why did my cat not clean 2 of her kittens but only one of them?

ok so my cat gave birth while i was asleep and when i went to check on her i saw 3 kittens but she only cleaned one of them and sadly i was too late and one of them died and i broke the sack of the other kitten but she was not feeding her i bought KMR and feed that to the rejected one but the next day she was cold to the touch and very weak and sadly just passed away 2 hours aga and i cried so much i feel so bad that i couldn't save it, but the she is talking care of is fine but my question is why did she not clean the other to but only one of them? also this is her first litter and she is 9 months old and i already arranged a spaying appointment.

Hey, 

I'm so sorry for your loss. I would be devastated as well. I'm no expert on the topic but my guess is that because the mom is only 9 months old, and still a baby herself, she either didn't really know what to do, was overwhelmed with the first one, knew that she was incapable of caring for all three of them or something was wrong with the other two. A lot of animals will do this when they are so young and especially if its their first litter. I'm not sure if there really is just one answer to explain it. Its a good thing that you are getting her spayed and perhaps its best that she only had one so that it will be easier for you to find a good home for it. Good luck with your new baby!

Shade

I had a cat who did the same thing, and it was her first litter. She had the first one, and was cleaning him and when the second came, she just left it there, still taking care of the first. I put the second one closer to her and she started cleaning it. She continued giving birth all day, and at one point I left the room. When I returned later, she had had another that she just left alone. This time, I was too late to make a difference.

I always thought that maybe something was wrong with the kitten, and that is why mama kitty didn't attend the other, but that wasn't the case. I think too, that maybe because it was her first litter, she was so taken by the first born, she just devoted all her attention to him.

Last year I had a mama kitty who only had 3 babies. She wound up smothering all of them because she didn't want to be bothered with them, she had rather be with me. Needless to say, she was one messed up cat!

If you don't get your cat fixed, and she has another litter, I am sure she will do better.

Very sorry to hear that. My cat at her first pregnancy lost 2 kittens simply because the first was very big and took hours to pass through. Which caused the kitten to be still-born as well as the second one. She did clean them up both, straight away, although she must have been exhausted after all the long labor. After that she had one more which was alive. Then she slept for 7 hours or so and at 2 a.m. she had 2 more which she also cleaned. I had her on my bed with me, inside a plastic storage box turned on its side, so I somehow woke up as soon as she started moving.

For some reason the third kitten, the first alive one, could not nurse. I read that the milk only comes when all kittens are born, so I assume the kitten could not get any and frantically spent 6 hours of energy looking for milk. Then at 2a.m. when the other two were born they started nursing. The next day we realized what had happened and started rearing the small weak kitten which in 2 days was then able to nurse by herself.

The same cat at her second pregnancy did not clean all her kittens. I think she cleaned the first two, but not the last two, I was there and she just had them and left them by her tail still attached to placenta and in their sack. I waited 10 seconds or so, then I poked the sack and wiped their nose with paper towel so they started breathing. They stayed there immobile for another minute or two, then they crawled and started nursing, and she then cleaned them but did not eat that placentas. 

I do not know why the cat did not clean the last two, or if she was going to do it in a minute and if that was not too late. I assume she was tired, and didn't realize that they would die if she doesn't clean them. She did not eat those placentas as well so maybe she wouldn't have cleaned them. Or maybe if the kitten had started moving inside the sack she would have realized to help them out. 

I also think that she was not sure how to handle the kittens, having two of them already nursing would make her movements of going to clean the new ones a bit more difficult. I read that for this reason, people take away the already born kittens so the mother takes care of the one she is giving birth. I kind of tried to do that but what happened was that after 2 kittens she seemed taking a brake and looked for them to nurse them. Then while she had them nursing she gave birth to the other.

thanks you all for these great answers i just felt really bad that i couldn't make a difference and save it