When do you think my cat will give birth?

StefanZ said:

If there IS one more, you dont need to insist mom eats the last placenta too. Be sure it comes out,, but you may take it away.  Too many placentas increase the risk of diarrhea.  Its lotsa of high energy food all of a sudden.


Good luck!

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Update-

I think Michelle may be done at 7 kittens. They're all doing great and nursing extremely well. Michelle didn't end up eating any placentas, or much of the afterbirth for that matter. She's cuddled up with all 7 kittens in her warm and clean little box. She just had a big meal and tons of water! She's very content and seems stress-free. She had beautifully-marked kittens. 1 dilute calico, 2 brown tabby's with mottled orange markings, 1 solid blue, 1 black and white tuxedo, 1 peach, and 1 red! Here's a pic!

Aww yay finally !! Congrats on your new arrivals enjoy

Ok, I guess its my turn now with the pregnant cat. As some of you may remember, I had posted back in Oct/Nov about a "pregnant" foster I had. I posted asking you all whether you thought she looked pregnant or not as I didnt see typical symptoms from her. It was the shelter that told me she was pregnant. After having her for 10 weeks, it was determined that she was indeed not pregnant. To make matters worse, a week after realizing she wasnt pregnant, I brought Ella to the vet to get spayed. Its the vet that the shelter uses. I get a call about 2 hrs after dropping her off that the vet went to spay her and realized....she was already spayed! The poor thing! An unnessasry surgery. She took a good 7-10 days to recover from that. By the 2 week mark, she went back to the shelter for adoption. Glad to report, she was adopted 2 weeks after going there

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A week ago yesterday I got a call for another pregnant cat. The vet said she figured "Lilly" is about a week away from delivery. A week was yesterday. So now the waiting game begins. I am attaching a picture. She is not showing any signs of pre labor. She just wants to keep us waiting!

I do want to thank whoever created this website. Not only has it been incredibly useful for us "newbies" with pregnant cats but its also such a friendly group of people. Thank you everyone for all the advice you gave me with Ella. Also, I have made a great friend through your website, gmm80 has been so helpful to me with all the questions I have had with my pregnant foster. So not only is this a great, informative site, but it also helped us become cyber friends!

williamsonj6 said:

Ok, I guess its my turn now with the pregnant cat. As some of you may remember, I had posted back in Oct/Nov about a "pregnant" foster I had. I posted asking you all whether you thought she looked pregnant or not as I didnt see typical symptoms from her. It was the shelter that told me she was pregnant. After having her for 10 weeks, it was determined that she was indeed not pregnant. To make matters worse, a week after realizing she wasnt pregnant, I brought Ella to the vet to get spayed. Its the vet that the shelter uses. I get a call about 2 hrs after dropping her off that the vet went to spay her and realized....she was already spayed! The poor thing! An unnessasry surgery. She took a good 7-10 days to recover from that. By the 2 week mark, she went back to the shelter for adoption. Glad to report, she was adopted 2 weeks after going there
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A week ago yesterday I got a call for another pregnant cat. The vet said she figured "Lilly" is about a week away from delivery. A week was yesterday. So now the waiting game begins. I am attaching a picture. She is not showing any signs of pre labor. She just wants to keep us waiting!

I do want to thank whoever created this website. Not only has it been incredibly useful for us "newbies" with pregnant cats but its also such a friendly group of people. Thank you everyone for all the advice you gave me with Ella. Also, I have made a great friend through your website, gmm80 has been so helpful to me with all the questions I have had with my pregnant foster. So not only is this a great, informative site, but it also helped us become cyber friends!

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Aww bless you for taking in a pregnant foster. It's a huge commitment so I am very appreciative of your kindness.

With Michelle, I noticed the day before she gave birth (yesterday) she was very sleepy, and then she'd wake up, go under my bed and dig up the extra bed linen that I have stored under it. She was REALLY looking around for a spot to give birth just 2 days before delivery, but I'd say that I noticed her looking around about 3 weeks before birth.

Then, the next day after her labour spot hunt, she was sitting on my bed and when she moved, I noticed a little drop (dime size) of a clear/pinkish fluid. I assumed this was the beginning of her mucous plug coming out. After that, she laid down and I felt the kittens moving like crazy, and then up until she was full relaxed and sleeping, I gently took her rectal temperature, and it read 98.6, which meant labour won't be too far away. All of this happened around 4:00PM. She ate a large helping of food, and then remained pretty normal for the rest of the night. And then, at 5am the next morning (today), she gave birth to the first of her 7 kittens, under my sisters bed in the basement. Basically out of nowhere, that is the last place we would've guessed. Considering the interest she had in my closet and under my bed. She hadn't dug up any towels or blankets for her nest, just the bare carpet. My sister woke me up because she heard a faint kitten cry, but no labour-pain vocals from mama Michelle (still scratching my head about this). So I basically floated out of bed and straight downstairs to my sisters room, and there we found Michelle under the bed with her newborn kitten, still attached to its placenta. She wouldn't even clean the kitten, so I intervened and crawled under to grab the kitten and clean it off and tie off and cut the umbilical cord. Michelle seemed to be really shocked and stressed out, and I don't believe her motherly instincts kicked in until a few kittens later.
I took the first born kitten, and crawled out from under the bed, hoping mama would follow. Instead, she remained still and just meowed helplessly. I got the kitten breathing and doing well, and I put her in the nesting box that I intended on using. Michelle still wasn't coming out from under the bed, and ended up contracting the 2nd kitten out minutes later. I had to crawl back under to her, and help her out. The kitten was born with no problems, but Michelle had no interest in eating the afterbirth from the 2nd kitten also, so I had to repeat the same thing. She had the idea of cleaning their faces off, but that was it. After the 2nd kitten was born, we tried using her 2 kittens to lure her out from under the bed. She was still not having it! So, we then moved the bed and picked her up and brought her to her kittens, inside of the whelping box. She delivered the rest of the 5 kittens, and that was that! I carried her and the babies in the box up to my room, and she's been happily resting, nursing and eating since!

