HELP! premature kitten and mom still preg!

I have a 3 yo cat who delivered a surprise undeveloped fetal kitten- stillborn and one nearly hairless premie that died a few hours after birth. Tinkerbelle ( the Mom ) is still pregnant- the other(s?) are still moving, seem strong, and she is not in labor any more. She appears healthy, but was upset when we took the dead ones away, though she didn't attempt to nurse the live- born one much, as it was unable to do so anyway.

We do not have a regular vet- we used to but, husband had health problems and also lost his job...

Should we expect Tinkerbelle to carry the remaining kitten(s) to full term, or worry about her?

This is my first time here.
Tinker is not our only cat- I took in a pregnant stray, and her kittens are 9 weeks old... if Tinkerbelle has more and abandons them, do you think the stray (Widget) will be able to nurse Tinker's?

Thanks,
Chrysalis

If you can still detect movement, she may be ok and have the rest naturally. Sounds like she was bred at different days and the premature ones were the last to be conceived so they were first to be aborted.

Hope everything turns out ok.

I hope you're right... to my knowledge, she only got outside once, though.
thanks

I had a simular situation a few years ago. I don't want to get your hopes up, because it is rare to have them stop labor and then continue to have the rest be full term, but it can happen.
My queen delivered a still born kitten that was very small and trasparent and didn't have any fur. I was devastated and figured they would all be premature, after taking here to the vets a couple time for x-rays and such the vet said that the labor had stopped and every thing seemed to be normal. Our main concern was that if she was dialated she could have gotten an infection, but she didn't. She just aborted the one kitten and it was about 33 hours later she delivered the remaining 4 or 5 kittens that were healthy full term kittens. So keep optimistic, she may be just fine and so may the babies.
I will try to find my thread that I posted if you would like to read about it.

I am hoping with everyone else, that the rest of the kittens are okay. Good luck with everything. It's a very interesting situation. I have never heard of it.

I haven't seen this with a cat, but have seen it with a dog. In that case, a little Yorkie mom popped out a surprise puppy (owners didn't even know she was pregnant) and it was obviously premature. She had another pup, but her labor had stopped. She was given a drug to start her contractions again and delivered pup#2 about 24 hours after the first. I'm not sure of the chances of her going on to naturally deliver the other kittens. Maybe some vet intervention may be a good idea? Sorry I can't be of more help. Good luck to you, momma, and babies!

With a liiittle luck everything will be OK!

Cats can make several different deliveries: the kittens are in different sacks.
I did have heard several times of deliveries a couple of days - or even more - inbetween.
With living and healthy kittens as product in the remaining litter, mind you.


There are even cases of cats delivering two completely different litters several weeks between. - My ex-neighbour has such a cat coming from litter nr 2.

If the mom seems OK and the other kittens are moving as they usually do when healthy - wait and see.
Be ready and watchful, contact a vet if you have one, but dont panic and dont stress the mom...

Good luck!

Hi, I'm Sheryl. This is my first time here as well. I had the exact same experience last kitten season. My queen aborted a foetal sack at 54 days gestation. I took her to the vet. She was put on an antibiotic, (clavulox) which she was to remain on until the remaining kittens were born. The antibiotic was given because the queens birth canal was open and to prevent infection traveling up into the uterus and causing major problems from infection. She went on to deliver 3 normal healthy kittens at 67 days gestation. Hope this helps you.

Originally Posted by tinahaj

I am hoping with everyone else, that the rest of the kittens are okay. Good luck with everything. It's a very interesting situation. I have never heard of it.

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It is very rare but does happen. Often it will happen I think, because cats are induced ovalators and can breed several times as well as with different males. So the act mating causes the eggs to drop, and if she mates with a cat again mabey a week later, it causes them to be a week later developmentally. Usually when the cat goes into labor they can't stop it after expelling the smaller premature kitten but some times it can happen. So if mom carries full term with the first kittens conceived, they should be fine, but if some were conceived later, they will not be as full term as the others, but as long as they are full term and the mother doesn't get any infections in the cervix from passing the premature one, the others could be just fine.

That had happened to me a few years ago, I looked up the thread I started when I went through it, so if the op or any one else is interested in that I am adding a link to it.
OP try and read this, it may give you a little hope, because like I said that is what I went through and had beautiful full term kittens a little more then 2 1/2 days later.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82196

The same thing happened to one of our foster moms, except she had all of them premature. Is she a young cat?Just curious, because Winnie was really young at the time...
Good luck- I hope the rest survive!

