Do mother cats eat their kittens?

Kucing kat luar rumah me ni memang sangat subur. Setiap tahun memang beberapa kali melahirkan anak kucing tapi....anaknya tak pernah me nampak hidup. Baru-baru ni mak kucing ni selalu ajer ubah anak-anak kucing ni kedudukan sehinggalah ada seekor anak kucing tu mati lemas sebab mak kucing ni letakkan dalam longkang. Exactly tempat air akan keluar.

Lepas ajer bersalinkan anak kucing yang mati lemas tu, me tengok perut si kucing ni tak kempis-kempis. Hubby kata mungkin perut kucing tu memang gitu ajer. Sekali me perasan, makin lama makin bulat perut dier sehinggalah melahirkan 3 ekor anak kucing. The next day cuma tinggal 2 ekor ajer. Seekor kucing tu dah hilang. Sehinggalah pada suatu hari Dania nampak mak kucing ni makan anak dier. Me nampak dia mula gigit kat perut anak dier tu. Lepas tu me, hubby dan Dania keluar kejap sebab nak pergi makan. Sekaliiiiiii bila balik rumah....taraaa...............kepala anak kucing ni dah takde. Heran jugak la kenapa jadi macam ni?

Yang boleh disimpulkan di sini ialah.....mak kucing ni memang makan anak-anak dier. But why?

Ni lah jawapan yang me jumpa dalam Yahoo.

if the mother cat feels that one of her kittens is sick and could get the others sick it will kill it or pick up the healthy ones and walk away leaving the sick one behind to save her other babies. she wont EAT them though

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So I'm guessing that the mother cat ate her kitten for the following reasons: 

1. The kitten was touched by a human and thus had a foreign smell. The mother cat could not recognize her own kitten and therefore murdered her. 

2. As the kitten was frail and fragile, the mother cat might have thought that the kitten wouldn't be able to live long and thus killed her to save her from the misery of living in the future where she would have to suffer even worse conditions. (Be cruel to be kind) 

3. The mother cat was simply hungry. 

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Not usually...But sometimes if the kittens r held by humans or the mother cat smells strange smell on the kittens, she can kill them n usually when they do this they eat them..I have had over 20 kittens through the yrs off my cats, but none of them has ever done this, n i have held the kittens, practically from birth, 1 i actually did hold straight from birth, but it woulda died if i didnt. I had a tome cat that killed some of my kittens once, but never had a mother cat do it. Tho my cousin had a rabbit n she always killed her babies n would eat them. But myself Ive never experienced it in all the kittens Ive had. I dont know of a female cat that has done...some, do kill their babies, if there is a strange smell.

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Kami tak pernah pun pegang anak-anak kucing ni. Dania kata kucing ni tak sedar diri. Dia ingat dia tu harimau. Itu lah sebab makan anak dier....ehm.....