Reasons for Mother Cats Rejecting Kittens

When mother cats give birth to a litter of kittens, it seems only logical that they would tend to all of them. However, some mother cats reject some or all of their newborn kittens, leaving them abandoned or apart from the rest of the litter. The reasons why mother cats reject any kittens at all depend on issues such as health and the mother's ability to be maternal.

  1. Illness or Deformity

    • Mother cats know when their kittens in the litter are born with an illness or a deformity. If the mother senses that the kitten has a disease or infection, the mother cat might reject the kitten, pushing it away from the rest of the healthier kittens in the litter. Mother cats do this as a means of protecting the other kittens, but, meanwhile, are not tending to the kitten that is sick. Additionally, mother cats will want to reserve their milk and food for kittens that are healthier and stronger.

    Lack of Maternal Instinct

    • If a mother cat lacks an innate maternal instinct, she may not know how to properly care for her kittens. Mother cats may not be able to cope with a large litter and, therefore, reject some of the young in order to make things easier with less kittens to tend to. Human owners can help mother cats ease into the maternal role by showing the mother how to feed the kittens, clean them and keep them warm. For instance, according to Vet Info, you can teach a mother cat to nurse her young by placing the mother cat on her side and moving the kittens up to her belly.

    Too Large of a Litter

    • If a mother cat senses that her litter is too large, and she cannot adequately nurse her young, she may reject some of the smaller kittens--or the runts of the litter--in order to save food and room in the nest. In this case, the mother cat will not include the kittens she has rejected during nursing time or allow them in the nest to sleep and nap.

    Mother Cat is Sick

    • If the mother cat is sick, or senses that she is going to die from an injury or illness, it is possible for her to reject the kittens in her litter. She will not want to infect her young by passing on a sickness to them, and so she will remove herself from the nest and stay solitary--leaving the kittens abandoned.