I debated whether or not to post this at all, though I finally decided to do so because I hadn't seen anything about the topic here yet.
This is about how sometimes kittens will die before maturity, and how sometimes other cats do the killing. I didn't know much about this at all beyond my own observations, and as time goes on I'd like to try to find ways to minimize this kind of behaviour. Our barn cats are mostly-socialized to be okay around humans, and I was puzzled why there were some instances where cats just weren't getting along like I expected. There are other predators for small cats and kittens, for sure, but I began to wonder about cats versus kittens.
I did a little research
online to start my understanding of some personal experiences here at
Wheaton Labs. I've seen situations where it looks like mothers abandon their litter, situations where I suspected a cat has killed another cat, and even situations where cats will eat dead cats. Wikipedia didn't really have any useful information in this space, so I had to find some additional resources online, including
here and especially
here, which are both pet-specific discussion boards and article repositories.
To Sum It Up:
There are several situations where cats will attack, and sometimes kill, kittens. Sometimes mothers will simply abandon or shun their young.
It's important to understand that cats aren't human, and it's very likely they don't think the same way we might. Cats are omnivores, and (like many other animals) will at times exhibit cannibalistic behaviours in some circumstances.
A mother may kill its offspring (or a female cat may kill another's kittens) because:
- they detect "something wrong" through their sense of smell: a genetic defect, serious illness, etc.
- the mother may think there isn't
enough food to support the new additions to the cat population ("it's a bad time of year")
- the mother becomes over-stimulated, and grooming or other "play" behaviour turns to "hunt" behaviour
- the mother's scent is no longer present on the kitten, likely because it was handled by a human or other animal
- the kitten dies actually from some other cause, and the mother removes the kitten from the nest to avoid detection and/or attracting predators
Male cats may attack kittens because:
- they detect the scent of a competitor/male on the kitten
- mothers who are no longer raising their kittens often go into heat sooner, and the male wants to mate sooner rather than later
In general, if a cat kills a kitten there's more reason to expect a female killed it, simply because the males aren't around kittens and adolescents as much.
I'm not an authority regarding "cat-on-cat violence." I'm posting this to share what I've seen and what I've learned about why cats might want to attack and kill other cats.
Should anyone have additional useful information about this, please share it here. Thanks!
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