one of my female cats

Question
One of my cats had a litter about six months ago and my other female cat ate them. Now she just had a litter of he own and she ate her own litter also. why did she do this?

Answer
Felicia,

Some mother cats may cannibalize their kittens. This does not appear to be a reflection of inexperience in mother cats. It may result from anxiety brought on by too much human interference, or the stresses of other cats or dogs in the immediate environment. There can also be evolutionary causes for cannibalism, such as if the kitten has some (sometimes not obvious) defect. They will also do it for territorial reasons and if they feel something is going to kill them they will do it first.

But in the case of your cat it can also be a genetic defect. Some 'kitten killers' that eat other cat's kittens, and their own, have an inhereted defect that causes them see all kittens as prey. Surviving kittens of a 'kitten killer' mom will most likely inheret the genetic problems that influence kitten killing behaviour and pass it on.

Your cat DEFINITELY needs to be spayed right away. She also needs to be kept away from any kittens. If it is in her genetic makeup (as it appears to be) she will continue to be a 'kitten killer'. Probably spaying both cats would be advisable. It would save you (and them) alot of heartache. And the neighbors too, if they have kittens!

Here is an EXCELLENT article on 'Cats That Kill Kittens'
(copy and paste, or type, into your address browser:

http://www.messybeast.com/kill_kit.htm

Hope this info helped and thanks for writing to allexperts.com

Carol