What would kill and eat kittens?

[Jenni]

My kittens in the haybarn are a little over 6 weeks old. They have been getting out of the haybarn and outside or down in the lower part of the barn. They are eating solid food and I told my nephew he could go ahead and give the 2 away that his friends wanted. I noticed a couple days ago that the little gray one was missing but didn't think a whole lot about it. Last night the 4 remaining kittens were there for supper. When I went out this morning only 2 kittens came running. I looked around a little and noticed remnants of a bloody carcass. I first thought it was a rat that one of the cats had caught but when I looked closer I saw an orange tip on the tail and I realized it was what was left of the little tiger calico kitten. Then I went and fed the 2 kittens and found what was left of the tiger with the white face. It amounted to a strip of hide. So I looked closer at the gray chunk of fur I saw yesterday and thought was leftover rabbit fur and it was the missing gray kitten. I am just sick about it. I don't normally get attached to barn cats because I know this might happen but we actually had this group completely tame and friendly. One of the dead kittens was going to be given to Josh's friend Zack and was such a fat little chunk. I haven't told him about it yet and am really not looking forward to it.

So I am wondering what would kill and eat them. I have tomcats in the haybarn but in past experience the toms just kill the kittens, not completely eat them. Also these kittens are a little older than I have had killed by toms in the past. The cats are fed twice a day so it shouldn't be starvation driving them to eat their own. The mom is an experienced mother and last year raised 4 kittens that are still out there, although now that I think about it she did move them out of the haybarn at about this age.

I am wondering if I may have an unwelcome wild visitor in my haybarn such as a raccoon or oppossum. I haven't seen either of these lately but I'm sure they are around. I haven't smelled skunk so I don't think it is that. I don't believe we have any mink or weasels in the area. I know we have woodchucks but I haven't seen any near the barn.

[Deleted]

Owls will. Opposums usually will eat things like that already dead. Maybe a long coyote... I'd probably bet on owls though.

[Yip]

I am thinking it might have been an owl too. I've heard that a big owl can take an adult cat.

It could have been a bobcat, coyote, or even a feral dog.

I am so very sorry. That must have broken your heart. Whoever the predator is, he knows there are more where those others came from. Can you possibly lock the remaining 2 in the barn at night - or the tack/feed room? But check first to make sure you don't have any place an owl can fly in.

[Jenni]

Oops should have made it more clear that these guys were killed while inside the haybarn so it was some critter in the haybarn that did it. I guess maybe a tom could have killed them and then an oppossum could have cleaned them up?

The windows in the haybarn are open so an owl could have come in but I don't think that is very likely. My neighbor about a mile down the road had an owl swoop down in broad daylight and pick their daughters kitten off the sidewalk between the house and garage while they were all outside watching. That would be more terrible than finding them dead.

[Marci]

Raccons will eat cats, even adult cats. Did you look for tracks?

[Chrisnstar]

where you live Jenni, could be a lot of things... weasels come to mind...

chris

[Hasha]

I don't know what got them, but PLEASE get the remaining ones inside the house because they will killed next. Some things found a buffet and won't stop until they are all gone. ;(

[wildfire]

racoons will, but the description sounds like the work of a Barred owl. (A Great Horned Owl will eat momma too!)
There's a reason Barred owls are often called "Barn Owls".
Sorry for your loss.

[dianei]

Jenni, where did you find what was left??? In the mow???
If you found the remains in the barn proper, (the kittens come down to play???)...I would bet a great deal it was coyotes.....was Momcat bringing the babies down for hunting lessons?

And before you say you don't have coyotes......well.....I said the same thing until last year, when our neighbor and her son took out 61 'yotes in the wooded area (couple hundred acres) between our house and their farm.
We have no stray cats here, anymore......none.
I think owls would carry them off before they ate them......and it's something that thinks it found a buffet......'possums, maybe.....

But my money is still on 'yotes.

[Jenni]

Diane - I found the remains in the haybarn. 2 of them were right near the food dishes that I have for all the cats and 1 was closer to the kittens little den. I won't say we don't have coyotes, I know we do. I haven't seen any yet but you can sure hear them, even inside my house with the windows closed, freaks my housecats out!

Chris and Wildfire - I have never seen a weasel or a barred owl on the property but we do have quite a few 'possums around. There was one in the downstairs of the barn a few months ago.

