Tom cats have been known to kill kittens that have been fathered by other toms. This instinct comes from competition to pass on its own genetic complement. Toms may also occasionally kill kittens during play because they are unable to turn off the strong hunting instinct. This is not the norm and often fathers will help raise kittens. If you have a new litter I would not recommend removing the father, but keep an eye on their interactions.
Male cats rarely try to harm THEIR OWN kittens. They're usually indifferent, although some toms do sometimes help care for their young.
If the kittens ARE NOT his, then he may or may not try to kill them. It depends on the individual tom, and whether he's been neutered. For example, my last male cat (a neutered Balinese) was excellent with all kittens, exhibiting nurturing behavior as if they were his own.
It was 1987. Alistair was one of Simone's babies, and when we discovered orphan Jesse in the garage, Simone raised him as well. Alistair and Jesse grew up together, fought other tomcats together, loved each other, hated each other, fought about once a week to see who was King Tomcat, but always had each other's backs.
Then later, a lady cat came to live with us. We called her Cleo. Our two tomcats Alistair and Jesse shared her (literally). She had a litter of four kittens. We believe Alistair was the daddy of Stormie, Thunder and Junior (all shorthairs with sleek muscles), while Jesse fathered McKenna (a big-boned gray longhair like he was).
Well, Stormie died early on from illness. When the remaining three were only about seven months old, Cleo was hit by a car and killed. Alistair took over the day-to-day care of the trio, while Jesse taught everybody how to hunt and fight. Alistair was much more "maternal." So we had two tomcats raising a brood of "bratty" kittens.
McKenna had to have surgery one year, and Jesse shunned her for a while because her long fur was shaved and she smelled like medicine, but Alistair would stay with her and wash her. He was very motherly and tender towards her.
All the kittens reached adulthood. Jesse died a bit later, and Thunder had one litter of kittens before she was neutered (we got everybody neutered). McKenna outlived everyone and died in 1991.
Not always. We have a young(6 month old) Tom that is still unneutered and he is nurturing his mother's second litter like they are his. He is very interested in them, enters the dog crate we put them in to keep them safe, licks them and will clean their genital area much the way his mother does. He lies down with them and is tolerant of their kitten behavior of climbing all over the place including atop him. This male is an interesting mix of affectionate behavior and active personality. He loved his mom and was clearly the favored kitten out of his litter. He still is somewhat a momma's boy with a streak of gumption. His sister(who is spayed) is much less interested in her half siblings and a bit wary of them. So it all depends on the Tom. We must just have a Mr. Mom on our hands!
My adult male cat(3yrs old at the time)nurtured my male kitten that I brought home.It was soo adorable.He cleaned him all over,watched him like a hawk,and slept cuddled up with him everytime.So can they kill kittens?maybe(I don't know)...and maybe its just possible with new borns(by accident).But my male cat didn't and he treated the kitten as if it was his baby and he was the mommy.
If it is there own offspring the tend to only harm them by accident, the either forget they are too small and can break there necks because they try to mate them, or because they can't turn off the hunting instinct like mum can, after all they are guy, if there not thing sex they are thing fight.
