 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsGeneral TopicsCat AnecdotesHealth and BehaviorRescue CatKB.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / March 2007Mother eats kitten, is this normal.
My cat had five kittens last week. From the beginning one of the kittens seemed to keep crawling out of the nest; sometimes he would make it back in but in the last few days it seemed to happen more and more and I would sometimes pick him up and place him back inside. At first I thought that he was just the bravest of the litter but then I realized he was also the smallest; I thought all might not be well. This morning he got out of the nest and just lay there. The mother came out and drank and just ignored him and then went back in. Finally I picked him up and put him near the nest; he crawled back to the mother. She started to groom him but seemed a bit rough and he was mewing. Ten minutes later she had him outside the nest and was eating him. Has anyone seen anything like this before? > My cat had five kittens last week. From the beginning one of the kittens > seemed to keep crawling out of the nest; sometimes he would make it back [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Has anyone seen anything like this before? I have heard of it happening before--I think mother cats will sometimes do that if something is wrong with the kitten. Was he crawling out or do you think the mother was pushing him out? Either way, I'm very sorry for your loss--it's really hard to see something like that. Bonnie >> My cat had five kittens last week. From the beginning one of the kittens >> seemed to keep crawling out of the nest; sometimes he would make it back [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Bonnie I don't know if she was pushing him out or not but she seemed not to care when he did get out and cried and cried. > I don't know if she was pushing him out or not but she seemed not to care > when he did get out and cried and cried. I'm really sorry, Toby. This is the sort of thing that might be natural, but would change my feelings about the mother cat. Will you please get her spayed? I don't think she is a candidate for kitty Mother of the Year. > > I don't know if she was pushing him out or not but she seemed not to care > > when he did get out and cried and cried. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Will you please get her spayed? I don't think she is a candidate > for kitty Mother of the Year. I wouldn't spay a cat for that reason alone. With so many unwanted babies being born, I find it hard to accept the owner's behavior in allowing the female to become pregnant in the first place. The mother kitty probably plays her role better than the human is playing the role of a responsible owner.  Signature-LarryW NOTE: Email correspondents, please remove "x" from "xColumbus"! > "cybercat" <cyberpu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message > I wouldn't spay a cat for that reason alone. With so many unwanted > babies being born, I find it hard to accept the owner's behavior in [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > -- > -LarryW Gee Larry W, would it help if I told you that the female cat was a pregnant stray abandoned by the renters who moved out of the house across the street? Of course I could have taken her to the humane society where they would have put her down and the babies. I suppose the real irresponsibility is shown by people like you in this group who are so quick to jump to conclusions and leap to judgement when responding when you don't know the whole story. I do plan to have her spayed as soon as the kittens are weaned. You can apologize now; better yet you can help by making *constructive* suggestions as to how best to place the kittens when they are ready. BTW, all of my three cats, not including the stray who had the kttens, have all been spayed or neutered. > Gee Larry W, would it help if I told you that the female cat was a > pregnant stray abandoned by the renters who moved out of the house > across the street? How is she doing today? And how are you? >> Gee Larry W, would it help if I told you that the female cat was a >> pregnant stray abandoned by the renters who moved out of the house >> across the street? > > How is she doing today? And how are you? She is doing fine. No more kittens outside the nest. The little one that died had been leaving since less than 24 hr post birth. I think she was rejecting him from the start for some reason. Just have to accept that cats have been successfully having kittens longer than humans have domesticated these animals and that the mother probably had a reason to do it. > She is doing fine. No more kittens outside the nest. The little one that > died had been leaving since less than 24 hr post birth. I think she was > rejecting him from the start for some reason. Just have to accept that > cats have been successfully having kittens longer than humans have > domesticated these animals and that the mother probably had a reason to do > it. Sounds like you're handling it well. That could very well be what might have happened to the kitten my foster cat rejected had I not kept him away from her. As it is, he probably suffered more, as he died anyway at two weeks. >>> My cat had five kittens last week. I also wanted to say that I once fostered a pregnant cat who had 7 kittens and rejected one. He was born the same size as the others. I began noticing that