The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

I read in a book I was sharing with my Kindergartners that you shouldn't touch newborn kittens before they are a month old because if you get your scent on them the mother cat will not recognize them as hers and stop caring for them. Is this true for dogs? Even if the mother knows you because you are her owner?

I don't think that's true for cats OR dogs. We touch our puppies constantly from birth. I suspect that is something told to children to keep them from handling tiny babies before they are older and sturdier.

I have heard that of rabbits, that if one smells different the momma will discard it. So my mom, being a farm girl, used to simply put the scent on ALL the babies and then momma didn't know the difference. We always handled our kittens and guinea pigs right away too.

I don't believe it to be true either. Last year we had a case of stray cats having babies at our place. My oldest son actually found 2 newborn kittens that were abandoned in the middle of the yard. The mother never went back to get them so we brought then inside to another mother that had just had kittens. I removed the mother and put all the kittens together for awhile.
When I put the mother back she didn't seem to notice and she took care of the kittens like they were her own. I am not sure this would work with all cats but this one seemed to be such a loving cat that I gave it a try. She clearly belonged to someone at one time as was very tame.

I've heard of that with hamsters and wild animals, but not cats or dogs. Certainly I would be touching my puppies right from birth, helping them onto a teat and so on. I would expect the mother at the least to allow her own owner to do that!

I think it would be better off not to handle them to much in the first week of life its alot better for the pups and lets mom be mom otherwise your risking the chance that mom could reject them.


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Growing up on the farm, if we touched the new kittens, mama would ALWAYS move them, but never abandoned them. Then I was on the hunt.

Sorry, I have to disagree with this statement. I handled our puppies from last year's litter daily from birth several times a day. I weighed them daily (twice a day) to make sure all were gaining and I also would make sure the smaller ones were nursing enough.

Dionne (the mother) at no time acted like she would reject her puppies and did not mind that I handled them. She was always concerned about the one I had out and was weighing and was very happy to have it returned.

I guess I should also state that our puppies were raised in the house in our living room. The whelping box/pen was right beside the couch and that was where I slept for 8 weeks

Our rabbits would lick the human scent off of each other. The kids always thought it was funny, touch, lick, lick, lick. Touch again, lick, lick, lick.

My husband and I used to breed and show Rabbits, we have also bred dogs 2x I hopes to start showing and as a teenager, one of the stray cats we had, had kittens. We have a farm & our chickens sit on eggs & we have chicks (the next batch should hatch in 2 weeks or so…).

It is NOT true that these animals reject their babies if you touch them.

Wild birds cannot smell humans, but can detect disturbance and wild rabbits can smell humans & it is best to leave wild rabbits alone.

Here is a good website about wildlife babies & humans:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... uman-touch

Having bred rabbits, it's not true for them either. I always let them go a few days but in order to check their health in the neat you have to touch. I always bred with mothers I had for awhile though and they were my pets and out often :-)