- Joined
- Mar 14, 2014
- Messages
- 2,171
- Purraise
- 1,213
I will add that I've not seen this happen before but I do wonder if there are dogs or raccoons in the neighborhood? They will kill a cat, especially a kitten.
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Do Male Cats Kill Kittens?
- Thread starter harini
- Start Date
It sounds like your overwhelmed with kittens there @Bessie Glavas Have you tried getting anyone to help you with the TNR? Try Alley Cat Allies, The Humane Society or the SPCA. Once you've got the toms neutered and all the females spayed the fighting will stop and then you can concentrate on finding homes for the kittens. You really need to get the whole colony fixed before you do any more. The females will keep producing litters faster than you can re-home them and, as you know, feral kittens have very short sad lives.
I have 3 cats. I got my youngest, Oreo, a Persian/Siamese who is almost a yr old, when she was very young. My son found her abandoned and she had to be bottle fed in addition to weaning. She could barely walk but she took to litter box quickly. My male, Morris, a Bengal/Persian is a yr old. He was an outdoor semi feral cat that I got from a neighbor when he was 4 months old. My neighbors outdoor cat got pregnant by a big Bengal who kept showing up every yr to mate with her cat. My Morris has always been shy. He is very attached to me and he doesn't like anyone but me and my son to hold him. But he loves being petted. My other female, Kitty, a norwegian forest cat/Manx, I assume is 1 or 2 yrs old, I got from a friend about 7 months ago. Well, my Morris got Kitty pregnant thru her crate when she was last in heat. She goes thru silent heat but shows signs of heat. I separate them when she goes into heat. He freaks out and goes thru the house howling and digging furniture right before she goes into heat. He has been very protective of Oreo and Kitty. Kitty is due any day to give birth and he sticks by her. Oreo was just in her first heat for about a week and the entire time he didn't once act out or try to mate with her (although I did separate them) he got crated before I went to bed or left the house as a precaution. He is very protective of my cats who I let out during the day for a little bit. They never leave my porch. If a stray male shows up, he protects the others. Kitty will try to break it up tho. When I feed them, he waits til they are done before he eats. He has never sprayed at all. Although, a couple times he intentionally peed on my lap becuz he didn't like my boyfriend. Kitty once climbed in my lap and peed on me too. Anyways, he has been very loving and caring to my females and his close buddy is Oreo. He has been especially close to kitty her whole pregnancy. I plan to get my females fixed but will be leaving him unfixed becuz he isn't sexually aggressive, or aggressive in any other way, and he is an overall calm cat. He used to try to hump Oreo when they were both still kittens but he's stopped. He and Oreo are so close and can't stand being separated. He has been sleeping with kitty in her nesting box and he pretty much sticks to her. If she gets up to eat or go to the litter box he meows at her and has to follow her around. Sometimes kitty swaps him when she wants peace but otherwise, no problem. I grew up with a cat of my own who I had from a couple weeks old to 16yrs and when she had kittens with my moms cat who was a rescued feral kitten,her cat would always care for the kittens and he was a good father. But then again mine and my moms cat never went outside after we got them. A friend of my moms had a cat that had kittens when I was real little and their family dog who was friendly and loves the mama and daddy cat murdered the kittens and tried to eat them when the kittens were a couple months old. The dog didn't try to attack the parents tho. If my Morris does act out over his and kitty's kittens, I will confine her to my room with a litter box and food and water dish. She has made 2 nests. One in my bedroom and the other is a box with the flaps closed in my kitchen. She has spent the past couple weeks sleeping in the middle if the kitchen floor. I can't let him out full time (even tho he was for the first 4months of his life) becuz I live in an area close to a road. In my state it's a crime to kill a cat or dog and animal cruelty will land u in jail. We also no longer have no kill shelters. The rescue centers and animal control capture, fix, and release feral cats back into the area they were picked up from. Also, in my area, everyone I know has gotten their cats vasectomies instead of neutering them. It's a good idea too since if they mate with a female in heat, she will go into 45 day psuedo pregnancy and won't be pregnant. It helps keep the population down becuz females aren't in heat and it won't leave a cat without the urge to defend himself or the cats he protects should danger happen.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2015
- Messages
- 76
- Purraise
- 17
Here I am joining a very old thread again...
No, in my experience, male cats do not kill kittens, neither their own nor those of other toms. Quite the opposite.
Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I'd make the point with the photos below. The spotted/mackerel tabby tom is father to the two kittens, whom I named Dapple (reddish spotted tabby) and Pogo (black mackerel tabby). Papa Buggles won't be fathering any more kittens because he's had a vasectomy. (No, I don't mean a neuter, I mean a vasectomy.)
