Is it really true that all mommy cats ignore their inferior kittens?
By divineathena
@divineathena (1746)
United States
February 29, 2012 7:19pm CST
Last time I was watching Too Cute of Animal Planet. It was about three house cats. Persian, Bengal and Abyssinian. They all become mothers. The Abyssinian mommy ends up having one kitten smaller and skinnier than the rest. When the time comes for feeding she keeps ignore her that little one. The commentator then mentions that it is natural for mother cats to ignore the kitten who they deem will have a low survival rate. But at the end, they show that little kitten getting adopted before his siblings because he turns out to be the cutest.
So my question is was the commentator telling the truth or was he just generalizing the whole thing by saying that "all" mother cats do it? As far as I know, in some cases, mother cats eat the kittens they think are inferior. On the show, that did not happen.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@crimsonladybug (3112)
• United States
1 Mar 12
We have a rescue cat who was pregnant when we found her and she actually paid more attention to the runt of the litter than the others. I think a lot of it depends on the mother.
As far as Tiny Dancer (I watched that show too
) getting adopted first, that's typical. If you look for animals from breeders, the females and the runts always cost more. Females are more popular because people can use them for breeding on their own and the runts because people think they are cuter.
) getting adopted first, that's typical. If you look for animals from breeders, the females and the runts always cost more. Females are more popular because people can use them for breeding on their own and the runts because people think they are cuter.@divineathena (1746)
• United States
1 Mar 12
Oh, Tiny Dancer was a female? I guess I skipped that. I was thinking that it was a male. But anyways, you do have a point. How the baby will be treated should depend on the mother cat. You reminded me of Truly Elegant. She went ferocious when the pug puppy annoyed her babies. That tells the difference.
@akhileshebay (416)
• India
1 Mar 12
in animals its very casual thing that happens
there are some species of animals who even eat their weak and inferior child
the kingdom of animals are consisting of many strange species dear with strange behaviour
@Galena (9110)
•
1 Mar 12
it's common across a lot of animal species.
the mother focuses her efforts on ensuring that the strongest ones will get enough to survive. focusing first on the fittest and healthiest specimens.
even people do it sometimes. especially in cultures where males are given greater status than the females. more of the resources are focused on male children. in less extreme cases by only educating the males properly (and thus exacerbating the divide) and in the more extreme, maybe even by aborting female foetuses or killing newborn girls
