kittens disappearing

[rambler]

The last 2 years, about the time my farm kittens start walking around & getting from the barn to the house, and back to the barn on their own....

They disappear.

All of them disappear in a couple of days then.

Now, we had one little kitten left, so we put it in a cage made of chicken wire. Threw mom in with it a couple times a day. This was in the upstairs, the hay mow, of the barn.

Last nite the kitten was in the cage by itself. We looked in this morning, and some critter had dug through the hay/straw/debris that was under the cage, found a weak spot in the chicken wire, and forced itself into the cage from the bottom & got the kitten.

What the heck is going after our kittens? The adult cats are all doing fine. And the newborns seem to do ok until they start walking around on their own.

We have:

A dominat tom cat.

A few real scared tom cats.

Possum.

Raccoons.

Wood chucks.

I don't know what else?

In the previous years we had those critters, and our kittens did real well. We were getting too many barn cats. Didn't think any of those critters were bothering the cats, adult or kitten......

But, now, 2 years of no kittens surviving at all, and that very aggressive attack on the caged one?????

And there are no remains of the kittenns - last year I saw a couple of paws is all, nothing is left of them no trace....

What is going on?

--->Paul

[Big Dave]

Strange occurance. Several years back we had a simular situation only all that was eaten was the head. Nasty to find. I found it to be a opossum. Dispatched the critted with a shovel and no more disappearances.

[Cliff]

Mink, weasel, fox, bobcat, coyote, possum, coon, rats, hawk, owl? Dogs?

[hintonlady]

Possum and coon would be my first guess.

[JohnL751]

When you find out for sure what it is, I want one, I mean I want to know what it is.

[Ardie/WI]

Originally Posted by hintonlady

Possum and coon would be my first guess.

Mine too.

We trap and shoot both!

[Riverdale]

hintonlady is right. Especially racoons, I hate'em, unless they are BBQed.

You can rule out woodchucks/groundhogs, as they are vegetarians. They do however go well on the BBQ, too.

[EDDIE BUCK]

Tomcats are a kittens worst enemy. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606/male-cat.htm

[brody]

tom cat wouldn't make the kittens disappear though - you'd find remains
...

bird of prey, coyote would be my guess given the vanishing aspect

possums are pretty new up here so I don't know their habits...

[ronbre]

look at the tracks...coyotes?

[Oldcountryboy]

A cuz of mine had some kittens that kept disappearing. He was down to one kitten left when he heard a noise under the carport. He grabbed his shotgun and walked out the back door just in time to see a big boar raccoon making off with his last kitten which was already dead. He peppered the raccoons bu!! with a birdshots. It dropped the dead kitten and kept on running. After that he never had anymore kittens disappear.

So I would say it is probably a raccoon and I wouldn't rule out the fox or the coyote.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by hintonlady

Possum and coon would be my first guess.

Yep, that's my guess.

Most probably a coon. But maybe a possum.

[billooo2]

I was at a sheep seminar and one of the topics was coyotes. The speaker has been studying them for over 20 years. He said that "cat" is one of their favorite foods.

[Colorado]

Foxes here get the kittens and go after full size cats even. I have seen them and neighbor guy on going after a cat. They dig and tear in.

[rambler]

I really thought it was our big old tomcat. But with no evidence left, and the latest attack into the cage, that leaves me baffled.

Mink & weasel are always posible - but the kittens are fine as infants, it is only after they are old enough to start wandering around.... I'd think anything that looked at them as a treat would go after them right away.

Someone on another forum suggested I get a live trap with a live bait cage. That sounds interesting; but what a nite that would be for a kitten, and I've run out of 'bait' now.

Fox & cyote are possible, but inside the barn, I don't leave the door open but just enouh to let a cat squeeze in, and those type of critter don't often go in the buildings around here. I have a few weaker cats, would think they also would disappear if it were a bigger critter like this. Most of my adult cats have 1/2 mile hunting routes they take off into the fields, would thing a bigger predator would get a few of them along the way.

Can't track them, as it is in the upstairs barn on the hay. No tracks left.

I'll have to consider my big tom, or a rough racoon at this time. Closest that make any sense? I've had possuims - and coon really - around the barn for decades, didn't have troubles until 2 years ago. That all still points to my tomcat I guess.

Puzzling.

Thanks for all the ideas.

--->Paul

[Jenn]

Hawks since the big open area. Reason we have no snakes here (except hiding in my garden beds!) Neighbor's pup has been attacked by hawks- neighbor chased after the hawk and luckily the pup was abit too big for hawk to make clean get away- pup required stitches.

[Ardie/WI]

We use marshmallows as bait for raccoons.

That way our outside cats aren't tempted to get into the trap.

[foxtrapper]

Since it dug under the cage and forced itself into the cage, I'd say it's a coon.

While fox and other predators will certainly take kittens, they don't go into cages like you describe. 'taint their way.

Dominant toms are the bane to kittens, though normally it's the very young they will kill. However, they kill them and leave them there dead.

[TedH71]

Would neutering the tom help?

[Macybaby]

Growing up on the farm, we always had kittens and tom cats. The only Toms that killed kittens were non-residents that were considering trying to move into the area.

There was nothing worse for us young girls than to climb into the hayloft and find kitten heads instead of kittens. Then we would run screaming up to the house and one of the older brothers would take the gun out and take care of the wandering Tom.

The Toms raised on the property did just fine with the kittens. When this happened, usually the entire litter would be killed, not one at a time. Once in a while one would manage to hide itself in the hay and survive, but most often it was sudden, total carnage. I'll also agree that they went after the younger kittens. Usually under 3 weeks old, but once they got to 4 weeks, the Moms would bring them up to the house.

Cathy