What went wrong?

[WiccanKitten]

My beautiful tortie lady Sugar had her first litter of kittens today. She was covered exactly 64 days ago today.
Unfortunately, i hadn't realised that she was giving birth until it was too late. (There is no nice way of putting this.)
When i found her, she had delivered one.....but on moving her paw I was horrified to see that she had begun to eat it.
She was alone, in a place that i'm sure she felt safe in.
I called the vets and they told me to bring her down to the surgery immediately. Once there she was induced as she had stopped contracting. She delivered one stillborn, and then 2 healthy looking gingers.
I don't understand what happened.
She is at home now, with her 2 healthy babies, but is continuously scowering the room, miaowing and calling loudly, which is very out of character. Its like she's missing the ones she lost.
Is anyone familiar with this odd behaviour....or can anyone tell me what went wrong.....or why she felt the need to eat the first kitten?

[lankeela]

It was probably already dead, or very weak, and I know bitches will often eat a puppy in these circumstances, it is just natures way and we will always find it hard to understand. Sometimes they will push a weak baby out of the nest and so let it die. You are lucky to have the two healthy kits, enjoy them and look after her, and don't dwell on 'what might have been'.

I am sure she will soon stop calling and settle to feed and clean her new family.

[WiccanKitten]

Thanks Lankeela. She is constantly purring, and she is feeding and cleaning the 2 little-uns (Dante and Diego).....I'm just worried that perhaps she misses the unfortunate ones.
She won't go into the living room at all, even though I thoroughly cleaned the area where her water broke and she gave birth to the first kitten..... do you think perhaps she can smell it, or maybe that she just knows?
I'm giving her plenty of tlc. She looks so peaceful when she's with the little lads, but when she paces the room she just looks distraught.

[andy-hughes]

Animals behave in ways that we don't understand, but we try to advance 'human' behaviour onto them to help us get to grips with the things they do. A mother in the wild will devour a dead delivery to prevent the smell reaching predators and leading them to her live offspring, plus there is the added advantage of nutrition - gruesome I know, but nature is practical rather than sentimental.

It is unlikely that Sugar is actually pining for her dead kitten, although it must appear that way, or that she associates one room with the difficulty of her first delivery.

Give her time, and she will settle, she has obviously bonded with her two live kittens, so all would seem to be well. Don't worry to much about her odd behaviour, she is new to this as well!

[WendyS]

So sorry to hear about your cat's misfortunes and the loss of two of her babies. If it was her first litter she's probably a little confused and probably wasn't sure what to do with her first baby.And I'm sure the visit to the vet at such a traumatic time for her has temporarily put her off balance. However, I suspect that her two remaining healthy little babies will start to occupy more of her time and attention now as they need regular suckling and grow quite rapidly. Don't go too close to her too often and touch her. Just stay close and talk to her reassuringly and offer her lots of little foodie treats. Hope everything will be fine now.

[saintjohnny]

Yes, it's important that you don't have too much contact with her or the kits for the first week or so, hard though it may be. If she is a young female, she will be confused and protective, and too much handling of the kittens before their eyes open could upset her. It is probable that she ate the kitten because it was either stillborn or died very shortly after being born, and yes, it was probably a matter of nutrition for her other babies. Gingers are, in my opinion, the most fun cats - they have more character than others. You're in for some happy times with them!

[WiccanKitten]

Hey Andy, Wendy and Saintjohnny - thankyou very much, that was very helpful.
I have kept my distance up until today, when Sugar bought the two babies one by one, over to my lap - Guess what - its not Dante and Diego...............Its Dante....and Dante's SISTER!!!
They're both doing really well, and she is fantastic with them.
I was really honoured that she carried them over to me, i'm like the proud grandmother!
Saintjohnny - tell me about it! Sugar's "other half" (not the father of the kits, i hasten to add!!) is a ginger male called Dragon - He's FANTASTIC, so much character. xx