male adult cat acting maternal to male kitten

by Pam
(Indiana)

I have an adult male cat that is acting maternal to our 7-week-old kitten. The adult male licks the baby all the time and nuzzles him.

I know the adult could be rough with the baby so we watch over them and separate them when we leave, but the adult is so loving and protective over the baby. It's wonderful, but does this happen a lot? thanks

Answer from KAte
yes some male cats can be rather maternal towards a kitten. I have heard of it happening before but I have personally never seen it.

I'm sure other visitors to this site will be able to tell you of similar experiences they have had.

best wishes Kate

Comments for male adult cat acting maternal to male kitten

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Psycho Cat Mellows after Kitten is Brought Home
by: Anonymous

I have a 4 year old male snowshoe cat named Desmond who was a holy terror. He was nicknamed "Psycho-Cat" by my father. He would constantly harass and pick on the older cats in the household, got into everything and was very territorial. My daughter brought home a 8 week old female torti-calico kitten, Nezuko, two weeks ago and within 24 hours Desmond became a mellow overprotective Papa cat. He follows her around, plays with her, grooms her and protects her from the older cats who aren't happy to have her in the house. If she crawls into her hidey hole he will wander the house and call for her. He's even stopped harassing the older cats, no getting on the counters and is not so territorial anymore. I'm totally floored and thrilled with the new behavior.
Male cats maternal
by: Lesley

My male cat Titan is so maternal. He was two when his mother had kittens. Initially I kept them apart as he is a huge cat. Has been neutered. I was really worried about introducing them, but the two we kept could have been his. He washes them, plays with them. Makes sure they are ok if the cry. One of them especially is his little shadow and he will go looking for her if she has disappeared. She absolutely adores him and you would honestly believe he was her mother. He also has a good relationship with his mom and other sister. Have never been aware of such maternal behaviour in a male. The kittens are 9 months now
Male momma cat
by: Anonymous

Our 11 year old Tom cat had siblings that eventually grew old and passed away. He was lonely and we adopted a female kitten from a shelter. We were concerned about how they would get along and prepared for a slow gradual introduction. Less than 24 hours and they were like peas in a pod. She loves her big brother and it fills my heart to see them snuggled up together. And when he is tired of her high energy games we have a hiding spot for him and he can escape for a bit and nap.
Our male does the same thing!
by: Anonymous

We have a fixed male 1 year old and a fixed female 1 year old and we got a 10 week old kitten yesterday! Our make absolutely mothers him and our female doesn’t care for him yet but I thought it would be the other way around!
Loving Male
by: Anonymous

We live in the country and everyone seems to think that means we want kittens dropped. Every year we accumulate more kittens to add to our outside/inside family. Most of the neighbors are relatives so they have plenty of property to roam/hunt. We have 1 male that is about four years old and he is always loving and protective to the newbies. It is interesting to us because he is also one of our roughest cats toward the other adult cats and dogs. I decided that cats are like humans in that some just prefer the little ones more than the older ones. I find that they all have their own personalities and it is interesting to watch them. As a side note, we do get all of the animals that are dropped off spayed/neutered and their shots. I don't want anyone to think we don't take care of them at all.
Maternal Male
by: Charlie

We have what we call a maternal male. He’s 8 and loves kittens. I have a 4 year old boy that he has brought up. They’ still sleep together though their play has got considerably rougher :).
He seems to seek out new kittens that live near by. He brings them in to the house and they play and sleep with him. It’s amazing. It’s like he’s teaching them to be cats. We currently have a 6 month old ‘visitor’ who doesn’t outstay her welcome but spends a lot of time with my Daddy cat.
I’ve even seen him climb up trees to rescue them when they’re stuck!
Kitten Lovin’
by: Anonymous

I have an adult, neutered male cat who is about 1 and half years old. I’ve had him since he was about 4 weeks, but not because he was abandoned, he was just simply ready. The person I got him from is a friend of mine and if he wasn’t doing well I would bring him back and try again later, he did perfectly fine being separated. That being said he was always an only cat for about a year before I moved in with my sister. He got along fine with the older cats in the house, he was the youngest still, but then we rescued 4 kittens and kept 3 of them. We thought they were only about 6 weeks based on size but when we took them to the vet we found out they’re actually nearly 3 months old, they were so malnourished they’re quite tiny. At first my cat, along with the rest of the cats, hated the new kittens. He would hiss and growl. Then after about a week he really warmed up to them and started playing with them. Then I noticed he started to become very paternal toward them. He grabs them like a mother cat would and cleans them and they seem to love it. They don’t struggle at all, they close their eyes and tilt their heads back. He nuzzles them and cleans them a lot now. I was extremely shocked to see this behavior. He’s always had that typical male cat dominance personality so to see him acting very paternal shocked me, I couldn’t believe it.
Male cat loves babies
by: Anonymous

