Need help with newborn litter

I'm not very good at this, I couldn't figure out how to make a new post. My cat had her kittens on Aug. 11th. She's quite young herself I didn't think she was old enough to be fixed yet. A mistake I won't make agian. She had seven kittens. One of the kittens was still born, so that left six. She has been so good with the baby's if one cries and she not in her bed she races to them, but I looked in on her a couple of hours ago and she was eating one of the kittens. Why would she do that? My husbad told me to leave the babies alone or she'd eat them so I haven't messed with them. Now I'm afraid for the remaining five. What should I do?
Any advice would be welcome.

Originally Posted by amandabruner

I'm not very good at this, I couldn't figure out how to make a new post. My cat had her kittens on Aug. 11th. She's quite young herself I didn't think she was old enough to be fixed yet. A mistake I won't make agian. She had seven kittens. One of the kittens was still born, so that left six. She has been so good with the baby's if one cries and she not in her bed she races to them, but I looked in on her a couple of hours ago and she was eating one of the kittens. Why would she do that? My husbad told me to leave the babies alone or she'd eat them so I haven't messed with them. Now I'm afraid for the remaining five. What should I do?
Any advice would be welcome.

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Amanda...how awful for you. I wish I knew how to move your post as it should be in the Caring for Pregnant cats and Orphaned Kittens. I don't have personal experience with what you are describing...but I'll try to get your thread moved so you can get a response.

Katie

Young, inexperienced momma cats can and sometimes do destroy the babies if they determine there is something is not quite right with the babies. I would think that if your girl is young, then this might be the case - however, for safety sake, it might be best to separate the babies from the momma cat and bottle them until you can get all to the vet. Barring that, you could try to place one or two babies in with Momma, observe carefully and be prepared to rescue babies if Momma gets aggressive with them.

Are you 100% certain she is actually ~eating~ the baby or is she stimulating this baby with rough treatment - perhaps it isn't breathing right, or is in some other way, poorly.

Oh, Amanda, I am so sorry! Please watch them very closely! It would be best to do as Gayef said, but bottle feeding is a commitment to feed them every 2 hours! Please update us as you can.

I know my sister had female cats who had litters and unfortunately the female died and we had to feed the kittens and make them go the bathroom and its 24/7 work. I don't think you want to do that. I would leave the kittens alone and don't touch them for your new mother cat might not like having a human scent on them. I know when I bred rabbits you couldn't handle the newborns as the female rabbit would kill them if another scent was on them and the mother would have nothing to do with them. If your mother cat is doing alright with feeding them and caring for them than just leave her alone as when she's out of the bed and hears the kittens cry she comes running and that means that her motherly instincts are there. So just keep an eye on them and remove any kittens that are not alive as the mother cat will not bother with it. Let nature takes its course. If the mother is still trying to kill them then call the vet but don't touch the kittens as the mother cat will not like that. Good luck and I'm sorry you are having such a bad time but I'm sure the mother cat knows what she is doing. Some mother cats will kill a kitten who is not going to make it. Its instinct that's in her.

wow..that is so terrible....My kitten..lol...just had kittens aug 9...they r doing very well....but man,I wouldn't know what to do if I was in your case


I would definitely keep an eye on the mom cat with her kittens for sure...does the momcat let them milk off her