A few days ago, veterinarian Xiao Ming received a private message from a feces scraper, saying that the cat at home had just given birth and ate one of its own cubs while he was away.

In fact, it is not uncommon for cats to swallow their babies, and there are many reasons for this. Below, veterinarian Xiao Ming will give you some popular science on this matter.

1. Cannot distinguish the odor of the cubs

Cats have a very keen sense of smell and are also very sensitive to odors, which can be seen from their tendency to mark their territory.

Many cat owners like to touch the kittens after a female cat gives birth to them, thinking they are so cute. But in fact, the cub's body has been contaminated with human breath.

At this time, the mother cat cannot distinguish the smell of the cubs, and will choose to bite the unknown target to death to protect her other children.

It is recommended that the scavenger should not have too much contact with the cubs to avoid this situation.

2. The cubs are in poor physical condition.

Female cats can usually give birth to many cubs in one litter, and some of the cubs may have deformities or poor physical condition, which makes them difficult to survive. The scavenger cannot detect this, but the mother cat can identify them.

Female cats judge such cats as "failures" and feel that they cannot survive. Therefore, the female cat does not want to waste too much energy taking care of these sick cats, and will choose to throw them away or eat them, and by the way, it can also supplement some nutrition for itself.

3. The female cats themselves have no experience and have not stimulated their maternal instinct.

Some female cats are mothers for the first time. They have little experience, and some of the hormones they secrete in the body cannot reach a balanced state. As a result, they have very little maternal instinct after giving birth.

In addition, some cats are overstressed due to pregnancy and become depressed. Therefore, if you lose control of your emotions even a little bit, you may eat your own cubs.

It is recommended that cat owners should comfort female cats after they give birth to avoid postpartum depression.

4. Insufficient milk supply

If the cat cannot provide sufficient nutrition to the female cats after they give birth, their milk supply will be insufficient.

Therefore, they will choose those pups with poor physical fitness to reduce the pressure of feeding themselves.

If you don’t want this situation to happen, you need to supplement the cats’ nutrition after giving birth. You can feed the female cat fish soup, etc.

5. Have had stillbirths in previous births

Some cats may have eaten their own babies when they gave birth for the first time, so when they gave birth again, they retained their previous habits.

In addition to the above five common reasons, there are also some situations where female cats may eat their cubs. For example, if a female cat is severely dehydrated during the birth process and loses a lot of water in her body, she will eat her cubs to replenish water. For example, if a stillbirth occurs during childbirth, the mother cat will dispose of the cub's body by ingesting it.

In fact, as long as we take good care of our cats and supplement them with the nutrients they need, it is not uncommon for cats to swallow their babies. We also need to pay attention to the mental state of the mother cat after giving birth. If any abnormalities are found, the mother cat and the cubs should be taken care of separately as soon as possible. In addition, a clean, warm and quiet cat nest should be provided for the female cat after giving birth.

Have you ever encountered a mother cat swallowing her cubs? You can share it in the comment area.