Without further ado, here he is in the nest grooming his kittens and licking their little bottoms. Mama cat was on a break lying on the floor in the same room, and appeared completely unperturbed by his being in the nest.
The following two photos show his typical behaviour toward the mother cat and kittens. He became very attentive after they were born, and spent most of the first two weeks in the small room where the nest was located. He is NOT humping her in the second photo; he is fast asleep!
So there you have it -- photographic documentation of a real tom's real devotion to his queen and kittens.
You might think his tolerance is special to his own kittens, but that is not the case. Here he is with Squib, whom he did not father:
He has been a tolerant and enthusiastic playmate to her, and growled/hissed all of once upon meeting her for the first time. The female at left (Flobwurst) continued growling and hissing intermittently for over a week.
No, in my experience, male cats do not kill kittens, neither their own nor those of other toms. Quite the opposite.
Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I'd make the point with the photos below. The spotted/mackerel tabby tom is father to the two kittens, whom I named Dapple (reddish spotted tabby) and Pogo (black mackerel tabby). Papa Buggles won't be fathering any more kittens because he's had a vasectomy. (No, I don't mean a neuter, I mean a vasectomy.)
Without further ado, here he is in the nest grooming his kittens and licking their little bottoms. Mama cat was on a break lying on the floor in the same room, and appeared completely unperturbed by his being in the nest.
The following two photos show his typical behaviour toward the mother cat and kittens. He became very attentive after they were born, and spent most of the first two weeks in the small room where the nest was located. He is NOT humping her in the second photo; he is fast asleep!
So there you have it -- photographic documentation of a real tom's real devotion to his queen and kittens.
You might think his tolerance is special to his own kittens, but that is not the case. Here he is with Squib, whom he did not father:
He has been a tolerant and enthusiastic playmate to her, and growled/hissed all of once upon meeting her for the first time. The female at left (Flobwurst) continued growling and hissing intermittently for over a week.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2015
- Messages
- 76
- Purraise
- 17
Apparently it's not only my boy has this parenting instinct...
https://www.thedodo.com/male-cat-becomes-adopted-daddy-to-orphaned-kittens-1145167759.html
"Henry is such a devoted new dad that when his kittens went to the veterinarian on Wednesday he `paced and cried all day,' and as soon as they came back `he hopped in to give everyone a thorough washing and make sure they were all in good shape.'"
Perhaps the notion that male cats are uninterested in kitten-care arises partly because we project onto cats our own gender stereotypes about male and female roles in childrearing.
https://www.thedodo.com/male-cat-becomes-adopted-daddy-to-orphaned-kittens-1145167759.html
"Henry is such a devoted new dad that when his kittens went to the veterinarian on Wednesday he `paced and cried all day,' and as soon as they came back `he hopped in to give everyone a thorough washing and make sure they were all in good shape.'"
Perhaps the notion that male cats are uninterested in kitten-care arises partly because we project onto cats our own gender stereotypes about male and female roles in childrearing.
I currently have 3 adult cats. Kitty, Oreo, and Morris. Kitty and Morris are the parents of 5 week old kittens. Oreo, my other female helped deliver the kittens, and Morris stuck close to the mom but didnt touch the kittens until recently. Oreo and Morris help clean the kittens and they play gently with them. and they also share a pet bed with the kittens, and Kitty. Oreo and Morris purr and chirp and they are very loving to the kittens.
Morris (the one in the middle), Oreo (black and white), and Kitty(calico).
Kitty and Kittens.
Morris and Oreo with the kittens.
Morris (the one in the middle), Oreo (black and white), and Kitty(calico).
Kitty and Kittens.
Morris and Oreo with the kittens.
Last edited by a moderator:
I have recently read a semi-scientific book by John Bradshaw, Cat sense. This was a popular book, but Bradshaw himself is a british scinetist in the field of animal behavior.
There he has the hypothesis, the usage of cat females in the open, to let them be mated with as many males as possible, ie all the present ones, is a way to safeguard none of them will harm nor kill her kittens.
Que? And this said not by a dumbwit born yesterday, but by a scientist into animal behavior, himself cat owner, and doing resaarching on cat behavior...
But the kittens born will be fathered not by them all, by three at most... Probably just one...
So, what does that mean: the toms dont really recognize the kittens are their own offspring or not. What the do recognize, the kittens are children of a female they did mated with....
