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[Kogan Loloklam]

Not for the faint of heart...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have a cat who is pregnant. She is giving birth to a litter of kittens. She is eating every kitten as it comes out.

So, no catasplosion here, but very, very disturbing. Anyone know how to prevent it?

[smjjames]

Not for the faint of heart...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have a cat who is pregnant. She is giving birth to a litter of kittens. She is eating every kitten as it comes out.

So, no catasplosion here, but very, very disturbing. Anyone know how to prevent it?

O.o

I don't think I've heard of that happeing to cats. Is she ACTUALLY killing them as in they are dead or is she just biting the umbilical cord?

I'm no expert on breeding cats (other than in DF) and I'm not sure who is around here (again, other than in DF), so you may have to google for it.

[Akura]

Cats might kill their newborns if you handle them shortly after birth. The problem is that when you handle them, you pollute their scent which the mother cat uses to identify them, and she no longer sees the kittens as her own.

[smjjames]

The OP said as they are coming out, so I don't think that is the case.

Do you know if the father cat is closely related? I've heard of a lioness in the inbred Ngorongo Crater lion pride(s) that did that kind of thing, so maybe inbreeding? It could also be a case of a first time mother.

[Kiwi]

Cats are known (at least to my knowledge, and of raising cats as a kid) to do this, my cousin told me that his cat did this recently (actually with her first 2 litters) that she did in-fact, consume, eat the babies. It usually isn't a problem (unless you wanted them >.<) But this would also require touching them i think, so not sure if this applies (aka the scent thing).

[Muz]

I've seen dogs and hamsters do it too. With my hamsters, the father did it. I also remember a Youtube video of a goldfish eating its baby right after it was born.. less than 20 seconds from birth. IMO, it's a little more surprising that you guys haven't seen it happening. So far, I don't know how to stop it.

My aunts tell me that when the dog is going to give birth, don't watch it giving birth or it'll eat the babies. Not sure if it's just an old wives' tale or true, but it doesn't seem to eat the babies if we gave it its privacy.

I checked a bit on the internet.. most satisfactory non-trolling answer is that they do it when they think the animal will die or get killed/stolen. It doesn't intend to keep it, so it probably eats them for nutrition or just so it doesn't have to feed them later.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Well since she is eating them, it doesn't seem a problem if I start adding sent. Maybe it'll help if I clean it up and return it to her as a mewing kitten instead of the monster that came out of her?

[Muz]

Well since she is eating them, it doesn't seem a problem if I start adding sent. Maybe it'll help if I clean it up and return it to her as a mewing kitten instead of the monster that came out of her?

I can't recall. I think I've done that before with my sister's hamsters, but the father still ate them after a while. We then isolated the father in another cage and gave the babies to the mother, no eating happened. But all of them died except the father later on, I don't remember why.

[Akura]

Well since she is eating them, it doesn't seem a problem if I start adding sent. Maybe it'll help if I clean it up and return it to her as a mewing kitten instead of the monster that came out of her?

Uh, no, that's exactly why she'd eat it. If you clean it, even if you're scent isn't added to the kitten, the mother's scent would be washed off. One thing that cats(and probably many other animals as well) is that they smell their young right after birth to identify them as their own. Obviously, they're not going to want some other cat's babies on their nipples.

About not watching dogs give birth, I don't know, but it actually seems plausible. Usually, when my dogs are sick, hurt, or otherwise in a "not normal" state, they like to be left alone, and appear to be scared if you get too close when they do(and might bite if you continue). It's probably the likely case with cats as well.

[Muz]

Obviously, they're not going to want some other cat's babies on their nipples.

Not really true, but I've seen them feed other cats that weren't theirs. I think there's even some videos of dogs breastfeeding cats and squirrels. Then again, it could be a personality thing.

[ChairmanPoo]

My aunts tell me that when the dog is going to give birth, don't watch it giving birth or it'll eat the babies. Not sure if it's just an old wives' tale or true, but it doesn't seem to eat the babies if we gave it its privacy.

I'm sure it's an old wives tale. Our dog (or rather, a dog we had, since she died 8 years ago) didn't mind watching her give birth.

[Duuvian]

My aunts tell me that when the dog is going to give birth, don't watch it giving birth or it'll eat the babies. Not sure if it's just an old wives' tale or true, but it doesn't seem to eat the babies if we gave it its privacy.

I'm sure it's an old wives tale. Our dog (or rather, a dog we had, since she died 8 years ago) didn't mind watching her give birth.

There might be some truth to that. I could see a dog thinking that because a human is watching her there must be something wrong with her and that she must hide the evidence. Dogs have a spark of intelligence but not very much, and as such they can misinterpret things easily.

EDIT: Also, you can probably save the babies by feeding them with a syringe very gently with a solution you can find online

EDIT2: I mean a milk solution, fed via syringe into the mouth with no needle.

[Sir Finkus]

I think this is kind of funny, does that make me a monster?

None of our cats ate their kittens, even after they were handled a dried off with a towel.

[Kogan Loloklam]

First of all, the first kitten it ate I didn't affect in any way, shape or form. The cat had all the privacy and comfort it wanted.

The next one was stillborn

The one after that I took away, cleaned up, and brought it back. She started nursing it. I come back 45 minutes later, and it's missing.

Damn cat.

[smjjames]

Well, animals have much greater senses of smell (among other senses) than humans, so maybe the kittens smelled 'wrong' because there was something wrong with them?

We'll probably never know the reason why anyway.

Additionally, maybe they were the offspring of a cat that yours thought was unfit or simply didn't like and so killed them, but I'm probably overanalyzing here.