for guidance to say whether a kitten being homed with mum is ok or not advisable

Then what is the question?

@RogueFemale exactly as I’ve asked, is it advisable for a kitten to be homed with mum or not?

Friend homed a mum and kitten, very harmonious in her case. The cats were close and got on very well.
I homed kitten siblings and that was great.

I've known people with a cat who's had kittens and they've kept one of the kittens and rehomed the rest. The only reason I could think of for not keeping mother and kitten together is with a male kitten who might later mate with the mother and then, inbreeding.

I allowed my cat to get pregnant and kept all 3 of the kittens. My choice and my responsibility. Never had any intention of rehoming any. Mum cat was a brilliant mother but now hates all 3 of them. She was spayed when she stopped feeding and the two boys were neutered and the girl spayed when appropriate. Since mum cats spay she's hated all of them. She won't acknowledge any of them without hissing and growling. It doesn't always work out between mum and kitten in the long run. I thought she would calm down after some time but she hasn't two years later. We tick along (9 cats in total here collected over the years and 8/9 get along with everyone else just fine).

Years ago as a child, our young cat had a single kitten, a male, we kept it - big mistake. Mum was spayed, but as kitten got older, Mum got fed up, he would not leave her alone and she was tiny , so he was soon bigger. Just over a year from the birth she left home and we were never able to find her. A lovely gentle girl, we hoped she found another home. Obviously only another anecdote, but would not recommend homing together. In nature they do not keep their young.

From my personal experience I have a cat who had a litter of kittens, she was a great mum and took great care of the kittens. We rehomed all the kittens.

Some time passed and she had another litter of kittens and once again she took great care of the kittens however we decided to keep one of the kittens and rehome the others. Once the kitten reached around 15 weeks the mother cat would attack and hiss at her kitten and it was very very concerning. The mother cat absolutely hated her kitten once she reached an age where she was completely independent.

That's just my experience but I know other people who have kept a kitten from their litter and had no issues.

In general I wouldn’t. It’s risky for all the reasons above.

I volunteer at Cats Protection, and I would say they should be adopted together only if they are extremely bonded.

I seen countless litters of kittens who’ve been born either at the centre, private homes and relinquished for adoption or as strays. Generally we don’t adopt mums with kittens, usually the mums are glad of the peace when they are eventually separated from their kittens.

if it was mum and a single kitten born to her, then possibly, but otherwise no.

Maybe I'm being a bit cynical, but I would bet good money that one of the reasons rescues re-home mums and kittens together is because it's much easier than trying to re-home mum on her own 🤔

Personally I would home the kittens as a two and a three and let mum go alone, or let one or the kittens go solo to a house with resident cats instead.

@biscuitsandbooks I don’t think so, I think it’s because the rescues don’t like the idea of a kitten being alone having been with a litter so they think they’ll leave one with mum when mum would actually prefer to see the back of them.
Asking for someone to adopt a 3 is a big ask.

Thanks for everyone’s anecdotal evidence, it leads me to believe what I already thought. Still looking for some hard evidence from somewhere.

In my experience, Mum and male kitten generally not too bad (obviously nueter both). Mum and female kitten, Armageddon!

@Whatoflife hmm, I'm not entirely convinced. Lots of rescues will re-home solo kittens.

Kittens are better rehomed in pairs - then they’ve got someone to work off all that manic kitten energy on!

This may be true for the first year or so, but I've read so many stories of bonded kittens growing up to hate each other to the point that they need to permanently separated. There's an active thread right now where a cat is being severely injured by her brother when they used to get along fine.

I still think many mums are rehomed with their kittens because it's easier though 🙈

Depends on the mum! My friend has a mum who had a litter and kept the kittens and mum hates them apparently. Won't interact with them at all

It obviously depends on the individual cats, but it seems very common that the mother hates her adult child. My friend has mother and daughter cats, the mother loathes her daughter. I think better not to risk it!

Yeah I think that's quite common, especially as the kittens get older.