Click to Skip Ahead
The animal kingdom can be a harsh place, and it’s not uncommon for a male cat to kill kittens he believes aren’t fathered by him in a behavior known as infanticide. They may do this if the offspring isn’t theirs in an attempt to cause the female to become receptive to mating again.
You may have even heard anecdotes of male domestic cats doing the same thing. After all, if their larger feline cousins participate in infanticide, wouldn’t male cats do the same? Although this isn’t common, it does happen from time to time. Keep reading to find out why.
Will Male Cats Kill Kittens?
Although not a commonly reported occurrence in pets, intact adult male cats definitely may kill kittens that they believe they haven’t fathered.1 The reason they do this is because they want to bring the females back into heat to mate with them and pass on their genes.
Not all male cats will kill kittens, though. This behavior is less common in neutered males since their sex hormones aren’t driving their behaviors to the extent they were prior to neutering. It’s also anecdotally said to be not as common in male cats that have been well-socialized to the presence of other cats.
Because the breeding of most pet cats is controlled, the odds of losing a kitten to a male cat in pets are very low.
Why Do Male Cats Kill Kittens?
The evolutionary basis for this behavior is based on the principle that a male who was unable to hold onto his territory and lost it to a rival was possibly weak. As such, the rival having the opportunity to reproduce with the females in the area would result in the birth of more fit and potentially stronger offspring as well. To do this, he would have to kill the offspring of the former rival, as doing so may bring the females back into heat.
Keep in mind, though, that female cats can mate with multiple males within one heat cycle. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that a litter of kittens can have multiple fathers. This is a protective mechanism that female cats have evolved with; a male that has mated with a female will protect all her offspring, even those that weren’t actually fathered by him, even if he hasn’t fathered any of the offspring in reality.
This protective strategy also applies to many wild cats, such as lionesses. A lioness in heat will often mate with all the males of the pride (if there are more than one). The males will then protect the cubs she gives birth to without ever knowing which one fathered which cub.
Feral female cats also sometimes form colonies known as clowders or glarings. Though the female cats in such a group often hunt and raise their kittens individually, they tend to fight unknown males who venture too close to their kittens cooperatively. This is possible because they know that working together would offer them the best chance of saving their kittens against an invading male. Though a female cat is often not strong enough to take on a male cat on her own, they are more than a match for a male if they team up against him.
Conclusion
It’s not overly reported in domestic cats, but male cats will sometimes kill kittens. It’s best to keep strange male cats away from kittens, especially if the kittens are still very young and with their mother.
However, this behavior is most commonly seen in feral cat colonies, in part because pet cats often undergo controlled breeding and are also physically protected from unknown male cats (by us!).
Featured Image Credit: Kym Ellis, Unsplash
