Cats that Kill Kittens

The automatic response of a young kitten being held in a nape-of-neck grip is to go limp to allow the mother to lift and move it. Neckbiting is an activity found in both mating behavior and in dominance behavior (which does occur between cats, though not as often as it occurs between dogs). A tomcat may attempt to assert dominance over a kitten, particularly an unruly one, and in doing so may break the kitten's neck. A tomcat which has been attracted to a nursing female may attempt to mate the female (her hormonal state invites sexual advances), but if he is repelled he may then attempt to mount a kitten instead (a displacement or frustration activity giving an alternate outlet for the mating urge). Again, the force of his jaws may break the kitten's neck.

Compare the size, sound and activity of kittens with the size, sound and activity of prey. They are both small, have high-pitched voices and move with fast, erratic movements. All of these trigger hunting behavior. In the tomcat, maternal behavior cannot always override hunting behavior and he treats the kittens in exactly the same way he would treat small prey. His instincts are confused; he simply may not be able to override the hunting response triggered by the combination of size, sound and movement even if he is normally non-aggressive towards kittens.

Finally there is the question of whether queens protect their kittens against marauding tomcats. In the lion pride, females defer to the male e.g. in relinquishing prey to him and also make little attempt to defend cubs from his attacks. The cat social structure is less well defined. Unlike lion prides, tomcats are present for less of the time and females are less submissive. Communally nesting queens have been seen to drive away attacking males. A colony's 'resident' tom may also drive off a marauding males though probably in response to territorial instinct rather than any attempt to actively protect his own offspring.

Whether a queen defends her kittens probably depends on her presence (most male attacks occur when the female is away from the nest), her physical condition (ability to defend the kittens and not sustain injury herself) and her size (she may be smaller and less powerful than a tomcat). Most queens will defend their litters against attacks from larger animals e.g. bobcats, coyotes, dogs so it is likely that they will also defend against tomcats. The fact that tomcat attacks on kittens have mostly been seen when the queen is AWAY from the nest suggests that the females will indeed protect their litters against other cats. This is not a certainty since too few kitten-killing instances have been observed from which to draw firm conclusions.

Females Killing Kittens

Kitten-killing is more often seen in females, simply because the tom is usually absent from the nest. There are numerous reasons for this behavior. As in tomcats, some females cannot switch off hunting behavior in response to the presence of kittens. Some have poorly developed maternal instincts or they may have a hormonal imbalance so that the maternal behavior is not triggered by pregnancy and kittening. Because the kittens may inherit this as a genetic trait (hypothetical but very feasible), it is wise not breed from such females again - not just to avoid the tragedy of seeing kittens killed by their mother, but to avoid the problem becoming more widespread.

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