mum cat biting kitten

by tessanne2010
(lancashire)

hi my cat gave birth to 4 kittens 8 days ago and now there is only 1 that has survived 2 died at birth, she also started to eat one of the dead ones weather it was dead at birth I will never know because I wasn't present at birth the third one was very weak and I tried to feed by hand but it would not feed and and also ended up dying. A few times now while observing I have noticed that my cat keeps going to bite her kittens abdomen, I am just wondering if this is normal behaviour as she already maybe killed and partialy ate 1 and do not wish the same to happen again she does everything else that she should and the kitten is gaining weight rapidly and other than this biting I have no concerns thanks tessa

Reply
Hi
It is extremely unlikely that your mother cat killed any of her kittens this is simply something that does not happen and if it did would be very rare indeed.

She may have thought that the kitten she was eating was the placenta as this is something they do eat after giving birth.

As for the bottom biting, not sure what this is. She may be trying to stimulate the kitten in going to the toilet and not getting it quite right. Normally they lick the back end to get things moving.. Check that the kitten is clean and does not have any problems at the back end. She may be trying to clean the kitten of get rid of something there.

Any worries about either your mother cat or her kittens health should really be addressed with a vet who may need to examine them to see if there are any issues.

So sad that you lost so many of the kittens, this may mean that the mother cat is not as healthy as you may think and may need some help nutritionally to make her and her kitten strong.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-pregnancy.html

best wishes kate

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