It is said that tiger poison does not eat offspring, why do some female cats eat their newborn kittens?

1. Human odor interferes

Mother After the cat is born, some people will keep picking up the kittens out of curiosity or worry. When there are too many people, the kittens will be contaminated with human odors. The mother cat may think that the kittens are threatened by the smell and will transfer them. When it feels extremely frightened, it will take an extreme way - eat the kitten to protect itself.

Second, kittens are not competitive

When mother cats find that their kittens are deformed, they are likely to eat kittens, which is the result of natural selection. Survival of the fittest, deformed kittens are difficult to survive in nature, so they are eaten by their mothers. Another situation is when the kittens die at birth or shortly after birth, usually the female cat will transfer them, but some female cats will eat them directly. Since domestic cats are subject to more human intervention, this is less common.

3. Insufficient motherhood of female cats

Or the female cats have no motherhood, which makes them unable to take care of the kittens as their own children from their subconscious external behavior. There are many reasons why a female cat is not motherly. If it is a genetic problem, then the best solution is to neuter, otherwise you are likely to see a repeat of the tragedy.

4. Insufficient food

Mainly occurs in wild cats. For example, at this time, it is difficult for mother cats to find sufficient food by themselves, so they can only kill kittens to save energy .

5. Pica

If cats lack certain proteins or minerals in their daily life, are always in a state of stress, and don't drink enough water, they will lead to pica. There are some cats who eat their own pups during their first birth and may develop a quirk of pica afterward.

6. Others

There is a saying that the mother cat spoils her cubs too much or is mentally nervous at the first birth, and her poor control of the force during the care process causes the kitten to die. The smell of dead kittens is not detected by predators, and the mother cat can only eat the kittens.