My brother's cat had kittens
Me and my younger brother and sister visited his house to play with them. They were so cute
Today we were going to go again, but my brother calls, and tells me that the mother literally bit one of the kittens' neck, and then proceeded to eating her own child.
What the fuck.
I am actually sick to the stomach from hearing that. I googled and it's apparently quite normal. Sometimes mother cat might just decide to starve one of her own children, and refuse to feed it, till it dies.
Fucking hell
>>2117762
Why do people like cats again?
>>Sometimes mother cat might just decide to starve one of her own children, and refuse to feed it, till it dies.
>>Me and my younger brother and sister visited his house to play with them.
These two things are connected, you know?
>>2117767
>Meanwhile.
>>Play with young pups under two months.
>>Mother's happy to share for a while and will go back to taking care of them properly afterwards.
>>2117785
>>cats arn't dogs
Who knew?
See you next cathate bait thread anon.
>>2117804
Fare well then.
*tips hat*
Yeah, cats sometimes eat kittens, bitches sometimes eat puppies, many rodents will eat their offspring, birds will often neglect a sickly chick or do nothing while it's pecked to death or pushed out of the nest. There's many reasons for it - poor maternal health, weak offspring, stressful environment, etc - animals tend to be pragmatic and will cut their losses and will eat the baby if it doesn't seem viable or a good time to be raising offspring (having strangers crashing in to play with the kittens could be a cause, or it may be totally unrelated). Your brother should have been aware of this risk before the kittens were born.
Is the mother well fed? Cheap kibble can be a reason. Cats' both natural pray and natural enemies are fast, no reason to spend limited nutrients on week cats. Also who the fuck touches kittens this young?
are you really surprised? We had in a boxer that gave birth before we could send her up to get spayed, and she ate one of the newborn pups for no obvious reason. it's what a lot of animals do, anon. you can think these animals are cuddly little companions all you want, but they're still animals that have pretty brutal instincts and tendencies by nature
the mother could have sensed that the kitten was unhealthy for whatever reason and decided that they were not worth the resources since they would die anyway. that's a common reason they do it. and eating the body is so it doesn't attract predators, and since nursing mothers need all the food they can get
tell your brother to spay his cat and to fix the kittens before he gives them away or sells them or whatever
I never heard of a dog or cat eating their young. Interesting. Usually I figured they would just abandon it. Not OP but thanks for the info.
>>2117914
I always thought it was common knowledge that you shouldn't let a cat near a young kitten if a human has touched it. If you're gonna touch the kitten at all in the early stages be prepared to not let it see near its mother until its a bit older.
>>2117920
this. when we get in stray kittens with their mother, we do everything possible to not touch them. and if we really have to, we wear gloves up the shoulders and masks and scrubs. touching any newborn animal isn't a smart idea if the mother is still caring for them
>>2117934
Second anon mentioned stray kittens, which should definitely be handled as little as possible in the early days. Cats do use scent-marking, and a stray mother is likely to be stressed out badly enough before someone keeps rubbing their hands all over her kittens and erasing her own scent. Once they're a few weeks old and more independent, it's important to start handling them as part of socialisation, but grabbing away at newborn kittens unnecessarily is going to leave the mother insecure and interfere with allorubbing which is an important part of bonding. It's less significant when its your own cat as she probably includes you in allorubbing anyway, though it's still preferable if she isn't constantly disturbed when her kittens are very young.
>>2117809
Tips fedora*
>>2117762
Yup. Totally normal. Your brother should not have been letting you and your siblings handle them. You totally triggered her prey instincts. In her tiny little cat brain, she was probably thinking that something was going to come eat her kittens. She may eat the rest too. If you guys are lucky, she'll just relocate them and try to hide them somewhere in the house. Or maybe you guys injured the kitten while you were playing with it. Any animal with half a brain will kill weak offspring so that there are more resources for the healthy offspring.
>>2117839
Hey humans do the same in most of the Western world too
>>2118291
>Any animal with half a brain will kill weak offspring so that there are more resources for the healthy offspring.
Except humans apparently think it's barbaric
>>2118424
But how do you determine what is weak? Humans have such a ridiculously wider potential that it's better to just wait and see.
>>2118424
We used to do the same. "Civilization" is pretty much the only thing keeping women from killing their babies. Still happens anyway though. Hello postpartum depression.
>>2118467
And mostly "Hello world outside the West".
Why didn't you feed it
>>2118424
Christ the edgelords are out in force today.
More to do with stress, or it could be a young inexperienced mother. There was likely nothing wrong with the kitten, this behaviour is a lot more common then people think. If people were allowed to play and fuss with the kittens too much, it could have stressed the mother. You should really try to avoid unnecessary contact while the kittens are young, otherwise there's a risk of triggering this sort of behaviour. Also, many young and first time mothers will do this anyway , simply because of inexperience. Its new and frightening to them, especially if they weren't quite physically ready for it. Happens a lot with "oops" litters where the mother simply wasn't spayed and got knocked up too early. Think of it as similar to a teenage mom freaking out and dumping her baby in a public toilet.
>spay and neuter kids
>>2118509
Yeah ok. Whatever. This still happens in the West plenty.
>>2118512
I would totally be pro spaying and neutering kids too. But some people seem really unhappy about that sort of thing for some reason.
>>2118551
I didn't say it didn't, Anon, I said it was mostly out of it.
>>2118553
Haha, I can't entirely disagree with you on that one. Next best thing is good sex ed and accessible contraception. Applies to peoples pets too oddly enough.
>>2118560
Oops! Sorry. I will agree with "mostly"
>>2117762
>>2117839
>>2117912
Tribal Africans will kill a baby over superstitious shit like if lower teeth come in first or other nonsense. They are basically animals, so four-legged animals may have the same kind of feelings that one offspring needs to be culled for some crazy reason that no one else notices.
>>2117763
My pet tiger would rape your shit tier pets
