Mother cat leaving home

Question
We had a loving cat who gave birth to three adorable boys a little over one year ago. She has been fixed since and so have the boys. About two months ago she disappeared and we are heart broken! The strange thing is, the same thing happened to my father with his mommy cat! Once the kittens reached about 1 year in age, the mother disappeared! Is there any explanation to this????

Answer
Andrea,

I would say it is a coincidence. I haven't heard of any behavior like that except by un-spayed females. Sometimes with male cats, expecially brothers (fixed or not), there can be a dominance issue when they reach approximately that age, and frequently one will leave home, but I haven't heard of anyone having that problem with females.

Tabbi