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Myths
Newborn kittens should never be picked up. The mother will smell someone else's smell and she will abandon the kittens.
Newborn kittens should never be picked up. The mother will smell someone else's smell and she will abandon the kittens.
I have many years of experience with Bengal cats, but in my whole life from early childhood there have been cats with kittens. So I have the right to talk about cats in general, not just the Bengal breed.
First of all, the phrase that mom will smell someone else's smell is nonsense. If a cat lives with you and loves you, it considers you part of her family, your smell is familiar to her, very often if the cat is afraid or feels bad, she will automatically bring her kittens to your bed.
Of course, cats who don't know you will protect the kittens and hide them; in such situations, you should not touch the kittens not to cause unnecessary stress to the cat. But we are talking about those cats that are part of our family.
Newborn kittens recognize a person's touch from the first days and there are many reasons for this:
First of all, after birth, when they receive colossal protection in the form of colostrum with breast milk, this is the right time when they can get acquainted with the bacterial layer on our hands and develop broad immunity. Since at the age of 3 weeks the number of antibodies decreases and kittens become more vulnerable.
Continue in the comments
Continue in the comments
But the main thing in this practice is to convey the almost genetically encoded relationship between people and cats. At this moment the kittens accept us thanks to a natural phenomenon. You will often see that if you touch a kitten for the first time at the age of one week, it will hiss at you. But if you do it from day one, they will appreciate your touch.
Our cats are part of our family, it is very pleasant for them too to share their happiness with us ♡
Tatiana Harcsuk
Cat trainer