kitten infanticide

[meredith101]

do queens try to kill their young kittens?
I lost one kitten before due to the queen crushing her in the basket. Now she seems to be trying it again. She has 3 kittens, 2 weeks old, one of them was pawing her mouth playfully, she kind of adjusted, and put the full weight of her neck down, pretty much smothering the kitten, despite the kitten yelping loudly. I had to rescue her. Infanticide? Or basket too small. They have room to move around.

[lankeela]

Mother cats (and dogs) will sometimes push out a kitten or puppy if they know something is wrong with it, and leave it to die, but I wouldn't have thought at this age and if the kitten is feeding ok she would deliberately try to kill it.

She was probably just giving the kit a lesson in respect for her mother!

[meredith101]

lol, that's what I thought she was doing.

[andy-hughes]

lankeela's advice is sound - on the 'respect' and possible 'dying' fronts.

A mother who is seriously frightened or who'se bed is violently disturbed may kill her offspring, but that is a wild cat's instinct, and highly unlikely to happen with a domestic cat.

[crazymum]

my cat had 7 kittens and hid them all round the house. We only managed to find one still alive. Why would she have done that??

[andy-hughes]

If a queen with a litter is disturbed - and that may mean psychologically, in a way you may not even realise has happened, she will split up her young and hide them. The thinking is, a predator (imagined in the case of a domestic cat) will only find one kitten to kill, and the rest have a chance of survival, and she will return for them when she thinks the threat is over. She will move them away from her birthing place so that is safe for her to return to, and it will reduce the chances of their scent tracking the predator to her and her babies.

It's sad, but its nature, and there is nothing you can do.

[WeeAngie]

does the father of the kittens live in your home too?
he really should be kept separated from the mother and babies as male jealousy often brings out the protective nature in the queen described by andy-hughes often leading to the kittens death . it's very sad , it happened to my own litter of siamese babies and the vet explained this to me .