My neutered male cat Bug has always loved human babies and even a baby squirrel once, but now a rescue cat I took in has 3 kittens and he insists on beingnin here with them to cuddle and nap with them, he had his arm around one this morning. I raised Bug and his 4 siblings when their mom died after 2 weeks, I used a homemade goats milk and pumpkin based formula and lost one of them, they thought I was mom so much they even tried to nurse on my lip until they were a year - 2 years old. I kept them all by he's the only one who loves kids and babies (human and animal) so much
Jazz n Tigger
by: Rhodesia Englum

Yes my adult male cat acts maternal to my male kitten at first my adult male cat was a little aggressive towards the male kitten now my adult male cat loves the kitten you would think he is daddy it's so beautiful the way he treat the kitten....
my cat is a gay
by: lynda

my male cat KING take care of a stray kitten that come into my house early of this year. King is 1 yr old cat and the kitten named PUTEH was about 4 week then. He maternal Puteh like grooming and brestfeed him. Yes..both of them are male cat.
The problem now Puteh is becoming bigger then King but he still sucking king's nipple. I'm not sure what is coming out from the nipple. Every time Puteh do like that King will be so exausted turn skinny and sleep longer.
But many time i saw King stepping up above Puteh like they are having sex! its makes me confuse.
Is there will be any serious problem if this happen longer time? Puteh always call like hungry and King will allow him to suck. lol maybe they are gay...but i really want to know if this happen to two adult cat. is it dangerous?
Male cat loves neonates
by: Anonymous

My 5 yr.old male,who doesn't get along with my other Cats, loves all the neonates I foster. He washes,snuggles with them. As they get older he lets them climb all Over them,bite him.it is beautiful and amazing.very hard To ubderstand how such an aggressive boy would be so Sweet with kittens that are not his!
Yes
by: Anonymous

My male cat (1.5 yrs old) is very maternal towards our new/rescued kitten (approx 8 weeks). From the beginning, he was very curious of the kitten, never hissed, or ran away from him. The kitten nuzzles him and then the older cat will bathe him. It's SOOO precious. The kitten was abandoned, as was the older cat. They play, sleep, and eat together.
Male cat acting maternal
by: Anonymous

I have a cat that I took in as a stray. He is standoffish with me and rarely allows me to pet him. He immediately became friends with my other cats and plays and licks them. I got a stray kitten 3 weeks ago, and he acts like his mamma. He is so cute with the new kitten. The kitten plays and bites him, and he gently pushes him down and grooms him. They sleep together and the kitten is doing great.
reply
by: Dayne

I am very grateful to this blog. I am able to know the complete information regarding cats. I have three cats in my home. And I am caring them as like my children. I have bookmarked this blog for future reference.
Male adult cat acting maternal to male kitten
by: Tracy

HI,

My male cat(Bootsie) was very protective over a female kitten. He acted like her mama . It was so cute to watch. He loved her and still does. Bootsie my male cat is 7 and Bonnie my female cat is 4 and the two of them just love each other..it is so cute to watch.
Male cat
by: Mary

I've sort of adopted this stray couple of cats that had 3 kittens any way one died being weak . We were left with 2. I have never seen a father cat so maternal to kittens he would make sure they ate not go outside on road he was so protective. Un-believable he was playing both roles male and female and both were treated fairly anyway today i find another kitten with him he was so over protective it went into neighbors house he held it by the neck and brought it back,

i had some left over chicken nuggets he stood there made sure the kitten ate first unbelievable but i have one problem hes starting to be very dominant with this kitten sitting on top biting it by the neck at one time he had the poor thing on its back and he on top.

I dint understand how can he be so maternal and then so crazy???. Should i worry???

Reply
Hi
some males can be very maternal with kittens and so this behavior is not that odd. All I can say is that you do need to keep an eye on him, just in case he does become too aggressive with this kitten.

It may be play but sometimes they can unintentionally be too rough and strangle to kitten. So keep a close eye for awhile until the kitten is strong enough to protect himself.

best wishes kate
neutered boy
by: Anonymous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xcOmJtB7zU

my cats. that isnt his kitten and i have a video where he runs up in a threatening way and than cleans him. hes neutered. he didnt even know what they were at first.
Loving cat
by: Amanda

Yes my cat did the same thing to a stray kitten I tried to nurse back to health even she did not survive my male cat pooter was there helping me take care of her the whole time. He was very loving with her. I think it's just the way you take car of your if they take that part of a kittens life! I think it's great that he loves on the kitten!
male adult cat acting maternal to male kitten.
by: tracy

My Bootsie did the same thing. Bootsie is 3 years old(MAle). We got a kitten and he acted just like a MAMA kitty. We started calling him MAMA Bootsie. He was very protective over her. Bonnie is now over 1 year old and they still adore each other. Getting Bonnie was the best thing we could have done for Bootsie. They play together and chase each other which is good exercise for Bootsie. Bootsie is a very big cat. he is about 20 pounds. He is a tiger tabby and so is Bonnie. Bonnie is also a MAine Coon. So, no worries my Bootsie took on the role as MAMA and even bathed Bonnie and he still does.

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