Mother Cat continues to move kitten after the recent death of her second kitten.

Question

My cat just recently gave birth to two kittens on July 31st. Just ten minutes ago, one of the kittens died do to not being able to breath. Why, i do not know. But now the mother cat continues to pick up the remaining kitten and moving it from the box it was in to other places. What should I do? Why is she doing this? Will she harm the kitten? (This is the second litter and I believe she may have eaten one of the two kittens that were born in the first litter, we only found a head...)

Answer 1

She will continue to move her kitten until she thinks it will be safe from all outside influences.  She won't hurt it as long as you don't interfere with her.

Answer 2

I dont think she will harm the kitten, and more than likely the other kitten died from complicatons. She is moving this kitten because she feels threatened from something. Just keep an eye(if you can) on where she goes just so you can check on the kitten. And as for the first litter, I am sure she didnt eat the kitten, it is very very rare for that to happen, something else happened to that kitten!

Answer 3

My cat also has kittens right now. She moves them around, but now that they're bigger she doesn't so much any more.

I think that she is just a little but nervous because she lost some of her kittens.

Mothers would not intentionally harm their babies, so I don't think that there is a problem concerning that. Mothers, or at least Khia, are very careful when handling their kittens.

So long as you are providing her with a safe environment to raise the kitten, she should get her nerves down. Once she realizes that her kitten is in no danger, she may stop moving it around so much. If you have a closet that is reletively empty or a place that is small like that, she may feel more comfortable because she and her kitten are confined. If you do this, make sure her litter box is near by as well as her food and water.

I hope that helps.

Answer 4

Mother cats move their kittens around to where they think they will be safe.

If she doesn't know how to be a mother she is more likely to ignore the kitten than intentionally hurt it. Male cats, however, WILL go after kittens to minimize future power struggles.

Have her and her kitten evaluated by a veterinarian. You should consider having her spayed. Adopt from a shelter if you want more cats.

Answer 5

I am so sorry it hasnt gone so well. We have lost kittens recently and have a new little today of 6.

Sometimes mum cats do eat the kittens but 'normally' if the baby dies- sometimes if very ill- this is to prevent infection passing to the others in the litter or the infestation of maggots etc etc

Now, she needs to find a safe place for her baby. Show her some dark corners, maybe a safe and warm place in a cupboard or behind a chair. Just let her move it and you do your best to leave it alone because she is more likely to hurt her baby if she thinks you will harm it (she may think you hurt the one that died) so try your best to supervise from afar and let her find a place she in happy with.

Good luck with it all. I cannot imagine how you felt finding a kittens head that must have been awful. Best wishes

Answer 6

Do you have any other animals in the house? My cat had a litter on june 27th and we had one cat left over from her first litter she is 5 months old. Now i knew that males would sometimes go and eat the babies but i didn't think that females also did this. I learned the hard way; i kept finding wounds on the kittens and started to worry that they had a fungus or worms until i caught this 5 month old kitten chewing on the new born kittens. The mamma was always hissing, biting and hitting the kitten from her previous litter we thought she lost her mind or she was hormonal. Come to find out she was smart enough to know what could happen. She moved her kittens all over the house and i simply helped her complete the task (she didn't always use the back of the neck sometimes near the jugular and it scared me), she ended up in an nearlly empty closet where they stayed until they started jumping all over the house.

Answer 7

Cats are very picky about their babies, if you look at them or touch them they will try to hide them from you. Like in a closet etc. I would just let her move them to where she is comfortable with her hide away. Just as long as it is a safe place and you can very occasionally check on it.And don't touch baby until it isl older. As far as the eating of her first litter if they are dead they do that to keep it clean for the other babies. I know big Yuck, but for them that is the only way .  

Answer 8

Put her in a room by herself with a good sized box.  A box with a lid.  She wants to hide her kitten and if you keep chasing her around, she will freak out.

Cats aren't known to kill their babies, but sometimes mama's get upset and don't know what they're doing.

Inexperienced mamas will kill their babies by mistake too.

Leave her be.  She wants quiet and darkness.  Give it to her (away from the dead kitten) and she'll settle down.

Have her spayed.  Animal control and shelters have programs to help you pay.