People who eat cats. Do cats really eat their kittens?

Cat meat is eaten in China and Vietnam. However, during difficult times, cats were also eaten in other countries. For example, during the famine in besieged Leningrad. In 1996, the Argentine press wrote about the consumption of cat meat in the slums of the city of Rosario, but in fact such information was in the media of Buenos Aires.

In 2008, cat meat was reported to be a major part of the diet of Guangdong people in China. Cats were brought there from the northern part of China, and one company supplied up to 10,000 cats a day from different parts of China.

Protests in many provinces in China have led local authorities in the city of Guangzhou to take strong action against cat dealers and cat meat restaurants. Although the law prohibiting the consumption of cat meat was never passed. Barbaric methods of torturing animals are used in restaurants. They are brought to a state close to death and immersed in boiling water. It is believed that due to the huge amount of adrenaline in the blood of an animal, meat is put more tender and tasty before death.

A skinned carcass of a cat is often passed off as a rabbit, since without the skin, tail, head and paws, their carcasses look very similar. In this case, they can only be distinguished by their paws (which is why when selling a butchered rabbit, paws covered with wool are left). In Spanish-speaking countries, there is an expression "Dar gato por liebre", which means "slip a cat instead of a hare." And in Portugal, the expression "Comprar gato por lebre" means "buy a cat instead of a hare." Particularly in Brazil, cat meat is considered disgusting and residents are often afraid to buy barbeques in public places for fear that they are made from cat meat. Since hygiene standards are not observed in such establishments and it is almost impossible to establish the origin of meat, in Brazil their products are often jokingly called “churrasco de gato” - cat barbecue (in Russia there is a joke about this “buy three shawarmas - collect a cat”, and also the expression "kitty pies").

But the Vietnamese use cat meat for health purposes, believing that this meat helps with asthma, tuberculosis, heart and other diseases. In the backyard of Vietnamese restaurants, you can often see cages with cats of various colors - a clear sign that you should not order meat in this establishment.

It is believed that the inhabitants of the city of Vicenza in Northern Italy eat cats, although the last fact of this took place several decades ago. In February 2010, a well-known Italian gourmet was criticized on a television show for reporting on recent cases of eating cat stew in the Italian region of Tuscany.

During the famines of World Wars I and II in Europe, cat meat was often passed off as Australian rabbit meat. In some Vietnamese restaurants, potted cat meat is served under the name "little tiger", and inside these establishments you can often find cages with cats.

Veterinarians often hear from owners the question of whether a cat can eat its kittens. Unfortunately, this phenomenon sometimes occurs and affects not only dead, but also living cubs. This strange behavior is much less common in cats than in rabbits and pigs. However, a person who decides to start breeding cats should learn about cannibalism from them in a timely manner in order to take all necessary measures in a timely manner to prevent this extremely unpleasant phenomenon.

When Cat Eating Kittens Is Normal

In some cases, the fact that a cat eats its newborn kittens is normal instinctive behavior, which is prompted by nature, and does not mean that something is wrong with the animal.

The normal reasons why a cat ate a kitten include the following cases:

stillborn kittens - inanimate offspring are eaten by a cat along with the afterbirth for the speedy recovery of strength and prevention of damage to the den due to the decomposition of kittens;
sick offspring - the cat instinctively immediately knows whether healthy or sick kittens were born. By nature, the animal has an instinct to raise only strong and healthy kittens, the expenditure of energy on which is justified in relation to procreation. Even when a domestic cat is well-fed and strong, she will not feed sick offspring and will eat immediately after birth or in the hours immediately after it;
prematurity of kittens - if a cat has a miscarriage, then she most often does not abandon kittens, but eats them along with the afterbirth. She herself from this receives many nutrients that help her recover from a miscarriage;
a very numerous litter - if more kittens are born than a cat can feed, it will keep only the strongest and strongest, and eat the weak ones without waiting for their death. A cat can give birth to too many kittens every time;
exhaustion of the body - if the cat brought the second offspring very quickly after the first, then in order to save her life, she will kill the second litter, since her body is too weak and she is not able to feed newborn kittens a second time. Normally, a female can give birth and raise kittens only once a year;
lack of food (a pet does not suffer from this if it is properly fed) - if a cat is starving, it cannot raise kittens and eats them to save its own life. In the future, she will be able to continue the race.

