New mother cat has clumpy white discharge. Is this normal?

Hi! I am new to this site. My husband and I rescued a pregnant cat a little over 5 weeks ago from a busy retail parking lot. We knew when we rescued her that she was pregnant but we didn't expect to wait so long to meet her kittens. She finally had her litter this past Monday. She had 7 kittens...yes 7!!!

FIRST CONCERN: The first couple days (post birth - Tues & Wed) I don't believe she ate any food. I was told by a friend (who used to be a vet tech) that this was probably because she ate so many placentas. She has been drinking water on her own and I've been supplementing her with more water through a syringe. Post birth, momma's #1 focus has been nursing her kittens. Yes, she is such a good little momma but I am worried about her. I am not sure if this is normal or not but she is extremly lethagric. I can tell just by looking at her and watching her demeanor. Her facial expression, they way she holds herself, and the fact that her eyelids (third eyelids _ the ones going across her eyes) are partial close most of the time. Pure exhaustion! So this on top of her not eating I've been worried about her. This is why I decide to start giving her additional fluids (water) using the syringe to minimize the chance of her becoming dehydrated. This way, hopefully, she is happy (not having to leave the litter) while also getting the fluids she needs to gain her strength back.

We finially saw her eat a small amount of food for the first time yesterday (Yay!) and she has continued eating today but again only a minimal amount. We've tried all kinds of food but her appeite is just not there.

SECOND CONCERN: Tuesday morning I went to check on her and noticed what look like some "after birth" (maybe a portion of a placenta or the like) in the nest. She must have passed during the night. The next day we started to notice a whitish discharge on her back end and has gradually become more clump like. Is this a sign of something bad? Possible infection? She is still using the litter box (pooping and peeing), drinking water, and now a little bit of food daily. The tiredness is there but I can get her to purr for me and I've made sure she is taking breaks from the kittens to at least drink and use the litter box.

Has anyone on this forum experienced this before? I just want to make sure, if she needs medical care, I get it for her.

Sorry this was a bit lengthy but thank you for reading and for any advice you can give us.

She might have an infection.  Take her to the vets, ASAP.

She sounds quite unwell, definitely needs a vet visit asap. My girls always eat, even after 7 placentas. Where you at the birth? Did she pass all the kittens easily and all the placentas?

I was with her for most of the birthing. I couldn't tell if she passed/ate every placenta. I know I saw her eat at least a few but she chose a small pet carrier to have them in so I had trouble viewing everything that she was doing. The labor did not seem too bad for her although it took 5.5 hrs for all the kittens to arrive. I would say the last kitten took the longest to arrive. There was about in hour in between the delivery of kitten #6 and kitten #7. I didn't seem to think she wasn't contracting, pushing too long on any of the kittens.

I will get her to the vet ASAP. I wish I had posted my concerns sooner as I am not sure my vet is open tomorrow. I'll try to call around to other places to see who is open.

She seems to be a young cat, probably less than a year so I am assuming it is her first litter. I feel so bad for her to be in such bad shape. I really thought she would gradually get better and she has made some progress so I was feeling hopeful. There is less clumpy discharge today than yesterday and this evening she has even ate more than she did yesterday. I found out if I put kibble by her head while she nurses she'll actually sit half-way up and eat it!

Missymotus - on your cats that had large litters, did they have any sort of discharge? My momma seems to have had a wet behind since the second day following the birth. The morning post birth, her back end was shockingly normal looking - no blood and actually cleaner than when she was pregnant (she had trouble cleaning herself due to her pre-birth belly size). The next 2 days there was a bit of bleeding (which I didn't think was excessive), day 4 (yesterday) the white clumpy discharge started and she also had a bit earlier in the day today. This evening it seems not as clumpy more just like a thick discharge so I really was hoping she'd be ok.

Thanks for the replies, Missymotus and OrientalSlave.

A little bleeding for a few days is normal, discharge or heavy bleeding isn't. Are you just feeding dry food? I recommend giving her wet 4-5 times a day, as she'll eat it. It's much better for them than dry, and feeding takes a lot out of them. 

Make sure to weigh the kittens daily if you aren't already, that way you can quickly pick up on any that aren't gaining properly and supp feed them if needed. My girls are fine with large litters and retain good condition, not all cats do. 

She probably is young since she was outside. Hope all is ok with the vet visit, likely they'll just give you some antibiotics and she'll be ok.