Do male cats sometimes kill newborn kittens? Are there any warning signs?
by 
amber_slemmons
ANSWERS: 24
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yes, sadly they do sometimes. when ever the father of our cats would come around he would purr and act real affectionate, but thats not what he has on his mind.. after a while its like he is trying to rough house with the kittens. but, hey, they are kittens and the male probably never been around such a small animal other than a mouse!
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If a new male lion takes over a pride, he will kill all the cubs that aren't his--no sense working to feed and protect something that doesn't carry his genes. Male cats sometimes do the same thing. There are documented incidents of intact male cats killing kittens.
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It is an instinct of the male cat. Once the mother stops nursing, she will go into heat again and he can mate. He gets rid of the kittens that are probably not his, and can mate with her sooner.
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I didn't have any warning, he just attacked them.
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We had a mama kitty & three kittens in our garage. When they were 4 weeks old a neighborhood male got in our garage when I took out our garbage. It killed one kitten, the strongest biggest one, a male too. It scratched the second before my presence scared him off. I believe this to be the same male spraying at my front door. It was a horrifying & saddening experience. Keep your kittens safe from male cats until 4 months!
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My male cat absolutely loves his newborns. They are only a day old at the moment. :) But from the minute the last one was born [and I let him near them], he helped Momma clean them up and lead them to a nipple. It was the cutest thing! Scooter [male] is so affectionate towards his babies, and the MommaCat, it's so darling!! I do keep a close eye on him, though. Just incase. He loves to cuddle up with Mom and babies and nap. :) Mom will sometimes wander off to eat, and dad stays right by the babies until Mom comes back. Maybe I'm just lucky, I guess.
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I Have three kittens and are about 6 weeks old. The male cats in my house are very affectionate towards the kittens but recently a stray cat managed into my house and attacked the kittens and injured the hind legs of one of the kittens before the mumma cat could rescue them.
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yes it is true. It is sad knowing that,can't they all get along.
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my cat gave birth yesterday i wasnt there when it happened. when I went looking for both my cats (male and the pregnant female) they were both cuddled up the travel box, with these three kittens, i put some food down and the mother went 2 eat, as i watched the newborns the male seemed 2 be looking after them but then went 2 bite one! i separated them immidiatly. could he have alredy eaten any of the kittens or did she only have 3. hes been going mad to get at them and attacked the female. has any1 any advice? he has been nutered xxx
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Yes . . . it's some instinct about the mother cat coming in heat again sooner. I think all males of the feline family do this.
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As far as I am aware this is nature, if the kittens die the queen/female will come back into call, then of course the male will get to mate her again. Normally a good mother will fight off any threats with her life, but always best to keep other cats away from babies for safety, although some males will help with the rearing process it is not worth the risk. No signs I am aware of (as cat breeder)
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my cat is about 2 give birth in the next wk my male cat follows her all the time my dog has started snapping at my cat also i feel she gets no peace im thinking of getting a dog crate 4 her so she has peace and her kittens r safe when they arrive as we always put are cats and dog in kitchen at bed time would this b ok
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That's why I moved a mother cat and her kittens into my garage. There were two tom cats lurking ready to kill them. The cat meowed at the door and wanted hubby and I to stand guard while she had the kittens, then two hours after she had them we had to move them in to protect them from the tom. They are three days old.
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I have had a cat do this to my female cat. She had two kittens and one survived. I was not home when she had them, but I found pieces of the little kitty (sorry). My male cat was a good cat too, i never expected him to do that.
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i have recently found a 6 week old kitten on the side of the road, i couldnt find its mom, so i brought it home to my 2 other cats, my female cat didnt want anything to do with this kitten, but my fixed 8 month old male cat follow him around, but he was afraid of it at first, but now he loves the little kitten to death, they sleep together and eat together and play with each other, i can seprate them.
