Basic Data on Reproduction of the Domestic Cat

A spreadsheet showing some basic facts which some people might find useful from time to time.

Domestic cats mating

Are lions monogamous?

No. In this instance I will use the modern use of the word "monogamous" to mean one sexual partner. During estrous (estrus) the female will copulate with a male many times, on average every 25 minutes over four days or more. At the end of estrus they mate less often. As the male's desire wanes, the female "may seek additional partners". Accordingly the female lion, is not monogamous.

photo by imolcho

At this time other males get a chance to mate with this lioness indicating that male lions "share" females. Accordingly male lions are not monogamous either.

The larger more elderly males have more success in mating with a female than younger, smaller males. Not all males achieve copulation with a female. Lion prides are made up of related lions.

Associated page: Are cat polygamous?

Are cats polygamous?

Savannah cats mating. Photo: Michael

The answer is, no, strictly speaking because cats do not get married and polygamy is a marriage in which the spouse of either sex has more than one mate at the same time.

Cats have a mating system in which females mate with multiple males and males mate with multiple females. This is near a state of simultaneous polyandry on behalf of the female cat and polygyny on behalf of the male cat.

Polyandry occurs when a female has more than one male mate at a time. Polygyny occurs when a male has more than one female mate at a time.

However, females and male cats don't appear to have mates, at the time of mating, if we apply the usual definition of the word. Female cats may be inseminated by up to ten different males and some litters have more than one father. This causes an uncertainty as to paternity. The male is unlikely to attack kittens of any female that he mated with.

Associated page: Cat Mating

Why do cats kill their kittens?

I am talking about domestic cats.  You can read about the traumatic act of lion infanticide if you wish. There are different motivators for lion infanticide.

Sometimes the queen (mother cat) consumes her young. This looks like very abnormal maternal behavior. It particularly concerns the firstborn.

In fact, queens routinely consume stillborn kittens together with the placenta and "products of delivery" (1). Sometimes the mother might accidentally consume the kitten while eating the placenta. Or injure a kitten when severing the umbilical cord.

Sometimes the mother may intentionally kill a kitten that is malformed or "constitutionally ill" (1).  Constitutionally weak kittens, sick kittens or deformed kittens may be ejected from the nest by the mother to die. This is the mother doing nature's work in culling on the basis of the survival of the fittest family members.

Sometimes a mother might be aggressive towards offspring because of fear, anxiety, a threat to her survival or overcrowding.

Video of mother serval giving birth and eating placenta:



(1) Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook page 450.