In all these cases, the phenomenon of cannibalism, although unpleasant, is natural and should not frighten the owner. It is not fixed and does not remain in the cat's instinct, therefore, in the future, it will not spread in a strong female to healthy offspring under favorable living conditions. If there is an adult cat in the house, then he can kill the kittens, not the cat. In such a situation, cats eat their kittens, having already found them dead.

Pathological causes

A cat can also eat kittens for unnatural reasons. The main ones include:

hormonal failure, due to which the maternal instinct is not formed;
mental disorders in the female;
severe stress at the time of childbirth, leading to the fact that kittens are not perceived as offspring.

For such reasons, usually eating kittens is repeated over and over again, and the cat cannot be bred. The only way to preserve the offspring of such unfortunate matter is to isolate kittens from it immediately after birth. After that, the owner must independently feed the offspring, which is quite difficult.

In order to reduce the likelihood of cats eating kittens, it is necessary to provide her with proper feeding and proper care. If the owner keeps the cat in good condition during pregnancy, then the risk that the kittens will be sick, or the cat will be unable to raise them, will be minimal. When a pet is started up for breeding for the first time, it is worth consulting with a veterinarian and showing him the animal regularly throughout the pregnancy.

When asked if cats eat kittens, the answer is yes..

VETERINARY CONSULTATION REQUIRED. INFORMATION FOR INFORMATION ONLY. Administration

The joyful event of the birth of offspring in a pet is often overshadowed by the inappropriate behavior of the mother cat. Instead of affection and care, the animal shows aggression towards the cubs and even eats them. There are many reasons why cats eat their kittens, and in each case it is necessary to find out and take measures to prevent the situation in the future.

Cannibalism is intraspecific predation, when animals of the same species are able to eat each other. This phenomenon is widespread among fish, insects, and is often found in mammals. At the same time, females are more prone to cannibalism than males. Causes in nature are associated with famine or its threat, a change in habitat. In the wild, eating her offspring is due to an adaptive type of behavior, when, in order to preserve all the offspring, the mother eats sick and weak cubs. In pets, the phenomenon of cannibalism is less common. Nevertheless, cases of eating their offspring are often observed in pigs, dogs, and cats.

