New mum with questions!

Hi all , I'm new to the forum (and boy do I wish I'd found it before the babies arrived!!).

My cat Delilah gave birth to four (quite large) kittens on Monday afternoon, and whilst we were determined to leave her to it, it ended up being quite a hands on delivery.

The first was delivered head first and without too much bother. De was straight on it cleaning and getting rid of the after birth, and baby was immediately hunting for food. I sat with her for three hours afterwards, as for the size of her stomach I was convinced one wasn't the end of it, but after three hours she showed no signs of any more and I decided to leave her to it for a while (I'm also preggers and six hours under the bed with her was taking its toll on my circulation) as she seemed happy enough previously she screamed at me every time I stopped stroking her). Hubby was neither use nor ornament after her waters broke (doesn't bode well for me, I know!!!!) Half an hour later I went to check on her and another one had arrived! This time the baby was almost completely cleaned and although breathing was showing no signs of looking for food or infact moving much at all. We ended up hand feeding her for the first couple (she tried if we put her on the nipple but didn't seem to have the strength to stay on for more than a couple of seconds). Eventually she seems to have the hang of it. Three and four were delivered in very quick succession whilst I was feeding the second, but De was exhausted. Number 3 came out without placenta and I had to cut the cord and give him to mum, and number 4 came out with the sac still in tact which I cut open before handing to mum.

All seemed fine this morning, 2 was improving and now seems to be holding her own, but now 3 is worrying me! He has a dark yellow discharge coming from his behind and I'm not sure what it is. He is still eating heartily and is much more active than the others, but this discharge is worrying me a bit! I've cleaned him up with a warm damp cotton wool pad, but none of the others have it!

Also, De's belly is still very large and very firm. I know cats can be preggers with different litters at the same time, how can I tell if she still is? Do their bellies normally stay large and firm afterwards?

Today she has also started wandering around and even went outside to do toiletting even though I have put a litter tray in the bedroom (ugh I know) with her. Should she really be doing this after only 2 days and how can I encourage her to stay without interfering too much?

If anyone has any advice or ideas on what the yellowness is I'd be very grateful!!

From Vicky and Delilah x

Hi,

As far as I can tell by your description the yellow discharge is completelty normal, this is the normal colour of kittens 'poo' and mum usually will clean this up herself but no harm in assisting if it gets messy! The other kittens probably don't have it as they haven't 'been' yet but i'm sure they will within the next couple of days.

Hope this has reassured you a bit.

Nicola.

Thanks I feel better! I was worried he had some kind of stomach bug! I'll still keep an eye cause there was quite a bit of it but he doesn't seem to have had anymore in the last half hour! x

Sorry also meant to say that in my experience the mums tummy is quite soft afterwards so it may be that another kitten or more in there, if worried or in doubt I would give the vets a call although I know if the cat say mated over quite a long period then the kittens can be conceived at different times and therefore actually be born spaced apart but i'm not an expert!!

Also it's quite normal for mum to go out, even as soon as 2 days afterwards, as long as she doesn't do this too often and for no longer than say 15/30mins at a time then i'd say thats fine.

Oh...that's ok then, she only went out for about 5 mins, did her thing and went straight back again! She does seem to be getting the hang of it all quite well.

It always surprises me at how naturally everything comes to them! Remarkable really, I know this isn't always the case but more often than not they just 'know'! Anything more that worries you just feel free to ask and i'll help in any way I can. I see you are also in the UK, I'm currently waiting for my cat to have her kittens - keeping us all on tender hooks with the waiting - it's the worse bit!! 'm just so impatient for them to be here!

Lol I was the same. She was preggers when we got her so we had no idea of dates or anything, we just had to keep looking for signs! She didn't show any nesting until the day she went into labour when she picked my jumper box! The first we knew was her howling at us until we followed her upstairs lol. Luckily I'm a teacher so I'm off this week and don't need to leave them at all. I was most looking forward to seeing how many and what colour! As far as I can tell its 3 girls (all black and white and one has ginger bits) and a boy (totally ginger lol).

awww thats lovely, you'll have to keep us updated and get some pics on here if you can of course, I use photobucket - we are all a sucker for new baby pics! I will also let you know what mine has and keep a look out for pics, I can never resist taking loads and posting them on here weekly as they grow. It's good that you are off this week to be around, at least you can spot if anything is wrong early on then (although I doubt there is or will be) and also check that mum is ok and doing all she should! What colour is mum? Sounds like you have a nice mix of colours to me.

Lol I've had my camera since last xmas and taken about 20 photos. Since Monday lunch I've had to dload the 2gb memory card twice already (but I did film the birth of the first one, until I got over excited and ended up filming the side of her box instead!). I'll get some up later.

Congrats on the kittens. It concerns me that you said the third one came out without the placenta. That could be what you're feeling in her still. If it is, she could get very sick. You need to get her to a vet to have the placenta removed.

Thanks for the advise Goldy. Sorry that's my bad grammar. The third placenta came out with the fourth...the second we don't know about as she had it and cleaned it while we were not in the room. I've been checking every half hour for signs of illness or fever and so far she seems better than before!! I can't feel any lumps or anything (aside from the mammary glands), and her tummy seems to be relaxing a little now but I'll keep doing half hour checks for the next couple of days just to make sure.

Aww, congrats on your new little ones!
I'd call your vet and ask him about the hard stomach, and he'll tell you if it's urgent or not. Usually if she had two littlers in her at once, they would be born at the same time(sometimes prematurly), so I wouldn't worry about that...
Congrats!
Can't wait to see them!

Awwww congrats on the new additions... My babygirl snowee and my male cat smokee just had their first babies 2 days ago. Bless my girl she had 6 [emoji]128562[/emoji][emoji]128562[/emoji][emoji]128562[/emoji].I sat up all night with her with her paws holding my wrist and she finally had 5 between 6.50am and 8.30am then had the 6th one 3 hours later??? She is bleeding slightly still and I am unsure if this is normal....