And this indirectly reinforce and confirms what I had long believed in as my practical observation: toms / studs, whom are friends with the mom, are no danger to the kittens, be they their biological offspring or from some other tom /stud.
Its quite the opposite: they will often be very friendly to the kittens, even real co-moms.
As withnessed here above.
As we see from Bradshaws hypothesis, they dont even need to be close friends, its enough they did met once - and mated...
Its only toms whom are completely strangers to the mom, whom MAY be dangerous to the kittens.
I mean, the danger is real, bad deeds do happen esp with toms whom come in astraying, as some also did witnessed. . But not even this is a rule. Some toms may be friendly even protective also to completely unknown kittens.
So, beware of toms from the outside. But a tom or stud whom is a good friend with the mom, is in practice no danger - sooner the opposite. Even if the wise do supervise some in the beginning, till you are SURE.
There he has the hypothesis, the usage of cat females in the open, to let them be mated with as many males as possible, ie all the present ones, is a way to safeguard none of them will harm nor kill her kittens.
Que? And this said not by a dumbwit born yesterday, but by a scientist into animal behavior, himself cat owner, and doing resaarching on cat behavior...
But the kittens born will be fathered not by them all, by three at most... Probably just one...
So, what does that mean: the toms dont really recognize the kittens are their own offspring or not. What the do recognize, the kittens are children of a female they did mated with....
And this indirectly reinforce and confirms what I had long believed in as my practical observation: toms / studs, whom are friends with the mom, are no danger to the kittens, be they their biological offspring or from some other tom /stud.
Its quite the opposite: they will often be very friendly to the kittens, even real co-moms.
As withnessed here above.
As we see from Bradshaws hypothesis, they dont even need to be close friends, its enough they did met once - and mated...
Its only toms whom are completely strangers to the mom, whom MAY be dangerous to the kittens.
I mean, the danger is real, bad deeds do happen esp with toms whom come in astraying, as some also did witnessed. . But not even this is a rule. Some toms may be friendly even protective also to completely unknown kittens.
So, beware of toms from the outside. But a tom or stud whom is a good friend with the mom, is in practice no danger - sooner the opposite. Even if the wise do supervise some in the beginning, till you are SURE.
Hiya.. So this morning i woke up to a hurtful screaming.. I thought it was our kitten having her litter but i actually found our male less than a year old boy cat trying to mate with this other little kitten..also the little kitten looks like its eyes have just opened has a nasty gash in its ear from our male cat hurting it. He has stolen it from somewhere.. He's always hunted since he was tiny.. But this act made me google his actions... Can anyone enlighten me on this situation plz
Last edited by a moderator:
Where is the kitten now @mzkani ? Do you still have her with you? Is the mother around? Kittens that size can't survive on their own. You need to get a vet to check her over and you'll need to take care of her yourself if she is to survive.
You can start a thread in this forum and people will be happy to advise you how to take care of her.
http://www.thecatsite.com/f/36/pregnant-cats-and-kitten-care
If you can't look after her then please hand her over to a no-kill shelter so they can raise her.
I think you need to get your male cat neutered. Cats can start producing kittens from the age of 6 months, you need to make sure all your cats are spayed and neutered or you'll have no end of kittens. Google low cost spay and neuter clinics in your area, they'll be able to help you.
You can start a thread in this forum and people will be happy to advise you how to take care of her.
http://www.thecatsite.com/f/36/pregnant-cats-and-kitten-care
If you can't look after her then please hand her over to a no-kill shelter so they can raise her.
I think you need to get your male cat neutered. Cats can start producing kittens from the age of 6 months, you need to make sure all your cats are spayed and neutered or you'll have no end of kittens. Google low cost spay and neuter clinics in your area, they'll be able to help you.
in my experience (tnr member) and over 35 years with hundreds of cats, not usually. If anything the other females are more aggressive. The lion killing another lions cubs does NOT apply to regular cats imho.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2015
- Messages
- 76
- Purraise
- 17
@mzkani First of all please take the kitten away from him! A kitten whose eyes have just opened needs to be fed by hand every few hours if you cannot get it back to the mother. You can buy kitten milk replacement formula at most pet stores. Also separate the kitten from your other cats until you get an all-clear from a vet on its health. You need to keep it warm -- kittens that young cannot regulate their own body temperatures. If your resident cat is about to have kittens and you cannot get the dragged-in kitten back to its mom then your cat may very well adopt and nurse it along with her kittens, but you NEED to be sure that the new kitten does not have any communicable diseases or parasites first.