Reasons why a cat eats its kittens	Rationale for Behavior
Exhaustion of the female during pregnancy	Growing embryos require a large amount of proteins from the mother. This leads to severe nutritional deficiencies in the cat. Protein starvation pushes the pet to eat its cubs, which are perceived by the animal as a source of protein food. The phenomenon is often observed in homeless malnourished animals. The period of gestation is accompanied by an intensive leaching of minerals and vitamins from the mother's body. Especially sharply decreases the level of calcium in the blood after childbirth. This causes inappropriate behavior, a mental disorder in the animal, and it can destroy its cubs.
Decreased maternal instincts	Unfortunately, not all fluffy mothers show tender maternal feelings for their offspring. For a number of reasons, many animals, especially primiparas, do not show due attention and care for the babies that have appeared. In an extreme manifestation, this can be expressed in the form of eating cubs. The weakening of maternal instincts is often observed during caesarean section. With such an unnatural resolution of pregnancy, animals often suffer from a lack of a developed maternal feeling and can eat their offspring. Postpartum eclampsia is often the reason why a cat kills her kittens
Psycho-emotional disorders as a result of experienced stress during childbirth can be the cause of cannibalism	Inadequate behavior of the pet in relation to the cubs can be provoked by dissatisfaction with the conditions of childbirth: the absence of a nest, its inadequacy for raising offspring, the presence of strangers and animals during childbirth, etc. The birth act itself is stressful, and unsatisfactory external conditions further exacerbate the psycho-emotional disorder, provoking inadequate perception of babies. In this regard, you should not take newborn kittens in your hands, as this can also lead to eating, since they no longer smell like mom
The reason why a cat eats newborn kittens is often a violation of lactation.	In the absence of milk, a cat turns on defense mechanisms in the form of cannibalism, associated with a powerful law of nature - natural selection. The female instinctively understands that she does not have food resources in the form of milk, the offspring is doomed to death and must be destroyed. The same mechanism is triggered in the case of the development of breast pathology.
Hidden health defects in a newborn at the level of instinct in the mother can lead to eating weak and non-viable offspring	The cat has the ability to identify hypothermic kittens - babies with low body temperature. Such cubs cannot survive, and in order to ensure the life of other kittens, the mother must destroy the weak one. This is an ancient mechanism of nature, which is not lost even by domestic animals.
A cat can eat a kitten and quite by accident	After the birth of each baby, the mother gnaws the umbilical cord and eats the afterbirth. This behavior is deeply rooted in the wild: this is how the female cleans her nest and does not attract scavengers and predators to the birthplace of offspring. In the process of cutting the umbilical cord and destroying the placenta, the animal can accidentally eat the kitten

Numerous causes of cannibalism in domestic cats testify to the complex mechanism of this phenomenon.

Reasons why dad cat destroys offspring

The cat drags the kitten to a secluded place

Cannibalism is inherent not only in domestic cats, but also in cats. As a rule, the female hides her nest from strangers. But often a cat finds it and destroys the offspring. At the same time, males kill not only strangers, but also their cubs. One of the likely reasons why cats eat kittens is to stimulate the female into estrus. In the event that a cat who has given birth feeds her offspring, her estrus begins in 3-4 months. If the cubs die, estrus occurs almost immediately after the death of the kittens. This pushes the males to destroy offspring and thereby stimulate the female in heat.

Another reason why cats kill kittens is competition, the struggle for existence. Adult males perceive small kittens as future competitors of food resources, territory, and females. That is why they can destroy both other people's cubs and their own. Also for this reason, at the level of natural instincts, the cat mother tries to place the future nest in a secluded place inaccessible to other animals.

Symptoms of cannibalism

The reason why cats eat their kittens is not always obvious to owners of fluffy pets. Knowing about the likelihood of cannibalism in domestic cats, both an experienced breeder and owner should be aware of the symptoms that are harbingers of this phenomenon. There are no clear signs indicating the propensity of the animal to destroy its offspring. The owner should be wary of excessive activity of the cat before and after childbirth, anxiety, fussiness, nervousness of the animal.

Is treatment possible?

Cannibalism refers to the pathological manifestation of natural instincts and cannot be treated. Breed affiliation does not affect the manifestation of pathological behavior.

Prevention measures

Experienced breeders, upon discovering such inappropriate behavior in a cat, remove it from further breeding, since cannibalism is inherited. The many reasons why a cat strangles her kittens make them difficult to identify. In this regard, the following preventive measures should be followed:

Balanced and complete nutrition of a pregnant female with the inclusion of vitamin and mineral supplements in food. A veterinary specialist will help you get recommendations on the preparation of the optimal diet during pregnancy and after childbirth. To control the level of calcium in the blood for the prevention of postpartum eclampsia should be by clinical analysis, since both high and low levels of the mineral in the body are dangerous;

Nest preparation in a secluded, quiet and safe place, inaccessible to strangers. For these purposes, a thick cardboard box or exhibition box is suitable. The nest should be placed in a dark place. It must be dry and warm. Such an organization maximally corresponds to the natural conditions laid down in the cat at the genetic level.

