maternal recollection

Question
We kept the only siamese kitten out of 5 of the litter of black polidactal kittens ( all 5 kittens having blue eyes).  We nuetered the male simese kitten and spayed the black mother cat. My question is:  Does our male cat still instinctively know she is his mother in his adult age and visa/versa or is she just another cat in the house?

Answer
Hi Joanie.  If the two have never been separated, they  certainly recognize their relationship.  Whether they continue to have the special bond that most human family members do depends entirely on the cats themselves.  There are some who remain very close and affectionate with each other for life.  I have a pair of adult sisters, one of which has two adult offspring.  Though the offspring are now 8 years old, the four of them remain extremely close, spending lots of time cuddling and grooming each other.  The mother would not leave one of her son's sides when he was terminally ill at 4 years old.  On the other hand, I have an adult litter of three along with their mother.  The siblings have remained close, but the mother barely has a relationship with them at all.