Cats Eating Their Young?

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rachel&mamacat

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Help!!!

My cat gave birth to a litter of 5 kittens on Easter Sunday. Three days later, one was missing...nowhere to be found. NOWHERE. My apartment is relatively unfurnished -as I just moved in- so there are very few places to hide, anyways. My boyfriend and I are *positive* that there's no way the kitten couldn've escaped outside, and there's been no offensive odor in the weeks following to suggest a decomposing body anywhere...Point is, the only conclusion I can come up with is that my cat ate her newborn after she noticed it was in poor health or something...to all you cat-lovers out there: is this even plausable?

Please let me know. This has been an upsetting experience for all of us...

Thanks.
Rachel

 
wellingtoncats

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Hi Rachel

My Nana has been breeding cats for 50 years+ and she has told me some distressing stories about cats eating their young so it is possible but it is rare.

How upsetting!
 
hissy

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If the kitten was ill, and the momcat felt trapped and unable to move the kitten to a new location (for the safety of her family) yes, she would consume the kitten. Or, she has moved it off to some obscure place in your home where it has died.

Please keep your eyes on the other kittens as well, because if one is ill there is a possibility that more might also be.

I know you have systematically searched your home, but you need to do it again, and this time from a very low level. In each room go in to the center of the room, lay down on your stomach and look around carefully. Every place you see from your vantage point, direct your boyfriend to search there for the kitten.
 
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elizwithcat

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Originally Posted by Rachel&Mamacat

Help!!!

My cat gave birth to a litter of 5 kittens on Easter Sunday. Three days later, one was missing...nowhere to be found. NOWHERE. My apartment is relatively unfurnished -as I just moved in- so there are very few places to hide, anyways. My boyfriend and I are *positive* that there's no way the kitten couldn've escaped outside, and there's been no offensive odor in the weeks following to suggest a decomposing body anywhere...Point is, the only conclusion I can come up with is that my cat ate her newborn after she noticed it was in poor health or something...to all you cat-lovers out there: is this even plausable?

Please let me know. This has been an upsetting experience for all of us...

Thanks.
Rachel

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I heard of it happening, but it would be done by a male cat-a tomcat, not the mother.
 
maverick_kitten

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a month or maybe even longer after we got Maverick I was at work when my friend told me she had found Maverick's brother's rotted corpse under her bed.

she had another cat which wold systemicically kill its entire litter of kittens one by one and hide the bodies around the house or else hide the live kittens and leave them to die. she did this with three or four litters.

if it was just the one kitten i would indeed conclude she ate it. but as with most things in nature mama knows best. she wouldnt have wanted to waste good milk on a kitten that would have died anyway.
 
hissy

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Both momcats and tomcats will do this, though toms don't typically eat the babies, they shake them to their death. The tomcats do that to bring the mother back into heat so they can mate with them again.

Sorry for such a distressing topic to some, but it does indeed happen. Again, i would divide your rooms up into grids and get down to the floor level and search carefully for this kitten-
 
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rachel&mamacat

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Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

a month or maybe even longer after we got Maverick I was at work when my friend told me she had found Maverick's brother's rotted corpse under her bed.

she had another cat which wold systemicically kill its entire litter of kittens one by one and hide the bodies around the house or else hide the live kittens and leave them to die. she did this with three or four litters.

if it was just the one kitten i would indeed conclude she ate it. but as with most things in nature mama knows best. she wouldnt have wanted to waste good milk on a kitten that would have died anyway.
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Thank you...this was most helpful to me. Also, to the person who keenly suggested I divide the rooms up into grids & search on a low level, I did so...no results (but a very good idea.) I suppose I just want something to explain the unexplainable!

-Rachel
 
hissy

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Just watch for flies. If you see flies congregating in one room, search that room carefully top to bottom-
 
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