Cats eating their young?

I thought this was just "an old wives tale." My daughters watched a neighbors
cat give birth to 3 kittens. When they came back after leaving for supper
there were only two kittens. They were looking around the barn for the
missing kitten when they noticed the mother eating one of the remaining two
kittens. They were quite traumatized by the event. Is this normal cat
behavior? I'm interested so i can explain it to the girls. Thanks.

Sometimes a mother cat will kill a kitten when there is something wrong with
it. Than sometimes they will devour it; it is protein to them when it is
dead. Sometimes a inexperienced mother or distressed mother will do that.

"Thor1207" u36867@uwe wrote in message news:771a72e075b57@uwe...
I thought this was just "an old wives tale." My daughters watched a
neighbors
cat give birth to 3 kittens. When they came back after leaving for supper
there were only two kittens. They were looking around the barn for the
missing kitten when they noticed the mother eating one of the remaining
two
kittens. They were quite traumatized by the event. Is this normal cat
behavior? I'm interested so i can explain it to the girls. Thanks.

On 23 Aug, 03:45, "Matthew" wrote:
Sometimes a mother cat will kill a kitten when there is something wrong with
it. Than sometimes they will devour it; it is protein to them when it is
dead. Sometimes a inexperienced mother or distressed mother will do that.



"Thor1207" u36867@uwe wrote in messagenews:771a72e075b57@uwe...
I thought this was just "an old wives tale." My daughters watched a
neighbors
cat give birth to 3 kittens. When they came back after leaving for supper
there were only two kittens. They were looking around the barn for the
missing kitten when they noticed the mother eating one of the remaining
two
kittens. They were quite traumatized by the event. Is this normal cat
behavior? I'm interested so i can explain it to the girls. Thanks.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It's rare, but they do have a instict from wild to eat the weak as
they feel threatened somehow... It is something done in the wild...
not sure how you could explain that to your children...