Observation of the birth process of the pet. The gentle help of the owner will calm the cat mother and allow the cat to be controlled. If aggressive and inappropriate behavior of the mother is detected, newborns should be isolated. On the recommendation of a veterinarian, an animal may be prescribed sedatives to calm the nervous system.

Availability of food and water after delivery. Food resources should not only be freely available to the cat, but also in the immediate vicinity of the nest. This will reduce the mother's nervousness about leaving the babies in the nest, allow the animal to quickly get enough and eliminate the protein deficiency.

Cannibalism in domestic cats is a serious mental disorder based on ancient natural instincts. An animal with a predisposition to eating its own offspring should be excluded from breeding and breeding. Cannibalism has no cure. However, the adoption of preventive measures will avoid such complex psychological deviations.

What countries eat cats?

There is little historical evidence of human consumption of cat meat. The fact is that in the mythology of many countries, a cat is a mystical creature, and it was either deified or demonized, but not eaten. If you do not take into account the cases when cats were eaten in times of famine for the sake of survival, then dishes from them were (and still appear) on the table of the peoples of China, Vietnam, Peru, and even in northern Italy. The reason for eating these cute animals, whose meat, according to knowledgeable people, tastes like rabbit meat, lies in the belief of some peoples that cats can be eaten to maintain health. The Chinese, for example, are sure of this, and in Vietnam, cat meat is considered the best cure for asthma, and a drug is prepared from the gall bladders of an animal that enhances sexual desire. Cats are also considered an aphrodisiac and a gourmet delicacy by the inhabitants of Peru.

Can you eat cats?

Animal rights activists around the world have reduced the number of restaurants where you can eat cats and dogs. Similar institutions remain, but they are not advertised, as before, even in Peru. And in Italy, human rights activists have achieved the dismissal of a well-known TV presenter for saying on the air that he had tried cat meat and dictated the recipe. In Russia, the law on cruelty to animals has not yet been finalized, so cat-eaters are unlikely to be punished. Of course, there is no such an exotic product in the official trade, so whether or not to eat cats is, as they say, a matter of taste and moral principles for everyone.

Cats have a very well developed maternal instinct, it tightly binds the baby and mother. Thus, she is completely given to the child, showing maximum tenderness and love. But sometimes something makes us think about whether cats eat their kittens, or is this another unjustified legend. And to our horror, once again the harsh reality wins.

Why do cats eat kittens?

Rarely, but it happens that cats eat their kittens, this happens immediately after the birth of babies. In this case, the maternal instinct and the smell of colostrum remained far in the shadow of cannibalism.

The reasons for devouring a baby are not as terrible as the very fact of what is happening. Cats usually eat afterbirths and stillborn kittens. Sometimes they can harm the baby when they gnaw through the umbilical cord, or accidentally destroy it along with the placenta. But the mother can do it quite consciously. There are several reasons why cats eat their kittens. If the baby was born weak or with physical disabilities, then it is quite possible that he is doomed to death. Thus, the mother leads only strong and hardy offspring into life.

Another reason why a cat eats its kittens is that the maternal instinct in an animal may not be sufficiently pronounced, and the baby, again, rushes to the mercy of fate. Nature makes its life selection with special cruelty.

Why do cats eat kittens?

The birth of babies usually takes place in a safe, warm and comfortable place, which the mother herself considers suitable for her babies. But there are such unfortunate cases when cats reveal where the kittens are and brutally kill them. They eat not only their own, but also other people's cubs.

For thousands of years, there was a version that animals act this way, to bring the cat back to mating readiness. Having given birth to babies, the mother loses all interest in the opposite sex, giving the child all her care and love, and the loss of the cubs provokes a new estrus.

Some experts believe that cats eat other people's kittens to make room for their offspring. And if male cubs are killed, it means that they want to get rid of competitors in the future who will be able to claim females and territory.

The animal world is quite cruel and sometimes not at all connected with morality. But we must understand that their behavior probably has a reasonable explanation, because over the course of many millennia, reflexes and a stereotype of actions have been formed.