Do Male Cats Kill Kittens?

[arturo alvarez]

I've got a few other strays that I've seen roaming the neighborhood and they come around frequently, I just want to make sure I'm not crippling either of them (by being spayed) as I do want them to fend off other cats and/or pests. 

If neutered, will they still avidly protect their territory? 

Do they remain active?

As they become less aggressive, is their strength and dominance over lesser cats compromised?

My cats serve a unique purpose and I only want to make them stronger, I'd hate for them to become complacent and just sit around waiting for food. 

This male is the strongest, fastest (and most attractive) cat I've ever encountered, it seems like a disservice to nature to cut off his bloodline, while also making him docile. Survival of the fittest right?

 

[StefanZ]

 
I've got a few other strays that I've seen roaming the neighborhood and they come around frequently, I just want to make sure I'm not crippling either of them (by being spayed) as I do want them to fend off other cats and/or pests. 

If neutered, will they still avidly protect their territory? 

Do they remain active?

As they become less aggressive, is their strength and dominance over lesser cats compromised?

My cats serve a unique purpose and I only want to make them stronger, I'd hate for them to become complacent and just sit around waiting for food. 

This male is the strongest, fastest (and most attractive) cat I've ever encountered, it seems like a disservice to nature to cut off his bloodline, while also making him docile. Survival of the fittest right?

They do well also after spaying / neutering.   Even better.   They dont seek out fights, they find other solutions instead.

Once upon time, when I began to be interested in homeless cats etc and discovered there was something such as TNR, I tried to read on it.

I got my hands on a semi- scientific book written by university fellows, veterinarians and  cat biologists, that like.   I remember it was sponsored  by the big british food firm Waltham.

Among much other interesting academic texts, I found also a big chapter on TNR which was quite new at that time.   And they felt undecided.   They did agreed  TNR on females was fine and good, so they recommended it for the homeless and ferale females.  But they were unsure re the males.   They had similiar doubts to you:  their life now isnt good, but they do have the ability to fend for themselves, to participate in the competition.   Neutered, they will lose the edge and keeness, they will be especially helpless against  intact toms...

So, they waited with their decisive opionion re males.

A time after it I went to that library again, and found a later, volume of this academic bookserie sponsored by Waltham.    And in there, I found the follow up of this first article, written two years later..

Now they have got more data, and found, scientifically, the neutered males did OK.   Very true, they didnt fight as much, and especielly they did avoid fights with intact t oms.  And the fights they were in were less gruesome.   After all, they still defended their core territory when needed.  Nay, they found other solutions instead.    They were now, for example, admitted into the colonies where the females were the leading ones....  They were no longer any threat to them, and thus, they were admitted.

And as a sum totale, the neutered males did do much better now  as neutered, compared to before, when fertile.

 

[Norachan]

I'd say that if anything they are much better able to defend themselves once neutered. In the spring and again in the late summer when the female cats are in heat the male cats go without food for a few days and spend all their time fighting and courting. Not only do they get some very nasty injuries from this, which lead to infections, but they also seem very thin and exhausted afterwards. They are also at risk of FIV and FIL,  which are spread by cat bites and both of which are fatal and incurable.

The male cats I have are all neutered. They are much bigger and healthier than the unneutered males, even the ones that have people feeding them. They spend most of their time outdoors, hunting and patrolling their territory. They are much healthier and stronger than the intact males as they spend their time hunting rather than getting into fights and roaming around looking for female cats.

Your tom cat is king at the moment. he will have undoubtedly fathered kittens and passed his genes onto the next generation already. He won't stay king for long though. A younger, faster male who hasn't been compromised by battle injuries will come along soon enough and either seriously injure him or run him off. His best chance of surviving and staying healthy is to be neutered.

 

[msaimee]

As long as there is an adequate food supply (enough prey to hunt and/or a human providing food), cats can co-exist in a colony--even toms with kittens who are not their offspring. Cats tend to become more territorial and aggressive if there is a limited supply of food--it's a matter of survival of the fittest. As long as you are providing food for your ferals, they should get along for the most part, especially if they are spayed and neutered. If an intruder cat should enter your territory, there will likely be some fighting, because neutering does not remove all territorial instinct.   

My experience has been that toms don't have interest in fighting neutered males because they don't pose a threat in terms of competition for mating. They may fight over territory, but it's not a vicious fight to the death as in the case of toms fighting over a mate.

