It is said that tigers do not eat their children, so why do some female cats eat their newly born kittens?
1. Human smell interferes with
After giving birth, some people will keep picking up kittens because of curiosity or worry. Once there are too many people, the kitten is stained with human smell. The female cat may think that the kitten is threatened by the smell and will transfer them. When it feels extremely scared, it will take an extreme method - eat the kitten to protect itself.
2. Kittens are not competitive
When female cats find that the kittens they have are deformed, they are likely to eat the kittens. This is the result of natural selection. The fittest survives. Deformed kittens are difficult to survive in nature, so they are eaten by their own mother. Another situation is that the kitten dies at or shortly after birth. Generally, female cats transfer them, but some female cats eat them directly. Since domestic cats are subject to more human intervention, this situation is rarely seen.
3. The lack of maternal sex for female cats, or the lack of maternal sex for female cats, leads to their subconscious and unable to treat the kittens as their children in their external behaviors. There are many reasons why female cats have no maternity. If it is genetic problems, the best solution is sterilization, otherwise you are likely to see a tragedy repeat.
4. Inadequate food
mainly occurs in wild cats. For example, at this time, it is difficult for female cats to find sufficient food themselves, so they can only kill the kittens to preserve energy.
5. Pica
If a cat lacks certain proteins or minerals in daily life, is always in a stress state, and lacks water drinking, it will lead to pica. Some cats eat their own pups during their first delivery, and may develop a quirk of eating heterogeneously.
6. Others
There is a saying that the female cat is too doting on its cubs or is mentally nervous for the first time, and poor control of the strength during the care process causes the kitten to die. In order to ensure that the smell of the dead kitten is not discovered by predators, the female cat can only eat the kitten.