Secondly I would urge you to re-think letting your cat roam freely, especially if he is being violent to neighbourhood cats. Outdoor cats live approximately half as long as indoor cats, can contract and spread diseases to and from other cats, and he will also father more kittens (that will likely end up homeless) if he is not sterilized. Horny male cats will sometimes hump whatever furry feline is nearby (or try), but this is not usually violent in my experience. However with a kitten so small he can easily hurt it.
I sincerely hope this poor little thing is ok. There are lots of forum members with rescue experience who can help you. Good luck.
Secondly I would urge you to re-think letting your cat roam freely, especially if he is being violent to neighbourhood cats. Outdoor cats live approximately half as long as indoor cats, can contract and spread diseases to and from other cats, and he will also father more kittens (that will likely end up homeless) if he is not sterilized. Horny male cats will sometimes hump whatever furry feline is nearby (or try), but this is not usually violent in my experience. However with a kitten so small he can easily hurt it.
I sincerely hope this poor little thing is ok. There are lots of forum members with rescue experience who can help you. Good luck.
My male cat isn't feral but he killed 3 kittens. Now the momma cat is mourning her babies. Have a new set that born in a rabbits cage I had laying around hopefully these will be safe.
Is the male cat neutered? Why not get the momma cat spayed so she can stop having kittens?
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
I live out in the country. I had a small 6 week kitten and she wanted to sleep on the couch by herself instead of with me in bed. I have a cat flap and male cat came in and went down hall and killed my kitten on the couch. I heard her scream and came running down the hall male cat ran down hall and out the flap. my kitten died in my arms...never had that happen before or since.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2017
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
When I was a little girl we had a black cat named Inky and she would have kittens about three times a year. Both of my parents being country kids, cats to them didn't go to the vet. They didn't spay or neuter them, They never saw a vet.
when Inky had a liter of kittens one time, my mother and I came home and we found two of the kittens beheaded.
My mother said that a Tom must have gotten in and killed them. I always thought that cats were a temporary thing to begin with so it didn't bother me then...However as I grew up I made special effort to keep males away from my mama kitty. I'll always have a picture of those kitten heads with the closed eyes in my head when I think of male cats killing kittens.
when Inky had a liter of kittens one time, my mother and I came home and we found two of the kittens beheaded.
My mother said that a Tom must have gotten in and killed them. I always thought that cats were a temporary thing to begin with so it didn't bother me then...However as I grew up I made special effort to keep males away from my mama kitty. I'll always have a picture of those kitten heads with the closed eyes in my head when I think of male cats killing kittens.
I doubt that it was another cat that beheaded those kittens. More likely it was a coyote or even a raccoon. Tomcats tend to get a bad rap from people, especially on this thread. My experiences with toms have been very different. The ones in my area have never attacked kittens to my knowledge, and a few have been quite loving and caring towards their kittens. It is people, on the other hand, who poison and shoot cats. It is never safe for young kittens to be out on their own outside. Once weaned, they should be taken to a shelter where they can be cared for and socialized and hopefully adopted out.
My tom (not feral) not only killed one of his 3 day old kittens, he ate everything except the head and one foot. A rather gruesome discovery. The kittens were inside and we had been keeping them locked in a crate with the queen for the first three days. I made the mistake of leaving the crate open at 5am so she could eat and use the litter box and my son found the kitten head at 7:30am. No raccoons in the house. I have seen his handiwork with mice and rats. We are going to be much more careful with keeping them locked up and he is getting neutered in two days. Hopefully after a couple weeks he will be less hormonal. I am pretty worried because we want to keep a kitten (the one he killed was one of the two we were thinking of keeping). I am scared he might continue to go after it later.
Good job getting him neutered.
Are you sure he killed that kitten? Sometimes if a kitten is sick or dies of natural causes the mother will eat the body. It's just part of their instinct to keep the nest clean and free from anything which might attract predators.
I don't think you need to worry about him going after the kittens as they grow up. Male cats know their own kittens and, as long as everyone is spayed and neutered, they usually take very good care of them.
The cat in my avatar and his son were the best of friends.
A male stray cat killed my female cat today. Obviously I am so sad and upset about this. But I am also really shocked! This happened at my house (the females terroritory. The make. At appeared a few weeks ago and has fought with my cat a few time...my cat would jump up onto the house to avoid him if I would take her into the house. This evening these cat was meowing at my front door until I chased him. Please could you help me to understand griis behaviour? Thanks
I am guessing your female wasn't fixed? The male definitely wasn't so he was aggressively looking for sex.