You should also know that even intact toms begin to rapidly slow down once they hit the age of 5-6. This is because the typical lifespan of a feral is 3-5 years, even with a caretaker. They age differently than indoor only, domesticated cats. This is due to the physical stress of constant exposure to the elements, especially in the winter, their instinct to roam and fight, and having to deal with the illnesses all cats face, but without ideal veterinarian help. I have a male feral cat I've been taking care of for 3 and a half years, and he's about 5-6 years old. It's a long story which I will spare you, but I've not been able to trap him to neuter him because he was trapped before and is very trap/catch savvy. He used to bring his kittens and girlfriends to my neighbors and I to feed them and care for them (and we trapped, fixed, socialized, and adopted all 5 of them). He was a good papa cat who loved his kittens (hence my defense of the tom--some are very loving). He has not brought any cats or kittens  to us the past two years. He roams less. Instead of fighting off two intruder cats who occasionally appear on my block, he runs and hides until they leave. He prefers to sleep, eat, and live and let live. I still hope to get him inside someday and get him neutered, and this may well happen because I think he may only have one more severe winter left in him to survive outside, even with the shelter I provide. In a few years, your ferals will all slow down as he has, and I hope you'll continue to care for them even when they no longer serve your purpose.   

 

[nansiludie]

NoraChan you perfectly summed up what I was going to write. Thank you.

 

[arturo alvarez]

Of course I will continue to feed them and care for them, but that's exactly why I want a bit of generation spawning, to perpetuate their longevity. He's surely not like that quite yet but he's already part of the fam and so long as I get him "fixed" I think things will calm down a bit and he'll be back in my good graces.

I want him to impregnate her first and then I'll have him neutered, even so, I don't plan on letting him have ANY contact with the next litter... his or otherwise. 

 

[nansiludie]

Could I ask why you would want kittens? Kittens are very fragile, even if she was with kittens it may not turn out well. I have seen far too many, come and gone. Please reconsider and see if your local shelter has feral/community/farm cats.

 

[Norachan]

 
Of course I will continue to feed them and care for them, but that's exactly why I want a bit of generation spawning, to perpetuate their longevity. He's surely not like that quite yet but he's already part of the fam and so long as I get him "fixed" I think things will calm down a bit and he'll be back in my good graces.

I want him to impregnate her first and then I'll have him neutered, even so, I don't plan on letting him have ANY contact with the next litter... his or otherwise. 

It is very hard on a mother cat trying to raise kittens outside. Most kittens born outside don't make it to 6 months of age, so you should be prepared for her to lose most of her litter.

If you could bring her indoors while she is pregnant and don't let the kittens out until they are grown they'll stand a better chance but, as @MsAimee  said, outdoor cats don't live as long as indoor cats do.

 

[nansiludie]

Very well stated but kittens are very fragile, even indoors.

 

[msaimee]

 
Of course I will continue to feed them and care for them, but that's exactly why I want a bit of generation spawning, to perpetuate their longevity. He's surely not like that quite yet but he's already part of the fam and so long as I get him "fixed" I think things will calm down a bit and he'll be back in my good graces.

I want him to impregnate her first and then I'll have him neutered, even so, I don't plan on letting him have ANY contact with the next litter... his or otherwise. 

As long as he is not neutered, he will likely impregnate not just the particular cat you have in mind, but could impregnate others, as well--even ones not on your property. Whenever a female cat is in heat, he will seek her out to impregnate, thus adding to the problem of the over population of ferals. If you're wanting more barn cats, I can assure you there are many people looking for people such as yourself to provide an outdoor home/barn home for their feral or stray cats. There are also shelters who have cats who are considered unadoptable because of feral or semi feral tendencies whom you would be rescuing from death by adopting them. Just put up a sign in your local Agway, Tractor and Supply, or supermarkets stating that you're looking to adopt cats suited towards outdoor life.

There's no way you can protect kittens from their papa cat unless you take the pregnant mother cat into your house and allow her to have the kittens inside and wean them for 3-4 months. This would be a big commitment on your part. You can try to confine the tom in your house to not allow him access to the kittens, but if he is a true feral, he will be scaling the walls and windows and caterwauling to get out. I hope you'll think through these issues and will consider getting him neutered ASAP.

 

[arturo alvarez]

Very true, I hadn't thought about it that way, thanks a lot!

 

[nansiludie]

Please keep us updated on the kitties are doing. Also if cost is a factor, considering there may be quite a few kitties, there may be low cost spay/neuter clinics in your area. Try searching your town and low cost cost spay neuter and see if anything comes up. Another thing, your local Humane Society may be able to help. If the male or others are truly feral, you'll need a have-a-heart humane trap cage. 

 

[msaimee]

You're welcome. Let us know how it goes. You can purchase a have-a-heart trap at Tractor and Supply for about twenty dollars, or rent one from the Humane Society (you get the money back when you return the trap). There's lots of people on this site who can give you helpful advice every step of the way.  

 

[wittywitch]

i just saw a cat came from my kittens basket, and when i check them the kittens are all dead! it was horrible thier neck are bloodied.! the mother cat freaking out her youngs are all gone coz i immediately clean b4 she sees dem..:-!:-!

