Mama Cat Killed Kittens

[Xavier Lee]

One of my cats Ella a year and a half old had her first litter. Day one she gave birth to two kitten heads no bodies. Day two a single kitten, within the same day she would lay on it repeatedly and smothered it to death, day three she had a fourth kitten. She had nurtured it, kept it warm, cleaned it, was protective of it.

Then today within 5 minutes of checking on both her and the kitten she had placed it inside of her water bowl and was holding it under water with her mouth from the back of it's neck. I took it from her, held it slightly at angle to assist water drain, lightly pumped it's chest with one thumb, five pumps three breaths using my mouth to cover the mouth and nose of the kitten. It coughed up a bit of water, dripping from both nose and mouth.

It made similar to yawning motions with it's mouth every minute or so. Squeaking every now and again. After about 5 minutes of the he got colder, and stiff and completely lost all responsiveness. Are there any opinions on this type of behavior?

Oh btw her demeanor is 100% completely casual, she doesn't roam or search for any of them. She doesn't go to where she kept them, she is playing with toys like it completely never ever happened. Im taking her to a no kill shelter tomorrow morning.

 

[ashade1]

It seems like maybe she was just an inexperienced mom... plus it seems like her kittens had deformities... could have been from incest. I have heard that cats are pretty aware of kittens that they do not think will make it and they will ignore them- maybe she just sensed that they were suffering? Are you taking her to the no kill shelter to rehome her? Or do they have a clinic there that she can be spayed.

 

[Xavier Lee]

Definitely to have her spayed, I'm going to talk with the veterenarian there to see what my best course of action could be. At this particular point in the day my wife and I currently don't even want to be around her. But we want to get an informed opinion of this kind of behavior before passing judgement.

 

[StefanZ]

I recommend you simply do spay her. Motherhood is apparently not her due. Otherwise she is a nice cat and household member, no?

Re the behavior. The kittens "behavior" in the end was of course the dying, the "deathfight" the agonia.

Momma - its the first time I have clear and loud heard about mommas drowning her kittens. Or by laying them down to death. But killing a kitten they do sense is sick and not making it, is common enough. Its in nature, they want to protect the other kittens alive, they dont want to draw to the nest predators nor ants.
She is perhaps more intellignet than average, and understands there are other ways pts. And did her outmost to shorten the pains of dying.

As the two first we know werent able to live, being abnormities, its quite possible there was some fault on the others too, and momma sensed it...

 

[Xavier Lee]

I recommend you simply do spay her. Motherhood is apparently not her due. Otherwise she is a nice cat and household member, no?

Re the behavior. The kittens "behavior" in the end was of course the dying, the "deathfight" the agonia.

Momma - its the first time I have clear and loud heard about mommas drowning her kittens. Or by laying them down to death. But killing a kitten they do sense is sick and not making it, is common enough. Its in nature, they want to protect the other kittens alive, they dont want to draw to the nest predators nor ants.
She is perhaps more intellignet than average, and understands there are other ways pts. And did her outmost to shorten the pains of dying.

As the two first we know werent able to live, being abnormities, its quite possible there was some fault on the others too, and momma sensed it...

I suppose you could be right, I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. She is an extremely intelligent cat, she uses the potty in the restroom and then flushes. She turns on the sink with her paws and drinks from the tap. She's playful with my children, she has a clear understanding of many English words and commands having had NO formal training at all. But to see her do something like that to her own children bothers me on the inside.

 

[StefanZ]

What you tell just confirms strongly my intuitive guessing. Her very high natural intelligence and her natural friendliness to children.

As said, if a cat momma senses a kitten wont make it, she kills it and either eatens it up or carry it away. Or sometimes just carry away and abandons...

I saw an article in a popular science paper. I hadnt read the article because the costs of buying the paper, but I read the titles. They had cat moms as their chief example. They meant, the seemingly brutal matter of killing / eating / abandoning kittens whom wont make it, is really the highest proof they are good mothers!

They dont do it for fun nor because they dont care. They do what must be done, because of the love and care for them whom are still living... And the controlling proof? They are excellent and caretaking moms for these living. Why, sometimes they do take extra care of visibly weak kittens, as long there is any hope left.

Ok, you perhaps ask, but it was only one kitten left, so no necessity to protect any others. - Yeah, but the instinct is build in... If a kitten is dying, it must be disposed off...

