Mother cats often bring their dead kittens to householders. I don't know why....
Bush's fault.
Are you sure it was the mother bringing them?
The mama cat doesn't know what to do with her dead babies.
My guess? Every time you smoke, God kills a kitten.
(Sorry; it's a takeoff of another saying, and I couldn't resist.)
Mother cats can be clearly seen to actually *care* (emotionally) for their kittens, and will fight to the death to protect them, and will risk death to save them - anybody remember "Scarlet" the fire-cat?
Why this mom-cat would bring her dead kittens to your door... hard to tell. Possibly she thinks that you might be able to bring them back.
Wow. Just realized what a heartbreaking thought *that* is.
Normal reaction for a cat to bring things to "their people". I would guess this is still true for feral cats.
Sounds like the kittens had rhinotracheitis or feline distemper. Both are highly contagious and always fatal to kittens. When one kitten is affected, all are usually affected.
It may be sad but if the mother is wild, it is better that it's offspring do not grow up wild. They just become useless predators.
To Do:
Grab your gun and kill momma kat before she can kill any more kittens!!!
Wow, I'm gonna get burned for this..........
We trapped the faral cats around our house and had them neutered and spayed.
The kittens were probably alive when the mother cat brought them to your door. Feral females are smart enough to know that the Big Cats have magical powers (after all, they produce the Treats) and often present sick, runty, or otherwise nonviable kittens to nearby humans for disposition. It seems cruel, but Mother Cat hasn't got the resources to care for the sick ones, the crippled ones, or the runts of the litter; she has to husband her food and attention for use by the ones with a chance at survival. Two of our three current feline-American housemates were "presented" to us by the mother cat that lived beneath our house at the time; the last one, our calico, we found in a puddle by the front porch in a rainstorm. There is nothing more piteous than the cry of a lost and scared kitten; we HAD to take her in. After a brief cold she recovered fully, and is hale and hearty today.
You did the only thing you could do. Thank you for looking out for God's creatures.
Domestic cats have the same social structure as lion prides. If a new male has taken over the "pride" he will kill all the offspring of the former leader.
Strange. Bumping for later.
Do these kittens still have their umbilical cord stub attached?
If so they are very young kittens (3 to 5 days old) and may have died at birth.
Are the kittens eyes still sealed shut? (if not then the kittens are about 10 days old)
Do they have any front milk teeth? (if they do then they are 2 to 3 weeks old)
Young feline mothers will accidently kill their young if they don't know how to take care of them. Most likely this feline mother is young and does not know how to deal with the kittens and is bringing them to you to deal with them.
Her litter of kittens could be small, as few as 3 kittens or as large as 8 kittens. I would keep hunting for where she has stashed them. You will hear the kittens cry.
It would be best to call animal control out to see if they can find her bedding area, they may find the surviving kittens.
Are you setting food out for the mother? (if not it might be a good idea to do so while she has kittens)
We had a feral Himalayan female cat living in our barn for over 10 years. In that time we only had glimpses of her. About 5 years ago, about 25 feet from the barn, while working on our animals, we heard soft mewing. We looked down and there were 4 kittens crying. Well, we found the mother and one other kitten dead in the barn. What killed them, I have no idea. But managed to find homes for 2 kittens, kept 2. One left domestication for the wild and the other, Will, is still with us and is a wonderful cat. We had neutered both of them.
I have always wondered how those 4 were separated from their mother, did they leave in a group because of hunger? They were certainly terrified of us, spitting and snarling when we gathered them up. Will is very loving but is the ultimate predator. He loves going out at night. He has managed to avoid the pitfalls of the coyotes, etc. My other cat, without feral origins, is a real home boy. He is out at the most, an hour a day.
Cats are fascinating. Had you ever left food for the feral mom? If so, maybe she did feel some attachment to your household. Even though she would never 'tame up', maybe she had good feelings towards you.
We had feral cats do similar to us. They were diseased, and it was very sad. We had a fairly young kitten at the time, and he caught whatever they had and died as well. The person who had lived in the house before us had made a regular practice of killing all the feral cats in the neighborhood and burying them in his garden. I have to say it was one fertile piece of land. He reportedly had killed over 35 cats.