Do persian males attack newborns

We recently adopted a female cat. After we brought her home we found she was pregnant. We already have a 1 year old male persian at home - he isn't neutered. Although he's not aggressive towards her (but he does follow her around) we were wondering if he's likely to harm the kittens when they are born as they are not his.

Originally Posted by lubu13

We recently adopted a female cat. After we brought her home we found she was pregnant. We already have a 1 year old male persian at home - he isn't neutered. Although he's not aggressive towards her (but he does follow her around) we were wondering if he's likely to harm the kittens when they are born as they are not his.

Click to expand...

If neither of them are neutered I think it is quite likely he will get her pregnant very soon after the kittens are born. Why is he not neutered - are you a breeder? If you are not a breeder I would strongly suggest he be neutered immediately so that his hormones will have settled down by the time she has the kittens.

I also think it depends on the cat and he may or may not try to harm the kittens. Some males are wonderful with the babies - others not so.

I agree with the above poster.... Another issue is he may start spraying too.... ICK!

Originally Posted by lubu13

We recently adopted a female cat. After we brought her home we found she was pregnant. We already have a 1 year old male persian at home - he isn't neutered. Although he's not aggressive towards her (but he does follow her around) we were wondering if he's likely to harm the kittens when they are born as they are not his.

Click to expand...

Lubu....unless you are showing your male..it is probably best to have him neutered at this time. The problem with allowing him around your female cat is that once she has had her kittens....she will go back into heat again and most likely your male will try to mate with her. As for him attacking the kittens since they are not his....I'm truly not sure...but to be on the safe side, if you do not intend to get your male neutered...then you should keep him away from your female once she has given birth and until such a time as she has weaned the kittens and can be spayed.

If you need a low cost spay clinic, just let me know where you live and I can look them up for you.

Katie

A coworker of mine breeds Maine Coons and she recently had a litter. Well the kittens are 9 weeks old and she said that the mama has been in heat 3 times in those 9 weeks. Its hard to believe but it happens. So be very careful! I hope everything works out well.

Male cats should definitely be isolated from newborn kittens. Besides the possibility of the male attacking the kittens, many queens become very cat-aggressive when their babies are young and she could definitely cause injury to your cat.

Then please have your cat neutered ASAP. He will be much better off for it. Besides, if you don't neuter him then your cat will be pregnant again very soon.

Originally Posted by lubu13

We recently adopted a female cat. After we brought her home we found she was pregnant. We already have a 1 year old male persian at home - he isn't neutered. Although he's not aggressive towards her (but he does follow her around) we were wondering if he's likely to harm the kittens when they are born as they are not his.

Click to expand...

Buster is my male Persian...approx. 2 yrs. old. I did a rescue about 8 months ago, whereas, I kept 2 of the newborns here. Buster was exposed to them immediately...his curiosity was killing me...not him. Her would lick/clean those little newborns so hard that I had to seperate them. They would knead him with their little paws and attempt to nurse with Buster smiling & purring the whole time. Guess he was feeling a bit maternal

You should probably neuter your male and get your new female spayed. Persians are very docile but male cats have been known to kill newborns...this stimulates the female back into heat so the male can "do his thing".

Hi all,
Thanks for the good advice, I'll be sure to get them done.
Just wanted to know when can I let the kittens have contact with the male, is there a time limit - say after 2, 3, 4 weeks, or is it indefinite?

Originally Posted by leesali

Buster is my male Persian...approx. 2 yrs. old. I did a rescue about 8 months ago, whereas, I kept 2 of the newborns here. Buster was exposed to them immediately...his curiosity was killing me...not him. Her would lick/clean those little newborns so hard that I had to seperate them. They would knead him with their little paws and attempt to nurse with Buster smiling & purring the whole time. Guess he was feeling a bit maternal

Click to expand...

I have a couple of boy cats (neutered, of course) who adore kittens too. It's unbelievably cute. But one of my cats ended up having the living snot beaten out of him by one of my foster mamas! It was crazy because she was literally half his size, but she went crazy protecting her babies against what she thought was a threat to them. Once her babies were older and I introduced her to the household, though, they got along fine. So it must have been some hormone related thing.

The big boys are wonderful with my orphans and older kittens, though. They even help me groom the teeny-tiny babies. It looks pretty goofy but everyone seems perfectly happy with the arrangement so I don't complain a bit!

I have seen a male cat kill a kitten to intice the mom to go back into heat once again and the kitten was HIS!!!!
I would keep the male away from the kittens until they are atleast 8 weeks old and can run and hide.