Also, the agonia come shortly after your reviving action no? So unless we assume you blow her lungs apart while reviving (easy to happen) - we must assume the kitten was dying already before. Perhaps got pneumonia, perhaps had some fault on lungs - The dying began, momma sensed it, and did tried to shorten the dying time...

And yeah, being so intelligent, she knew very well the kitten was dead and gone... Sad, but nothing necessary to search after.

 

[Willowy]

If you don't like how nature works, it's best not to have pets. But, yes, have her spayed, don't dump her because you want to apply human morals to animals.

Even with human morals, how many cats do humans kill? In shelters and otherwise? I hope you're just as judgemental of humans who kill cats if this bothers you so much.

 

[KatsPurrrsians]

I suppose you could be right, I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. She is an extremely intelligent cat, she uses the potty in the restroom and then flushes. She turns on the sink with her paws and drinks from the tap. She's playful with my children, she has a clear understanding of many English words and commands having had NO formal training at all. But to see her do something like that to her own children bothers me on the inside.

It's very true, cats have incredible intuition and instincts regarding the health of their babies and themselves. There could be many reasons, perhaps she wasn't able to produce the milk to properly care for them, or a number of other things such as the kittens health (which sounds most probable since it took several days to deliver and most were deformed--certainly not normal circumstances for a healthy delivery or litter). She was doing what she felt was best given the circumstances.

It is definitely traumatic to witness. My sister went through a similar experience and watched a mother eat all her kittens, head first. It was so upsetting & traumatizing for her she has never owned a cat since. In times like this we must put away our human notions of motherhood and realize cats are animals, very instinctive & intuitive one at that. She didn't do this out of hatred or dislike towards her kittens, quite the opposite. We think of our pets to be so much a part of the family that we sometimes forget they aren't human beings. She sounds like a very intelligent cat and meant to be a wonderful pet rather than a mom. I'm very sorry you had to witness this and go through it.

 

[catsknowme]

Welcome to TCS! Ella instinctively knew that her kitten had something seriously wrong. Mother cats are typically excellent moms and the ferals' tiny rejects that I have rescued for years almost always have turned out to be very sickly, periodically requiring antibiotics even as adults. I am so, so sorry that your wife and you had to go through this gruesome event instead of the happier experience of watching kittens grow and play. Even if you had taken the little one to the vet, it would not have been any easier for the little guy; except for bluntforce head trauma (vets in CA can only do that to baby pigs, or so I was told by one vet), there is no easy way to PTS baby kittens . If your hearts are still sorrowful, you could consider fostering some tiny kittens for a rescue - kittens are delightful and, sadly, many will be "put down" because there are not enough foster homes available. It would be a good way to honor the lives of Ella's little ones who did not make it.

 

[mani]

There must have been something very wrong with the kittens. She must have eaten the first two as it is impossible for just heads to develop as they would need a placenta to grow. We mustn't make the mistake of 'humanising' cats.. they are doing what is right for them. As others have said, just having her spayed is the best way to go, whatever the situation.

I'm absolutely astounded that your cat uses the toilet and flushes it!

 

[StefanZ]

A comment about the abandoning and rejecting; because momma senses some grave fault on the baby and senses the kitten wont make it. BUT.
Lotsa of forumists did and do manage to save such rejected kittens, by handraising it. So whatsa matter?? What is going on? Are they goners or are they not?

Yes, this is the beauty of it. What is a death doom in nature, may sometimes be saved by a vigorous human help, even quite basic help. May, they often die anyway...
They were perhaps a weak suckler. Cant suckle momma, but can often be saved by getting kmr with a syringe - its enough they can swallow.
Its like in the world of humans. What is a death doom "here", is an easy medical help "elsewhere". Even a quite basic help and care is often much better than none at all. Florence Nightinghale and her co-workers took down the death ratio in the war field hospitals in Crimea from over 50% down to perhaps 5%, not by any fancy medicines nor intensive therapy, but by simply decent caretaking.

Yet, experienced rescuers witness, its usually much easier to be successfull to help orphans, than help such a weak rejected kitten. That is why farmers willingly put in effort and even pay good money to save orphans of their animals, but dont bother much with the sickly weak ones. Unless some of their employers insists and begs to do the extra work.