advice on my pregnant cats nipples please!

Hi, my cat is heavily pregnant. I'm not sure how long she has left as she went awol for a couple of weeks and came back huge just before Easter. She's had s bit of discharge yesterday and her temperature dropped two days ago. She has had colostrum for a week and I can feel the milk glands swollen behind her lower nipples. Recently her nipples have become 'crusty' it looks like they're covered in dry skin, someone suggested it could be dried milk but she hasn't been leaking milk that I know of. I only know about the colostrum because my mum's friend who's a breeder checked for it.
Will the kittens be able to access the milk if they're coated in whatever this 'crust ' is?
Many thanks in advance!

It sounds like she will be going into labor any moment now. The nipples are normally covered with a waxy substance right before birth.  There are some very good articles on kitten birth on this site.  You can find them by clicking on Articles in the brown bar above and then using the Search box right underneath to find the topic you want.  I've made it easy for you this time by dropping in some links.  Good luck, and let us know how it's going!

How to Tell if My Cat is Pregnant?

Pregnant Cat? What to Prepare For the Birth

Help! My Cat is Having Kittens!

Post-Birth Complications in Cats

How Do I Know When My Cat Will Give Birth?

Oh perfect thank you!

Hi all. I spotted a flea on my very pregnant cat earlier. usually she's up to date with her treatments but discovering she was preg a few weeks ago I held off giving her usual top up. I phoned the vets for some advice and the rude person on the other end of the phone told me that most over the counter ones were safe, it was a difficult conversation because my children were shouting making so much noise I could hardly hear her but I am SURE I have head that certain ones are not safe. Can anyone suggest which brand I can use please in the UK? I don't want to leave the problem untreated as I have read fleas kill kittens. I usually buy advantage through amazon after switching from frontline as I found it didn't work. Thanks in advance!

We have babies!!!

Yay!! Exciting

At this stage, just flea comb the babies to get any fleas.  The fleas will leave mom and go for the babies becausse they are tender and more delicious so it is easy to spot them.  Also, Advantage is VERY SAFE so if there is a flea you can't catch, put some Advange on a Q-tip and just dab the flea with it.  His nervous system will start to conk out and then you can pick him off an dispose of him in some soapy water.

I used Advantage2 and capstar on my stray Claire the same day she delivered her kittens and it killed all of her fleas and none were ever found on her kittens. Both of those are said to be safe for nursing moms and kittens.