Let Me Explain Something...

Crisis has been narrowly averted and I can finally type this blog. I accidently dropped a cat of wet cat food upside-down on my laptop keyboard and it took some frantic running around, frantic calling of my father, frantic searching of the internet, and finally a couple q-tips and tissues to clean it out. I would also like you to know that it was my mother—who is the least computer-savvy in our family—who figured out how to clean it out.

Anyway! I thought that today’s post would actually have a point, other than “awwwwing” at cute kittens. (Not that “awwwwing” at cute kittens for entire posts is a bad thing, of course.) Now, you may have noticed that in the daily/weekly pictures I post of the kittens, I’m holding them by the scruff of their neck. Kitten-savvy folks know why, but when I pick up a kitten this way when other people are around—like when I’m working at the Animal Shelter—the most common question I get from kids and adults alike is:

                 

“Does that hurt them?”

I also get variants of this question like “Aw, don’t hurt them!” or “Ohhh, that looks like it hurts!” Well guys, I’m here to clear something up for y’all:

It doesn’t hurt them.

No, seriously, it doesn’t. Sure, you don’t grab a human baby by the scruff of their neck, but human babies also can’t hold up their heads when they’re born. Animal babies are made of sterner stuff than human babies. Tends to help with survival and all.

Now, I wish I had a picture of Gypsy carrying one of the babies like this so you all could see that momma cats do it, but unfortunately, I always seem to be in the wrong position to get a good picture when she does that, so you’ll just have to take my at my word that yes, momma cats carry their babies like that. So instead of a picture,
EDIT: Got a picture!

 Let me explain why exactly you can pick up a kitten by the scruff of it’s neck and not hurt it.

In the wild, momma cats are very protective of their kittens. They have to be, kittens in the wild are easy prey for scary predators. And being very protective of their kittens means that they need to be able to move their kittens when they feel their current hidey-hole has become unsafe. Now, why can’t kittens just follow momma cat like ducklings? Because for the first week to two weeks of their lives, kittens can’t really walk. They don’t open their eyes until they’re roughly a week old. And my kittens, who are now a little over two weeks old, still have a hard time climbing over the little hump that makes up the edge of their bed. Baby kittens just can’t walk well for the first several weeks of their lives. Therefore, God has made kittens with every skin at the scruff of their necks so momma cat can grab them and tote them around with her mouth. Trust me, even if the kittens were a couple weeks old, she’d still carry them around. Have you ever tried walking somewhere with a toddler just learning to walk? You have to hold their hand and walk so slowly that after five feet your back is hurting and you’re wondering if just scooping them up and carrying them would impeded their progress in learning how to walk. (Don’t get me wrong, I love kids, but the number one complaint I hear from parents of toddlers as a baby sitter? That their backs hurt from walking with their child. True story)

So to make a long story short, no, grabbing a kitten by the scruff of their neck is not hurting them. You can also grab an adult cat by the scruff of their neck to stop them from getting too playful/aggressive. If you know the cat well, that is.

Wow, that was a long post without any cute pictures. Have a picture of adorable sleeping kittens to make up for it!