CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Is it cruel for cats to eat their own babies?

Why do cats eat their own babies?

1. Human odor interference

After a mother cat gives birth, some people will keep picking up the kittens out of curiosity or worry. When there are too many people around, the kittens will be stained with human scent. The mother cat may think that the kittens are threatened by the smell and will move them away. When she feels extremely frightened, she will take an extreme approach - eating the kittens to protect herself.

2. Kittens are not competitive

When a mother cat discovers that her kittens are deformed, she is likely to eat them. This is the result of natural selection, survival of the fittest. Deformed kittens are difficult to survive in nature, so they are eaten by their mothers. Another situation is that the kittens die at birth or shortly after birth. Generally, the mother cat will transfer them, but there are also mother cats who eat them directly. Because domestic cats are subject to more human intervention, this situation is relatively rare.

3. The mother cat lacks maternal instinct

Or it could be said that the mother cats have no maternal instinct, which causes them to be unable to take care of the kittens as their own children, both subconsciously and in external behavior. There are many reasons why the mother cats have no maternal instinct. If it is a genetic problem, then the best solution is sterilization, otherwise you are likely to see the tragedy repeat itself.

4. Insufficient Food

It mainly happens in wild cats. For example, at this time, it is difficult for mother cats to find enough food themselves, so they can only kill kittens to save energy.

5. Pica

Cats may develop pica if they lack certain proteins or minerals in their daily lives, are constantly under stress, or do not drink enough water. Some cats eat their own pups during their first birth, and may develop a habit of eating pica.

6. Others

There is a saying that the mother cat doted on her kittens too much or was too nervous about giving birth for the first time, and she failed to control the intensity of the care during the care process, causing the kittens to die. In order to ensure that the smell of the dead kittens would not be discovered by predators, the mother cat had no choice but to eat the kittens.

If a cat is touched by humans and has other smells on it, the mother cat will eat the kittens to protect herself. This is the primitive self-protection consciousness of cats. As for why they eat the kittens instead of biting them to death, it is because the mother cat is in urgent need of nutrition after giving birth, and her physique is weak, and her hunting ability is slightly weak, so she eats the kittens directly. The cruelty of nature for survival is beyond your imagination.

People born in the year of the tiger cannot look at cats. This is purely a legend. Most people have seen cats and touched them, which made them popular. This is how it became.

There is another reason. If there is a weak kitten in a litter, the mother cat has insufficient milk and knows that she cannot feed it, so she will eat it to replenish her energy and feed the strong ones. This is also the survival of the fittest.

Additional information:

Due to hormonal changes or external stimulation, mother cats are likely to develop psychological diseases such as depression. Therefore, we should always pay attention to the mental health of mother cats and pay close attention to their behavior. Cats who are new mothers may refuse to breastfeed. This is because the maternal instinct of cats who are new to being "human" is weak, so they will show impatience with kittens approaching. At this time, the owner can gently press the mother cat's body to help the kittens breastfeed, and don't forget to soothe the mother cat's emotions in the process. Give it more rewards, and slowly reduce the hand pressing action after it is fully adapted. Mother cats are also easily frightened after giving birth, especially when someone approaches or wants to hold the kittens, they will show strong emotional fluctuations. This is actually a "protective" phenomenon, so people should try to disturb them as little as possible, and never let strangers approach the cat's nest to avoid irritating the mother cat.