In all likelihood, the mother killed it. Mother cats have the instinct to do that when she senses the kitten has a genetic defect or there isn't enough food to go around, or sometimes it happens because she doesn't know how to be a good mom.

I'm sorry. That's sad. It's one of those things that happen in nature, though.

 

so im assuming she will kill the rest? i feed her everyday, a lot though...

WHY would she bring me her kitten though?

I forgot to add, this mother is very young, a year or 1.5 yrs old...

 

She might or might not. It's possible she killed that particular kitten because she knew it had a health problem. It's also possible (especially at her young age) that she just isn't good at being a mom. There's no way to know for certain what she'll do I'm afraid.

 

I just read too, that because she is so young herself maybe she does not have enough milk?

 

it took me over A YEAR of everyday feeding for her to finally let me pet her a couple days ago. She did not seem too upset at this tonight, she was purring and rubbing my legs etc...

 

again, found it strange she would bring me her kitten........

 

Sometimes, when very young cats have kittens, they can get "carried away" while chewing on the afterbirth or even just cleaning a kitten and end up eating part of the baby. It's very, very sad when this happens and I am so sorry that you saw this.....

 

i think the kitten was 2 or 3 weeks old, im so hurt i saw this - why do you think she would bring me the dead kitten? She followed me 4 houese down with it as I was walking.

 

It's hard to say why she did this, and it's uncertain if she killed her kitten herself.

It's important to remember that cats don't think like people do. She may have been carrying it around because she wanted it away from her other kittens, she may have wanted to show it to you (possibly even like a prize cats bring people, like with dead birds and stuff), or she may have wanted to keep it with her. I don't know.

Don't hold it against her... animals just work on instinct and a lot of strange things can come of that. I know a dog that had her ear chewed off by her mother as a puppy.

It must have been very upsetting for you but she doesn't understand or hold the same emotional attachment like humans do.

 

I am sorry, I think I would be traumatized if that had happened to me. It is a kind, wonderful thing you do feeding those stray cats. There is one I feed and even though he is not technically "my" cat, I am very concerned about his well being and I try to make his life better as much as I can. I am sure you are, like me with my feral, emotionally involved with your colony of ferals. The kitten may have died a natural death or the mom may have killed it, but don't blame her, she is doing the best she can. Things like this happen in nature, I could not be a nature documentarian, I would go save all the baby animals. It is amazing to me that she brought you the kitten. Why, I can only speculate, but I think she trusts you enough that she thought you would know what to do with the kitten. Again I am sorry about what happened and thank you for taking care of those little animals.

 

It is very possible that the kitten died on its own and that she was just getting it away from the rest of her babies.

As for why she brought it to you, well who knows? Like someone else said, they are animals and don't think the same way we do. She was probably just carrying it away, saw you and thought "food!", followed you because she knows you feed her and then just happened to leave it there.