Hyperactive rescued kittens play continuously around a tolerant mum

I think we are in Turkey in this video and you are looking at a litter of hyperactive kittens who were rescued with their mother who had a leg injury. They were being fostered by a lady but she decided she couldn't manage it because of an injury to herself and therefore they have ended up in this home. It is the home of the father of the person who made the video. That's pretty well all I know except that they were looking for adopters as at August 2019. I expect that the kittens have been adopted by now. They were going to make sure that the kids were fully weaned before they were adopted out. The mother looks very tolerant but as one commenter said it looks like she's thinking "Lord give me strength!".

 

Kittens are incredibly active and is all about play and learning one's limits in play. You can see that they incorporate aspects of hunting behaviour within their play, and defensive behaviour. In one little episode a kitten goes sideways on and adopts the crab walk which is defensive behaviour so that they look larger to the other cat. 

During this time there are so many important things that need to be done to make sure that the kitten integrates into the human world successfully. Kittens need to be socialised to both people, that is the owners of the kittens or the foster parents of the kittens, and ideally strangers so that they are not fearful of strange humans. They need to be socialised to other animals ideally such as dogs. 

And this is the moment you can get them used to having their teeth cleaned and there nails clipped. These are two aspects of cat "hygiene" which need to be carried out when they are adults which are difficult to do because cats don't like it. But if you do it when they are kittens they accept it and it makes life a lot easier for the cat's caregiver. 

What you see here is kittens playing "underfoot". Underfoot means under the feet of people or in other words it is socialisation. The phrases is used as, "The kittens were raised underfoot". When kittens play they bite each other. The other kitten may complain by screaming. In this way the kitten who bites knows how hard they can bite. This is useful for the future in terms of their relationship with their human companion to be. 

In an ideal world, if two of these kittens are best mates then this should be adopted together, in the interests of the kittens and of the human caregiver. If a person can adopt two cats together (and it is essential that they do get along as adults) it makes life easier for the person because they can entertain themselves and stimulate themselves by play and doing things together. 

One of the great issues in my opinion with respect to cat ownership is that domestic cats are not given enough stimulation which means having the opportunity to express their natural desires and motives. This is partly because, in America, they are not uncommonly confined to the home for good reasons. 

 It is not a given that kittens who are great friends will get along to when they are adults because they become "independent" individuals with their own home ranges and other cats are competitors and it is irrelevant if the other cat was a sibling. I remember the cat rescue organisation from which I fostered and then adopted my current cat. She said that you should never adopt siblings because they will fight when they are adults. I don't think that's true. It's about individual personalities. 

Perhaps the most certain way to adopt two cats together is from a rescue centre. It is quite common to see two adult cats who are sheltered together and the shelter insist that they're adopted together. This is a good opportunity to create an instant cat family and one which is harmonious. It is quite difficult to create a multi-cat household in which all the cats get along contentedly. 

Perhaps too commonly a cat owner might adopt new cats piecemeal without fully considering the consequences as to whether they will get along with the current resident cat. Perhaps they will get along in the future but not in an ideal way. There may be some conflict and some stress. This is not a situation that a cat owner wants for the long term. It just creates more work and makes it harder for the cats to be contented. In short, it is useful to adopt two cats or kittens but when adopting a new cat into a home rate care should be taken to make sure that the outcome is successful. 

Domestic cats are essentially solitary and they demand a home range - a place they consider their own. Foisting another cat into that space is unpleasant for an adult cat.