 

[Norachan]

I'm so sorry to hear this @wittywitch  

 

[arturo alvarez]

I too learned this the hard way, best keep kittens and mom indoors. The male wants to mate again. Terrible I know. Sorry for this experience.

 

[alissastyles]

My Female cat we got when she was just 5 weeks old. There is a male cat that always comes by and would be nice to her and be a father like figure to her. We didn't get either of them fixed right away. She always tries to get out of the house. Once she got into heat he was no longer a father like figure and hopped on her as quickly as possible. Knocked her up and she had a very small litter of only 3 kittens. (No stillborns) One of them died due to failure to thrive but the other two are living more than 6 weeks now. A few weeks ago the male cat broke in and chased our baby boy kitten up the stairs until we chased him up. We plan on getting them all fixed and when we move taking the male with us, since he has grown on our family since them and is a nice lazy cat most of the time. So if we get him fixed will he still want to attack our boy kitten? The other kitten is a girl so i'm sure he'll be fond of her. LOL  But will he still want to attack because hes probably like 5 years old and i'm wondering if even when he is fixed will he still have that instinct?

 

[Norachan]

 
My Female cat we got when she was just 5 weeks old. There is a male cat that always comes by and would be nice to her and be a father like figure to her. We didn't get either of them fixed right away. She always tries to get out of the house. Once she got into heat he was no longer a father like figure and hopped on her as quickly as possible. Knocked her up and she had a very small litter of only 3 kittens. (No stillborns) One of them died due to failure to thrive but the other two are living more than 6 weeks now. A few weeks ago the male cat broke in and chased our baby boy kitten up the stairs until we chased him up. We plan on getting them all fixed and when we move taking the male with us, since he has grown on our family since them and is a nice lazy cat most of the time. So if we get him fixed will he still want to attack our boy kitten? The other kitten is a girl so i'm sure he'll be fond of her. LOL  But will he still want to attack because hes probably like 5 years old and i'm wondering if even when he is fixed will he still have that instinct?

Hi Alissa,

Your tom cat will probably go through a complete personality change once you have him fixed. He probably wouldn't have hurt his own kitten anyway, but having them all fixed will mean that the family stay friendly with each other and don't try to mate or drive each other away. Mother cats will try to drive female kittens away when they get older, but if you get them fixed at around 12 weeks old they won't do this.

My avatar cat was an aggressive tom before I got him neutered. He was at least 10 years old when I found him, but even at that advanced age he still changed a lot after he'd been fixed. Now he's really gentle with other male and female cats and with kittens.

 

[bessie glavas]

The big black patriarch in "my colony" is very protective of his offspring - won't even eat the food I put out until everyone else has had their fill.  Unfortunately, when the females are still very young he tries (and I guess succeeds) to have litters with them.  I hate seeing this, they seem so scared and it's almost brutal.  Of course I yell at him & chase but I'm not there all the time and can't run.  

As an aside, I bought traps & succeeded in neutering one cat then had a bad knee injury.  So the traps sit out on the porch waiting for me.  I have put up ads for someone to help me with this, but so far have only gotten suggestions regarding someone else I can call....who then suggests someone else.  Guess everyone is overwhelmed with kittens.

I know that female cats often have multiple partners and their litters can be quite mixed.  One of my colony messed around with an orange male that showed up a few months ago - I think a stray that someone dropped off in the neighborhood.  Though not friendly, he was very well fed & unscarred - but that is changing.  He's trying to take over the colony and was involved in a fight-to-the-death with the black patriarch.  I went outside & scared him off.

I bring this up because one of the females brought me a gorgeous kitten (8 weeks?) to meet.  The kitten had lots of orange, as well as black & white.  I don't know if she had other kittens that I never saw (they usually bring their babies out to start eating after dusk, for their protection).  Do the patriarchs will kittens in a litter that are not theirs but leave the others alone?  Around the same time that she brought this kitten, two other kittens were found dead in the neighborhood.  One was also mixed, the other gray.

 

[dandila]

Yes, unfortunately Tom's will kill kittens that are not their own if they can get through the poor fighting mother or grab them when she's gone to feed.  There is much speculation about why this happens but it does happen.

I'm so sorry that no one will help you with your trapping.  I know it can seem an overwhelming chore.  Those big cats are heavy and rock the trap back and forth making it difficult to carry.  Even the small ones can put up quite the fight.  This time of year everyone is overwhelmed with breeding cats.  You may have better luck getting help in late fall?

Thank you so much for caring about these cats.  Until you begin caring for them I don't think you realize all of the time, effort, and money it takes to watch over them properly.  Not to mention, the way we worry over them.

How many are in your colony?