Separation from the mother and the development of play in cats

In seven litters of domestic cats, half of each litter of four were gradually separated from the rest of the family 31–39 days after birth. The separated kittens showed significantly higher frequencies of play on some measures. In part this was because they were more active, but when the play data were corrected for general activity differences, the separated kittens were still found to have played more. The influence of separation from the...