Expert: Ali - 8/19/2008

Question
On Sunday afternoon coming home from work. I pulled in my drive way noticing that one of my cats looked as if she was missing her jaw. From there I quickly got out of my car and ran over to check my kitten/cat. What I noticed on her was her jaw wasn't missing but the skin under her jaw was ripped back. Which seemed very odd to me, because i knew if a car had hit her something would have been broken or she would have been killed. But my question ties along with this second state-meant. The mamma cat ( Misty ) of her first litter of four, has been acting weird to all of them lately as well as she acting weird towards me. She acts like a stray cat would act towards a human. Anyway Misty is once again pregnant but she has become very aggressive lately, like never before. She swats at her first litter when they are trying to eat. Or even if they walk by her. But here is my question, do mother cats become that aggressive to there first litter when they are pregnant again, to the point where she would hurt her own, like the kitten/cat I mentioned before??

Answer
Kayla,

It's normal for a mother cat that is pregnant/weaning a litter to swat at her kittens. I am fairly certain that the injury you have described wasn't inflicted by mom because hissing, swatting and grabbing her weaned babies by the scruff of the neck is about as far as mother cats will go. Sometimes cats can receive less severe injuries than one might expect as a result of being hit by a car so this mechanism of injury could still be the cause of her injuries. I am concerned that this kitten may have been attacked by a wild animal or that she may possibly have been the victim of animal cruelty. I would recommend that this kitten sees a vet immediately to be treated for her injury as it sounds quite painful. I would recommend that mom and her kittens be kept indoors until you are able to rehome the little ones.

I am somewhat concerned about the fact that momma cat has just weaned one litter of kittens and she is pregnant again. There is an extremely serious pet overpopulation problem worldwide. Millions of healthy cats and kittens that are adoptable are destroyed in animal shelters worldwide simply because they run out of time or space. There are medical and behavioral benefits of spaying and neutering besides the obvious benefit of birth control. Cats that have been spayed/neutered are far less likely to develop behavioral issues like urinating/defecating outside of the litter box, fighting, becoming excessively vocal and wandering. Medical benefits to spay/neuter surgeries include a reduced risk of developing prostate and mammary cancers/infections. Spaying/neutering also prevents uterine, ovarian, testicular cancers as well as infections in the reproductive organs. Cats also tend to be less likely to require treatment for painful abscesses caused by fighting. Please, help to save lives by preventing an endless cycle of unwanted litters.

I hope that you have found this information helpful. If you have any further questions, concerns, or you would simply like to send an update or some pictures my way, please don't hesitate to contact me again.