male cat & kitten

Question
Well...I should say, I assume "male" cat.  We have a frequent back yard visitor we call "Black Cat" who we've watched get bigger to his beautiful, sleek young adult size now.  We assume he is a male because he enjoys "spraying" various locations in our back yard.  Yesterday my husband observed him hop the fence, trot across the yard, then hopped the next fence and away, carrying a little gray kitten. We never noticed him look "pregnant."  We sadly assume this kitten was "prey."  We have no hard feelings toward Black Cat I suppose.  But now interested in understanding more about male cats and kittens. Do you have any knowledge or experience on this subject you could share with us?


Answer
Hi Christine,
Well I am going to 'assume' black cat is actually a female ! Females carry kittens around.. not males. A mom cat would not be carrying one of her own kittens over a great distance. Moms will move their kittens but usually not too far from where they started, so that could be a possibility depending on how far this cat went with the kitten in its mouth?! Female cats can spray to mark their territory also so maybe this cat is indeed a female?? It is a myth that only male cats spray but male cats certainly have the strongest most pungent odor when they mark! A female's urine just smells like urine... a male's urine smells like a combination of skunk, old litter box and dirty socks and is almost oily in texture so it is really hard to clean off !! PHEW!!

If this is indeed a male cat, it is unlikely it was carrying a kitten as prey. If a male cat were to be aggressive towards kittens they would kill them where they were at and not carry them around. This is not a common occurrence but it has happened with domestic cats on rare occasions and usually with newborn kittens.
Now, are you sure he was carrying a kitten and not a small grey rat?? yuck... Cats do not eat their 'own'  but this cat could have killed a rat and be carrying it home to show off to its owners! That would be way more likely !!  And they will carry a rat or mouse or snake or ?? quite a distance to show it off to their queasy owner !! From a distance it would have certainly looked about the size and colour of a kitten !!
Teresa