My cat ate one of her babies

mikeybear · Sep 24, 2016

A little over a week ago, I found out that there was a young cat at a homeless shelter who had just given birth to 6 kittens. In an effort to take care of them and find them homes, I took them home and put them on my screened in porch. We have 3 indoor cats and a dog so my husband used large cardboard boxes to build them a little "fort" they could live in and be protected from seeing our other animals; our front door has 15 small panes of glass on it. The mama can easily get out onto the rest of the porch. Sure enough when she saw our dog through the glass, she threw herself at the glass in an effort to protect the kittens. When she saw one of our cats, she had the same reaction but not as strong. I have since taped construction paper to the glass to keep them from seeing one another. The other night one of our cats escaped onto the porch as my husband took out the trash. Mama cat had a fit and my husband had to direct her back into her fort while I picked up our terrified house cat. The next day, yesterday, I came home from work to find her eating one of the babies! I was horrified! I called our 24 hour emergency vet and was told that although rare, cats will sometimes eat the babies if they are sick or something. After reading your response to the other person's question, I'm thinking a few different things caused this: her young age, the fact that she had 6 kittens, the little fort we built for her and the stress from seeing our other animals. I'm thinking we could have prevented this with some better preparations. There is a kitten that seems to be the "runt" but that is not the one she ate. Should we be concerned that she might still be stressed and eat more of the kittens?

Sarthur2 · Sep 24, 2016

M mikeybear

Welcome to TCS! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Anything is possible. It could be stress. Does she have access to dry food 24/7? And several wet food meals a day?

You may want to plug in a Felliway diffuser on the porch. It emits pheromones that calm cats down. You can buy one at a pet store.

Let's hope she does not eat anymore kittens.

Thank you for rescuing them!

StefanZ · Sep 24, 2016

MikeyBear said:
A little over a week ago, I found out that there was a young cat at a homeless shelter who had just given birth to 6 kittens. In an effort to take care of them and find them homes, I took them home and put them on my screened in porch. We have 3 indoor cats and a dog so my husband used large cardboard boxes to build them a little "fort" they could live in and be protected from seeing our other animals; our front door has 15 small panes of glass on it. The mama can easily get out onto the rest of the porch. Sure enough when she saw our dog through the glass, she threw herself at the glass in an effort to protect the kittens. When she saw one of our cats, she had the same reaction but not as strong. I have since taped construction paper to the glass to keep them from seeing one another. The other night one of our cats escaped onto the porch as my husband took out the trash. Mama cat had a fit and my husband had to direct her back into her fort while I picked up our terrified house cat. The next day, yesterday, I came home from work to find her eating one of the babies! I was horrified! I called our 24 hour emergency vet and was told that although rare, cats will sometimes eat the babies if they are sick or something. After reading your response to the other person's question, I'm thinking a few different things caused this: her young age, the fact that she had 6 kittens, the little fort we built for her and the stress from seeing our other animals. I'm thinking we could have prevented this with some better preparations. There is a kitten that seems to be the "runt" but that is not the one she ate. Should we be concerned that she might still be stressed and eat more of the kittens?

Yes, it can be both a kittens getting sick and probably died. Momma ates them to proteckt the nest from predators. Or carries the corpse away, but if she cant, so she eats it.

It can also be, its known moms in extreme stress may kill their kittens, in sheer panic. But if she ate it too, the most probable is the kitten got sick and died.

So, continue to give her as much privacy and calm situation you can. - Perhaps even a cage, as a cage feels often more of protection than prison... Feliway as mentioned. If you can get Rescue Remedy - which is used to cats shortly after or before a shocking experience... There are several different, my example is Dr Bachs Rescue Remedy. Its different flower essences solved in alcohol.

And of course, good nourishing food.

Btw, you can handle the kittens if you need, as long you do it respectfully, so the momma sees them the whole time, and is sure they are OK. But be sure you dont

smellll of the others of your residents, as this is triggering her defensive reaction...

catwoman707 · Sep 24, 2016

MikeyBear said:
A little over a week ago, I found out that there was a young cat at a homeless shelter who had just given birth to 6 kittens. In an effort to take care of them and find them homes, I took them home and put them on my screened in porch. We have 3 indoor cats and a dog so my husband used large cardboard boxes to build them a little "fort" they could live in and be protected from seeing our other animals; our front door has 15 small panes of glass on it. The mama can easily get out onto the rest of the porch. Sure enough when she saw our dog through the glass, she threw herself at the glass in an effort to protect the kittens. When she saw one of our cats, she had the same reaction but not as strong. I have since taped construction paper to the glass to keep them from seeing one another. The other night one of our cats escaped onto the porch as my husband took out the trash. Mama cat had a fit and my husband had to direct her back into her fort while I picked up our terrified house cat. The next day, yesterday, I came home from work to find her eating one of the babies! I was horrified! I called our 24 hour emergency vet and was told that although rare, cats will sometimes eat the babies if they are sick or something. After reading your response to the other person's question, I'm thinking a few different things caused this: her young age, the fact that she had 6 kittens, the little fort we built for her and the stress from seeing our other animals. I'm thinking we could have prevented this with some better preparations. There is a kitten that seems to be the "runt" but that is not the one she ate. Should we be concerned that she might still be stressed and eat more of the kittens?

Your mama cat sees the dog as a predator, and the kitten was the weakest of the bunch, so in her mind, despite the great love they have for all of their babies, she chose to eliminate the weakest to protect the others and herself.

She clearly has not had dog exposure in the past.

Cats don't generally think of other cats as predators so despite the protective mom mode she went in to, she doesn't see the threat as with the dog.

Despite how shocking it is, and we humans don't fully understand, it's their strong survival instinct that mother nature provided them with.

It hurts my heart to think how it must feel for a mom who adores her babies to be forced to chose to eat them. VERY sad if you think about it that way.

The preferred method is to remove the baby and take it a good distance away from the nest, but when that is not possible this is the resort.

The others won't be eaten, no worries.

KEEP HER FROM SEEING THE DOG PLEASE. I know you have, but if there is any chance that paper can be pulled or chewed and expose her to the dog visually, I would definitely reinforce somehow so you know for sure it can't happen

My cat ate one of her babies

mikeybear

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Sarthur2

Cat lady extraordinaire

StefanZ

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catwoman707

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