Kitten Murder

[JCMach1]

Arghhh....

Mat cat Mika about 5 weeks ago had kittens (5). They are great and very cute and she was a decent mom.

Today, a neighbor finds a newborn abandoned feral kitten. So, we decided to try the adoption thing. I brought the newborn in and rubbed it for about 10 minutes against one of her kittens. We then took mama and baby to a nice quiet room to introduce them.

Things did not go well. Mama wanted to get up and showed no interest in nursing the kitten. Less than a minute later, she snaps... she grabs the baby by the neck and bites hard.

I then had to retrieve the corpse by chasing her down.

Meanwhile, my oldest daughter is in hysterics (she is 8).

I realize it was instinct, but...
Arggg... cats

I suppose this is the ANTI-cute cat thread...

:(

[Deja Q]

1. Holy Susan Smith!

So much for cats being a cute species... they are cute, but Mommie Dearest there is psycho.

[VolcanoJen]

15. l m f a o

Holy Susan Smith... lmfao!!!!!

Not to make light... very tragic story, and one of the "solved" mysteries of life is that life often meets a cruel, seemingly unnatural end. :-(

But... Holy Susan Smith!!

[FarmerOak]

2. That's a shame

I'm sure you meant well, and I prolly would have done the same... but I guess mama was just doing what comes natural.

I hope your little girl will be OK.

[Dookus]

3. sad...

but that's just nature.

Animals don't like to expend any energy raising OTHER animal's children. Birds seem to be easily fooled, though.

Poor little kitty.

[Taverner]

5. Not true...

Dogs, Chimpanzees and many other mammals will raise each other's young...

Cats, however, are a psycho lot. I love cats, but empathy never made it into their gene pool.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. We had a different situation

We have a tribe of stray cats outside, which have become somewhat domesticated being around us, and have "accepted" us into their family.

Last year, the matriarch of the tribe and one of her daughters both had kittens around the same time; about a week apart. The mother had four, and the daughter three.

One day, we found the mother's four kittens alone with no sign of her. We kept an eye on them. When she didn't return after nightfall, we took the four kittens and brought them to the daughter. We knew it was risky, but if they didn't eat soon, they stood a good chance of not surviving. She washed them and started nursing them immediately.

For the next four days, they shared a box with the daughter and her three kittens, all of them nursing together. When the mother returned, she took her four back, but from time to time would trade off kittens with her daughter at feeding time.

An interesting display.

[put out]

13. Yes, but mother and child are blood

and the kittens may have been sired by the same tom. Many animals will kill young not theirs. Males, certainly, but some females too. They'll kill their own sometimes, for reasons only they know. The offspring is sick or wrong in a way we can't tell; the environment is wrong; not enough food for all; another cat on the scene...

Sorry that sad thing happened to the first poster. Cats are wonderful, sentient beings. But they are what they are, and sometimes it's not too pretty.

[Burma Jones]

4. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

If you were the one that had to chase down the cat, who is Marlon Perkins?

[JCMach1]

9. My Wife, CLYRC

she did the commentary... :)

[harper]

7. I have a friend who has a dairy farm

And they have tons of cats...a cat colony as a matter of fact. She'll have several litters at a time. The mothers all nurse each other's kittens with no problem. However, all the kittens have the same father...the dominant tom. When he (the dominant tom) came onto the scene several years ago, he promptly killed all the kittens that had been fathered by the previous tom. And when is supplanted, the new tom will kill all of the current toms kittens.

Now my friend wants a lot of cats so she doesn't get the females spayed. She does make sure all of the pregnant females get wormed and have their shots, and she keeps all of us who know her in pet cats. My panda (a Siamese mix) came straight off the farm.

[FarmerOak]

8. Hmmmm...

If your friend were here, she might get flamed.

I'm just saying.

[Shananigans]

10. Ugh...I told you cats are evil!

I just don't think I will ever be a fan!

[FarmerOak]

11. You just need a shnuggly one when you're depressed, Shan.

You'll be a fan for life. It's worse than heroin.

[Arugula Latte]

20. Oh, man, ain't that the truth

If I don't have my kitty fix every day I start jonesing right away. Kitties are the absolute best. I can't live without them.

[JCMach1]

12. meanwhile 'psycho' kitty was playing with her own children tonight

go figure...

[Maine Mary]

14. Oh, how awful! But Kudos to you for trying to save the stray kitten!

I worked in an animal shelter as long as I could afford to; for about 10 months... (the shelter could only pay minimum wage) but I still volunteer from time to time.

Anyway, in my experiance(s) w/mama kitty's, I've found that in a "communal setting" (and not a very good one at that) the moms tend to be nurturing to all of the kittens whether they are their own or not. Including the less-then-perfect moms. Even "Sadie-Mae" (the mom whose personality I used to think would be a child-neglecting barfly if human) patiently nursed her own and other cat's babies.

I think what might have gone wrong in your situation is the fact that you are providing a loving home environment for your momma cat and babies; ergo, mama knows they've-got-it-good :-). Any outsider (even if it is just a baby) could very well feel threatening to her and her baby's status in your home.

I see nothing wrong in what you did. In fact I applaud your efforts. Not many people out there would be willing to take in an abandoned kitten as you did. You not only tried to help, but also tried to acclimate the stray into your home.

As horrible as it probably was for you and your daughter, perhaps you could turn the trauma into a learning experiance for her. She's only 8 so you perhaps don't want to be too blunt about the realities of this dog-eat-dog world we seem to be living in these days. But you could let your daughter know that mama cat was worried about her babies and was just trying to protect them just as you will always protect her.

[UrbScotty]

16. WTF?!

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[havocmom]

17. Have seen cats nursing older stray kittens, puppies, a squirrel

and once, a young rat. Some are just very generous mommies. Some are not. Sorta like people.

Sorry you had this expereince. It does happen. Also, I have seen a cat kill one of her own, sometimes cuz the kitten had something wrong with it.

[rexcat]

18. When I was growing up we had a Siamese cat

who had just had kittens. My parents had to take her to the vet because of some bleeding. The vet had just received an abandoned newborn kitten. When out cat heard the kitten meowing she went crazy until the kitten was brought to her. She immediately let the kitten start nursing. My parents brought home the cat and the kitten. At eight weeks the kitten was reunited with the people who had found her. She was an amazing cat!

[jmowreader]

22. Siamese are REALLY weird

Siamese toms won't kill kittens. No one knows why.

[MissMillie]

19. You tried your best

Don't fret over it.

[carols]

21. OK this is weird, but I have a male cat who likes to nurse young 'uns

We rescued a four month old tabby off a roof - she had been abandoned by mom who was fleeing with the rest of the tribe from the neighbor's dog. Although the kitten could eat solid food, she still missed the nursing experience and my big male obliged her to the point that he lost hair off his stomach. I wasn't sure if I should intervene, but they both seemed to enjoy it, so I just let it go. Then once he started doing that, one of my other older cats decided it looked like fun and he started nursing on the big guy too. I have never seen anything like it.
Carol