Our mother cat has 6 little ones that she is now successfully feeding and
they are 7 weeks old..though mother cat gets a lot of "support" from my
9-year old daughter who cuddles and praises her after feeds!
The mother cat has had several litters before but with each one there has
been some problem, except for this last one. The second litter all died
after she abandoned them at around 3 weeks.
And the third litter of kittens were weaned abruptly at two weeks! My
chldren discovered that her nipples were crusted and perhaps the sore and
cracked nipples caused her to wean prematurely!
Another theory that we have is that the mother cat was herself prematurely
weaned/abandoned and does not have the "maternal care memory" that seems to
help her know how to mother her own kittens.
There seem to be several conclusions that can be drawn from observing other
mammals behaviour.

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