I have 12 other cats that reside in and around the barn. 6 are from last years kitten batches and 6 adults. The kittens that were killed belong to momcat Spot who is 9 years old and a pretty good provider (actually the little gray one came from another momma but was adopted by Spot).

My nephew wasn't home but I'm hoping I can get him to take the remaining 2 into their house until his friends come and pick them up. For now I moved them to the milk house where mom can still get in and out but hopefully the "haybarn killer" will not find them.

[Littljoe]

The list of possible predators other people have given you here is pretty complete. If they had been outside, I would have added red-tail hawk, but inside the barn that's very unlikely. I'd think raccoon, coyote, fox, or weasel as the most likely culprits.

Given your description of the situation, an owl is fairly unlikely because they usually swallow their prey whole, and regurgitate the bones and fur later in neat packages ("owl pellets," which some of you may have dissected in school). An owl is unlikely to leave uneaten bits lying around.

Here's a small owl correction, though. The barred owl and the barn owl are actually two different birds. The barred owl is quite common in woods and fields all across the US, and nests in trees. It's the one you hear going, "Toohoo-toohoo, toohoo-toohoo-AHHH!" right at dusk. I see them very often on my trail rides, even during the day. They would certainly kill a kitten out of doors in the evening, but don't come into buildings.

The barn owl is smaller, and prefers buildings and other enclosed spaces for its nests. It's pretty silent, and just makes hissing and clacking noises if it's disturbed. The barn owl has actually become threatened or endangered in some areas, for several reasons: the decline of family farms with their welcoming lofts; consumption of poisoned mice; and their timidity, which makes them abandon their nests if disturbed. They kill a large number of rats and mice inside barns and sheds, so they're quite valuable if you can keep them.

This is a barred owl:



This is a barn owl:



Sorry to be academic, but the threatened status of the barn owl makes it important to know the difference.

--LJ

[Jenni]

This is one state where the barn owl is endangered. I believe they only exist in the southern part of WI, near Madison, at this time which is over 2 hours from me. I kind of skipped over that part of the post and just thought of the real barred owl and now that you mention the call I guess we do have them around here, I've heard them but haven't seen them lately. I don't believe a Fox or Coyote would have come into the haybarn. It is an above ground haybarn that you would have to climb up into. I enter through a side door about 4 feet off the ground and I close that door everynight. All other entrances from the ground require crawling up and through spaces no more than a foot square.

[Littljoe]

jenni said:

I don't believe a Fox or Coyote would have come into the haybarn. It is an above ground haybarn that you would have to climb up into. I enter through a side door about 4 feet off the ground and I close that door everynight. All other entrances from the ground require crawling up and through spaces no more than a foot square.

Boy, that really sounds like a raccoon or a weasel. (Though coyote experts would probably tell you that an opening a foot square is more than big enough. Sometimes it seems that they can get in just about anywhere they want to.) Weasels can kill things several times their own size, and would have no trouble at all with a kitten.

There's also the rather unpleasant possibility that one of the male cats is aggressive toward kittens. It's not all that common in barn settings, but it happens. They don't usually eat them, though--just kill them.

You should certainly keep the kittens in tonight, but it might not hurt to nail some half-inch by half-inch hardware cloth over any openings you can find.

--LJ

[dianei]

Well, I'm going to step up and defend the weasels (mustelids).
Weasels might kill the kittens, but they would not stay there and eat them. They would stash them.

Weasels have very high metabolisms, and are never far from starvation.....so when they get into a *high prey* situation (a hen-house, multiple kittens), while they may kill them, they would take them off to their *food safe*......to consume at a later date.

If coyotes can't get into the loft, then it is more probably a raccoon or a possum.....

[Littljoe]

dianei said:

Well, I'm going to step up and defend the weasels (mustelids).
Weasels might kill the kittens, but they would not stay there and eat them. They would stash them.

Weasels have very high metabolisms, and are never far from starvation.....so when they get into a *high prey* situation (a hen-house, multiple kittens), while they may kill them, they would take them off to their *food safe*......to consume at a later date.

Good point. And wouldn't a weasel tend to kill them all at once, if it could, rather than one tonight, and two tomorrow night, and so on? Or is that a slanderous myth? My grahdfather used to say that if a weasel got in the chicken coop, it would kill all the chickens right then and there--but I never saw it happen myself.

Tell us more about weasels!

--LJ