Tinkerbelle was technically due yesterday, and she is still pregnant-
Seems to be doing fine, healthy and very happy. The kitties are moving fine, but they seem pretty small.
Our other momma cat- Widget had 3 kittens around Christmas- and they were all HUGE compared to this set. I can count 2 in Tinker's belly definately, but the seems to have room for 4.
Somehow I stopped getting updates when people post responses here, sorry that you all had to wait so long to find out what's going on.

A new interesting situation came up... we stil have the other kittens, although we put an ad out for 2 of them ( we want to keep one). Tinkerbelle has been NURSING THEM! Since she is due any day now, we are removing Widget's kittens from her. Tink is in a room by herself, but the little ones can get under the door and get in...
We are also going to get rid of Widget- she was a stray, but is so territorial that she makes Princess ( our oldest cat) miserable and Tink is afraid of her. Widget also has her own room during the day, but trades places with Princess at night.
Thank you for all your kind concern

Originally Posted by chrysalis

A new interesting situation came up... we stil have the other kittens, although we put an ad out for 2 of them ( we want to keep one). Tinkerbelle has been NURSING THEM! Since she is due any day now, we are removing Widget's kittens from her. Tink is in a room by herself, but the little ones can get under the door and get in...

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Hi,

please don't let her nurse the kittens, as this can stimmulate the production of the of hormone Oxytocin- which in turn can cause a premature birth.

Originally Posted by chrysalis

We are also going to get rid of Widget- she was a stray, but is so territorial that she makes Princess ( our oldest cat) miserable and Tink is afraid of her. Widget also has her own room during the day, but trades places with Princess at night.
Thank you for all your kind concern

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Please give Widget a little bit more time-maybe she'll be less agressive once her kittens are out of the house.


christine

I'm not putting Widget down or anything- she has been here since November 2nd. She isn't agressively defending her kittens, but actively PURSUES the other cats, into their hiding places and everything. I swear she only goes into a room to start fights with them. Princess is afraid to be alone, and will growl and hiss for an hour after a confrontation with Widget ( which rarely happens now because we keep them seperated, but anytime Widget goes out of my son's bedroom during the day- she goes straight to make trouble with Princess.

Our kids do 4-H so I have put an appeal out to all of those animal loving families to take Widget and give her a new home and perhaps a nice big territory on a farm. I love Widget, and would like to keep her, but our other cats have been here far longer and they are my priority.

Thought I'd share the pictures of the kitties I am talking about
That one is Tinkerbelle ( gray/white) and Princess ( brown tabby)
href="http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc169/rvnurse2b/?action=view&current=afterwipepics171.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc169/rvnurse2b/afterwipepics171.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]

I'm glad the other kittens are alright! Keep us updated on when she has them!

I'm not sure what you did to try to get the pictures up here, but it looks like you posted the same picture four times, twice with the code for emails and twice with the IMG code. There's a bunch of extra things at the beginning and end of the code that don't make sense, which is probably why you images aren't showing up.

Is this the picture you were trying to post?


That one is Tinkerbelle ( gray/white) and Princess ( brown tabby)

Originally Posted by chrysalis

I'm not putting Widget down or anything- she has been here since November 2nd. She isn't agressively defending her kittens, but actively PURSUES the other cats, into their hiding places and everything. I swear she only goes into a room to start fights with them. Princess is afraid to be alone, and will growl and hiss for an hour after a confrontation with Widget ( which rarely happens now because we keep them seperated, but anytime Widget goes out of my son's bedroom during the day- she goes straight to make trouble with Princess.

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Hi,

has she been neutered yet? Neutering will change a cats rank within a house hold.

Christine

Goldy cat,
The picture you have up is Widget.... I don't know what went wrong. I wll try again with the other one here goes...

http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/c...ipepics210.jpg

THIS one has Tink and Princess

Christine,
No, we know of a vet who does a barn rate for spay/neuter, but are waiting for the kittens to get old enough to take them in... My husband has had it with Widget and doesn't want to wait any more. ( take in 3 or more cats and you get it done for $20 each.)

Hello,
Tinkerbelle just had one little dark colored baby with some different patches of color on its face looks like a girl... not the most active, but mewing and moving ok I'll keep you posted.