Why does a female cat kill her babies after giving birth?

Mar 22,2024
3Min

Maternal love is the nature of all female animals. Once they have their own children, they will protect them at all costs. Cat owners will find that female cats will kill their babies after giving birth or during lactation. Why do cats behave like this?

1. Kittens are deformed.

Some kittens will be born with deformities or disabilities that are invisible to the naked eye. If the mother cat smells a bad smell on them, she will take the initiative to bite them to death.

Because it is difficult for them to survive in nature, mother cats will focus their limited energy on healthy children.

2. Protect kittens.

When a cat’s maternity room is visited by a strange smell, and the mother cat thinks the smell is dangerous and cannot move the babies, she will choose to kill them as a special protection.

However, most cat mothers will choose to hide their kittens and move them, and few cat mothers will directly kill their babies.

3. The kitten has a different smell.

Some cat mothers will kill their kittens because they have been touched by other people or animals.

Because the scent of the mother cat is covered in the kitten, the cat will regard the kitten as prey, or kill the baby for the purpose of protection.

4. Lack of motherhood.

Due to reasons such as incomplete cat development, premature mating, and imbalanced hormonal secretion, the mother cat does not have the instinct of a female cat, and will be stimulated to have the wrong instinct and kill the kittens.

5. The kitten died naturally.

In a litter, some babies die due to natural causes. In order to prevent attracting predators, the mother cat will choose to transfer the remaining healthy babies.

A more convenient way is to eat the corpse, thus creating the illusion that the babies died because of the mother cat.

Previous article:Use white vinegar to wash out your cat’s shiny hair!
Next article:How to take care of a two-month-old cat that has just arrived at a new home
Related articles