3 small cords & some watery spotting is all I found, hoping someone has some insight

So we had a house guest over a month ago that came with a female cat that was pregnant. He said she didn't know she was pregnant (i was the one that informed him)but that he also didn't mind as she should be allowed to do whatever she wants ( yes I know you are face palming right now). Now the cat had just had a delivery a couple months before that was described to me as *terrible*. Apparently she went into labor & didn't want to go into a crate so he let her have them on his bed. Him & a friend thought she was having trouble (instead of just letting her be to do what is natural) so they decided to *pull* the first kitten out after seeing its head come out, it was dead. The next kitten they decide to leave alone on its way out & it was alive but they had read that they needed to scrub the kittens belly to try & make it poop & pee & so that kitten didn't last 24 hours. The 3rd & final kitten they once again decided that they needed to help & pulled it out & that kitten was also dead. Keep in mind that this person has NO knowledge of cats & what they do when delivering kittens, he just thought that it was gross & that also the Momma wasn't doing it fast enough. 

Enter in me..He showed up with his pregnant cat & even though I knew she had a delivery recently I had not heard the details & was shocked she was not fixed yet. It took some convincing to make him realize that cats don't actually want or need to be pregnant all the time & finally agreed to get her fixed after this litter. He came here from a couple thousand miles away to relocate & my husband & I let him stay here briefly, when he left, he left his cat & we have no idea where he went. I already have 4 cats all of them rescues so I didn't have the heart to take her in to a shelter while pregnant especially. She has had the back half of my apartment all to her self so she has not been made to be around the other cats unless she wanted to. She has been eating premium kitten food & loved on tons by all of us here. My son & I left for less than an hour the other evening while my hubby was working in the living room. I went to check on her & there was a small amount of bloody, watery spotting & 2 tiny cords in one place & another tiny amount of spotting & a tiny cord in another place a few feet away from the others. The cords looked like tiny rubber bands & not very long in length. It did not occur to me at the time that it may have been the kittens but now I am not sure. 

Enter in my question or hopefully some insight from someone that knows about this stuff. When I saw the spotting I actually expected that she would be going into labor or already was so we waited. I immediately took her into my room where her nest is & all she did was act really normal & eat alot. That was 3 days ago. She still has continued to act normal but today there was a huge difference. She no longer looks pregnant. Her tummy is about half the size it was just 24 hours ago. I have so many questions....Did she have them & eat them & how is that even possible in 45 minutes? Did something else happen? Gosh I just don't know what to think & I am really torn up about all of it. She is still acting healthy & loving & normal.  Help, if anyone has a clue please share with me Thank you!

My guess is like yours, she had them - probably spontan abortion / premature, and she ate them.

Either because they WERE premature, or because the shock she got last time did traumatize her. 

Premature is my guess, again.

what baffles me, she could eat normal cat food almost immediately afterwards, having stomach filled up with three  almost grown up fetuses, placentas and all. 

the other possibility is she carried them away somewhere and hid.  but it is several days now, so you would feel the stench...

Good luck!

Ps.   CAN they be alive somewhere, well hidden, and she nurses them now and then?   Like a semiferal would.

Yes StefanZ that also confused me a great deal as well. We have not smelled anything & have on multiple occasions now searched the room top to bottom so no I am pretty sure she didn't hide them. It has occurred to me that she &/or her system was very traumatized from the last delivery. Well she will be getting fixed soon so she wont have to go through this ever again. Thank you for your response!

 Very disturbing and it does seem rather mysterious that she would be still so hungry if she totally consumed 3 fetuses and placentas even if they were premature.

 They can be very clever about hiding them and newborn kittens are tiny.   but it does sound like you searched thoroughly.

The way you describe it I think you're probably right.  And with the back to back pregnancies and trauma she has been through,  it well could be she had premature stillborn  kittens and consumed them from instinct not to leave a scent for predators.

but just in case she COULD possibly have kittens hidden somewhere ,  make sure she still is able to go in the part of the house she was in at the time.  

The only other possibility is that what you actually saw was mucus from her losing the mucus plug,  and she looks thinner because the kittens have dropped  into position to be born , but haven't been born yet.  

 Usually you would be able to feel them moving if they are still in her and alive.  but not always. 

You could keep her in and keep an eye on her for a few more weeks,  help get her strength up,  then if there's no kittens get her spayed.   Or take her sooner to   

Maew, yes I have thought of the small possibility that they have dropped *crosses fingers* & that we may yet still see some healthy newborns soon. Also she is still staying in the back half of the apartment & sleeping at night in the same room that all this happened in & has free access to the area so if by the small chance that she hid them, yes she can still tend them & is still away from the rest of the cats. 

I figured I would give her 2 weeks before scheduling her appointment for being spayed. The other weird thing she has been doing (just tonight) is darting out the door & high tailing as fast as she can, my son has had to chase her 3 times across the entire complex here & its not small. She liked to run out the door before but she wouldn't run away from us as we came right after her, she would just sniff the grass for a minute until someone picked her up...I don't know but this has been the strangest thing I have been through with a cat & I have been rescuing them for close to ten years now & have even helped other Momma cats go through the labor/delivery process but this one is so odd. Anyways Thank you so much for your response, it makes me feel better just hearing others input!

Oh my post somehow was cut off.    I was going to say there that you could take her sooner and get a scan done to make absolutely sure she is no longer pregnant ,  if you wanted to go ahead sooner with the spay.    But you may want to just wait a couple weeks,  let her get stronger anyway before surgery. 

 Only thing is ,   you do need to keep her in until she can be spayed.  

It can also happen that a cat can have some of the litter prematurely but carry the rest to term.    My dad's farm cat had that happen.  She spontaneously aborted 1 or 2 prematurely .  and then  I think it was about a week or so  later that she had 2 healthy full term kittens.

 With her darting out the door and running from you,  I wonder if she is going back in heat again.     Or.... IF there is any chance she still is pregnant,  she may be trying to escape to go look for some hidden place away from humans to have the kittens.   It would not be in her best interest  this time,  but after her last experience of how humans dealt with it,  I would understand if she thought she needed to get away and deal with it herself.  

Anyway,  whether it is estrus or impending birth or  just capriciousness,   you may want to keep 2 doors between her and the outside.

Thanks for helping this poor young cat.   

Maew, Upon examining her again today I would swear that she is still pregnant even though she is much thinner. I think I will just wait it out a couple of weeks then get her spayed if no kittens have shown up unless of course she shows any signs of being sick then we'll get her in to be seen sooner but she is still acting happy, healthy & normal.

After last nights adventures of chasing her we have made sure she is behind a closed door & the gate in the hallway before anyone opens a door to the outside as I do not want her getting pregnant again OR having kittens outside. Its getting quite cold here in Oregon & that would be terrible if the babies were born out there. 

Thank you for sharing your story about your Dads farm cat, it makes me feel better knowing that could happen instead of feeling crazy about these events lol. I will keep ya'll posted & Happy Thanksgiving!