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Sometimes its true with wild or untrained male cats, But I recently received a very small male kitten he was taken away from his mother to soon and dumped off on the side of the road. (sad) But, I have a very large little less then a year old male cat, And he seemed a little off put by his presences for about the first 3 hours, then he sniffed the small kitten while he was sleeping, and just started cleaning him, Ive had the kitten at my home for about 2 days now and they are inseparable. they sleep, eat and play together constantly I am still a little weary of this though, so i do keep a close eye on them while they are together, but for the most part it seems to be going very well. but for my advice, if you bring a small kitten home, let the larger cats sniff the kitten while you are holding it, if they show the LEAST bit of aggression (which is normal at first) take them out asap and give it a few hours before reintroducing them. this is sometimes ALOT harder when showing a new kitten to a male over the age of 1.
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Be very careful about this and monitor very consistently. I had a male stray kitten dumped at my backyard and I semi- adopted it. Feed it well and looked after it. Had it for about 10 months. It disapeared for a week. I thought it got hit by a car or had an accident. I got a male kitten and then several days after that, the original cat turned back up after a week and a half. I caught it three times pinning the kitten down and trying to kill it. I fed and watered them seperately. Kitten inside, mature cat outside. Didn't work. I eventually got rid of the stray cat because it wasn't really a family pet. (Please don't ask, but it was done humanely and quickly). Keep a close eye on this, if the Tom feel threaten it will try to remove the threat.
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well this isn't really an answer, but a situation, and if anyone has any input for me, that would be great. it all started out with my female cat Pinky, i've had her since she was born, then my room mate had her female cat, Owen. Pinky got pregnant first and had a litter, then Owen got pregnant and had a litter, then Pinky got pregnant again and had another litter. I know what your probably thinking, i should really get my cats fixed. i know i do. but, you know, hard times. but anyway, OH! and i kept a male kitten from Pinkys first litter named Quinton. Now, he has done Owen... and his mother.. which i think is totally weird, but pretty much uncontrollable. Last night Owen had her litter of four cuties and Pinky is about to pop any day now. Im really nervous about having Quinton around these kittens. I mean i have a small apartment, and its hard to keep them seperated. PLEASE if ANYONE has any advice, Im kinda freaking out.
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i love kittens, cats, and all other animals
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If you see a male cat with a kitten's head in his mouth, that's probably a warning sing.
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My female cat gave birth in July of 2008 to 4 kittens, 1 male and 3 females. I kept the male along with her. Just before she was to get fixed in January, she became pregnant again. She was very aggressive towards the male I had kept and would not let him come near her at all. Her male kitten was fixed about a week before she gave birth and once his hormones calmed down she was totally fine with him. The male was curious about the kittens and carried off one of them at two days old. Since then he does not go into the babies room unsupervised and spends a lot of time at a friends house, especially when I am at work. Being fixed may not help with that type of aggression. He did not harm the kitten but it seemed like unusual behavior to me.
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My Cat was pregnet an I was sooo excited. Then I went outside one morning and found three dead kittens. The male tom cat was lying next to my steps and was just about dead. When I investigated the kittens you could see that all three had been bitten in the neck. now I have still not found my momma cat, but I'm hoping there were more then three kittens and that she is somewhere protecting them. As far as warning signs I don't think there are any other then the fact that she hated the tom cat throughout the whole pregnecy. But what I fing the weirdest is that I have seen that same tom cat protect the last litter of kittens. He was with them more then the mother. I never would have guessed that he would do somehting like that!!!!
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yes,I had beautiful two kittens,but when they were 8 weeks old their mother died(found under mysterious circumstances.Later we took care of them,they were very close to my family.they even understood what we said to them,a big cat from neighbourhood was wandering our house we always ensured that our kittens were not facing this cat.but suddenly on one fine morning we saw that one of cat was lying dead and another cat missing,still iam not able to come to terms with this loss because they were not just kittens or animals they were one of our family members.i have a gulity that i was not able to save them from that big cat
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i would hope not
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