he was not at a nipple quite often, so I would put him there. Then he would be behind the mother cat when the others were nursing. Finally, he was out of the nest, crying. I put him back in. She apparently took him back out. I got pissed, as he was a lot smaller than the others. I took him to the vet, they said he looked okay, and while I was at school and work they fed him every four hours, then I fed him after I got home. I had a heating pad with layers of baby blankets, it was on low. He was in his own little box. I was feeding him and the phone rang. I put him in his little box and answered it. When I got back, the mother cat had placed him in HER LITTER BOX. I never let her near him again, but regardless of feeding every four hours, and warmth, and attention, he died at 2 weeks old. Your mama cat probably killed the baby painlessly, broke his neck as they do with mice and such, and ate him just to "clean up." It was probably more merciful than just letting him starve to death. I really am sorry, regardless. >>>>My cat had five kittens last week. > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > I really am sorry, regardless. Nature can seem very cruel to us. My guess is, in both cases the Mother was preserving the gene pool by eliminating the weak. It breaks my heart to hear of such things, but we must remember this is how nature preserves its species. > My cat had five kittens last week. From the beginning one of the kittens > seemed to keep crawling out of the nest; sometimes he would make it back [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Has anyone seen anything like this before? I've heard of this before. One of our foster homes had a litter born last year. There were 5 kittens and two were much smaller. The first one just disappeared. The foster mom said the mom had to have eaten it because there wasn't anywhere else it could have been. That kitten was quite young when it disappeared. The second small one died at around 5 weeks old. The other three lived and thrived. I fostered a litter 2 years ago. They sent them over to me when mom and the three surviving kittens all came down with URI when the kittens were two weeks old. The little boy was the worst and I thought I'd lose him quickly that's how bad he appeared. He hung in there for 2 more weeks and I thought he might make it when I noticed he started crawling away from the next and managed to get himself out of the crate they were in. I put him back and made sure he couldn't do that any more but I still found him on the other side of the cage frequently. He eventually just faded. His sisters both recovered and I just received pictures of the girls from their adoptive mom yesterday. W I had no idea that this happened - that's really upsetting. I think I would freak out. >I had no idea that this happened - that's really upsetting. I think I >would > freak out. The momma cat probably eats the young for the same reason they consume the placenta. In the wild they try to leave as little evidence that they are around as possible. That's why they generally cover their excrement. If you ever take note of them doing this they will cover some and then sniff and cover some more. Some cats are more vigilant than others but I have a foster right now who will cover (very enthusiastically unfortunately as she sends litter half way across the room) and cover until she can't smell her poop any more. She's very pregnant and a bit neurotic at the moment which might explain her thoroughness. W > >I had no idea that this happened - that's really upsetting. I think I > >would [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > W i suppose they do not want evidence left abuot which woudl advertise that they are there and in a vulnerable state ie with young. awful as this kitten eatign thing might be i suppose it does happen for a reason; the mother has only a certain amount of milk and energy to give to her kittens so maybe she removes the runts who may be more time consuming so she can concentrate onthe ones who more likely to make it, the bigger healthier ones. That means they get more milk, attention etc instead of the resoucres of the mother being spread too thin and 'wasted' on kittens who they feel will not make it. survival of the fittest realy as i think someone has already said. Although I understand the logic I would still freak out too and probably go to stupid lengths to rescue the runt and save him, I couldn't bear to see some little furry mite be abandoned, I am a sucker for a pathetic miaow and a tiny furry face. nature can be cruel sometimes bookie >> W > > i suppose they do not want evidence left abuot which woudl advertise > that they are there and in a vulnerable state ie with young. really good point. > The momma cat probably eats the young for the same reason they consume > the placenta. In the wild they try to leave as little evidence that [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > pregnant and a bit neurotic at the moment which might explain her > thoroughness. Not to make light of the topic of this thread (which is heartbreaking), but my 3 year old, Rudy, has started pulling things from outside the litter box onto his excrement to cover it up. Towels, bath rugs, clothes from other rooms. Needless to say, I've had to get better about picking up after myself! I do miss having a bath rug, though. (The little brat.) SignatureLynne |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.