Bodyless kitten and the ear-scarred cat

My ever-so-pregnant cat finally gave birth to 4 little kittens a few weeks ago. Three of them are black, with streak of greys and white, while the other one is white with a black head. The mother cat chose the mailbox of my neighbour as her base. Luckily it's an empty house, else the inhabitants will get a shock of their life when they check their mailbox and instead of letters, discover that there are kittens inside.

However, the mailbox is not weatherproof, so I made her a small snugly place on my front porch to house her kittens. Using an old wardrobe, courtesy from my sister, the mother cat is now cosily housed. Of course I would prefer them to stay indoors, but she refuses to be confined, being used to her freedom.

The arrangement works nicely, until yesterday morning. Before leaving for work, I checked on them as usual, and to my horror, discovered that there were only 3 kittens left. Upon proper check, I noticed that there were 3 kittens and a bodiless head in the wardrobe! Apparently, the 2-weeks old kitten has been eaten, with only the head and the bones sticking out from the head remained.

Now, I've watched enough CSI to do my own investigations, but already being late for work, I had no choice but to leave the crime scene and investigate the massacre later. It was definitely puzzling. I heard of cats who eat their young's, but that normally happens during the birth, when the mother cat is so weak that it needs to eat in order to survive. But this? Definitely puzzling.

When I got back from work, I straight away removed the head (there was already a distinct smell). The head was still wet. And I got another shock, when I discovered that another kitten was lying in there motionless. Dead. And so the mystery thickens.

And I also noticed, that another of my cat, the orange one, has a very bad gash on his left ear, like something had bitten on it. Now, what the heck happened here?

I buried the head and the dead kitten in one grave. The mother cat looked distress, she was meowing and meowing, trying to tell me what happened. Of course, it would have helped if I had learnt cat language in college instead of all the useless programming subjects.

I think what happened was another cat from the neighbourhood, the big light-brown male which I always see stealing my food, had came along and ate the kitten. My orange cat, being the protector of the house, fought him off, but was bitten and scampered off hiding under the car. The victor, after swatting away the mother cat, proceeded to devour the white kitten.

Or, my orange cat suddenly had a craving for fresh meat, and decided to eat the kitten. The mother cat fought him off and bit his eat, but being bigger and stronger, he managed to subdue the mother cat and ate the kitten. But I don't think my orange cat is that cruel, because I had him since he was a wee kitten, and he is picky when it comes to food.

Of course, the mother cat herself could have eaten her kitten. If that is the case, then it's definitely a puzzling one.

Whatever it is, I have moved the other two kittens inside, where I can keep a closer eye on them.