Children are fun they said

had a cat who had kittens once, was watching them play and the mother didn't want anything to do with it, one poor kitten went prancing with joy up to the mum who took a solid swipe knocking the previously happy kitten half way across the room. poor thing looked like "WTF mum!?!?!"

Animals do this to teach their young independence. It's kind of pushing them slowly away so they can break the bond little bits at a time. By the time their kiddies are little adolescents they're independent and the parents can walk away knowing that they'll be ok. Then they can have more babies.