I am so proud of my sweet girl, and her kittens are very healthy with exceptional markings. I look forward to the fun weeks ahead.

This was the birth story of Michelle's 7 kittens.

God bless.

Congratulations! The babies are adorable! I'm so happy for you. I'm still playing the waiting game with mine. Hopefully soon

Gosh, what a way to deliver the babies....under the bed! How on earth did you get the 2 out? I cant imagine being able to reach the babies under the bed.

Still nothing going on with Lilly. Because she is a foster and seems to not like our 2 other cats, I have her confined to my daughters bedroom, which also has a bathroom. My daughter is away at college, so this works out great. I have pretty much kept Lilly in the bathroom, but when I am with her during the day, I let her in the bedroom. She is also one who likes to go under the bed and I dont want to be in your situation, quinnmcc, where I have to help with delivery, under the bed!

I did allow Lilly out of the bedroom a few days ago and she was following me around (the other 2 cats were asleep downstairs) she found our linen closet and jumped up to a "sheet shelf" and laid down. So the instinct is there, but I need to keep her confined to the bedroom, so I put some dark towels on the window in the bathroom to make the room a bit darker. She has her nesting box and sometimes goes in it, but usually prefers the cold tile floor to lay on.

Every morning I go in her room thinking maybe she had them overnight, but no such luck!

Thanks again to everyone on these boards who help with this whole pregnancy thing. I am sure I will have questions about the newborns whenever they get here!

williamsonj6 said:

Gosh, what a way to deliver the babies....under the bed! How on earth did you get the 2 out? I cant imagine being able to reach the babies under the bed.

Still nothing going on with Lilly. Because she is a foster and seems to not like our 2 other cats, I have her confined to my daughters bedroom, which also has a bathroom. My daughter is away at college, so this works out great. I have pretty much kept Lilly in the bathroom, but when I am with her during the day, I let her in the bedroom. She is also one who likes to go under the bed and I dont want to be in your situation, quinnmcc, where I have to help with delivery, under the bed!

I did allow Lilly out of the bedroom a few days ago and she was following me around (the other 2 cats were asleep downstairs) she found our linen closet and jumped up to a "sheet shelf" and laid down. So the instinct is there, but I need to keep her confined to the bedroom, so I put some dark towels on the window in the bathroom to make the room a bit darker. She has her nesting box and sometimes goes in it, but usually prefers the cold tile floor to lay on.

Every morning I go in her room thinking maybe she had them overnight, but no such luck!

Thanks again to everyone on these boards who help with this whole pregnancy thing. I am sure I will have questions about the newborns whenever they get here!

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It was kind of difficult, but it was an IKEA bed, so there was plenty of room underneath to wriggle over to Michelle and her kittens. Thank god they were all okay and healthy.

Lilly definitely sounds like she's close. I assume that since she's a foster, you don't know the exact date she conceived, so it's hard to determine the exact day into gestation she is.

Michelle conceived on the 18th of December (2014), and gave birth Feb 21st 2015. Just the day before, I noticed that she wasn't too hungry, and that she'd rather sleep. She was sitting on my bed, and when she got up and walked away, I noticed the little clear/pinkish fluid spot. I took her temperature a few minutes after, and it was the lowest its ever been, at 37.0 F. Some people say that the temperature isn't always the best and most accurate way to determine when labour will kick in, but it has always been for my cat AND dogs. It's always the number one sign that I rely on. So if you can, take Lilly's rectal temperature, and see what she's at!

Good luck, I can't wait to see the kitties!

CallieBaby525 said:

Congratulations! The babies are adorable! I'm so happy for you. I'm still playing the waiting game with mine. Hopefully soon

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Thank you so much! Kitties are doing extremely well. Growing SO quickly. Hopefully their eyes open soon! My last stray's kittens opened their eyes at 3 days old. How's your queen doing? I hope it's soon! I know how hard the waiting game is

Omg I'm so jealous of you right now. I'm thinking my queen was not as far along as I originally thought but she is doing good. Getting bigger by the day. I do hope it is soon!

I just wanted to post the collages I made for the kittens. The pictures don't really do them justice, they are so much sweeter in person, and their markings are so much more vibrant than what the pictures show. They're growing rapidly and are very healthy. Mama is an amazing mother to them, I'm so proud of her, and it's so beautiful to witness her as a mother. God bless!

Here's the girls

Here's the boys (and a group shot)

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CallieBaby525 said:

Omg I'm so jealous of you right now. I'm thinking my queen was not as far along as I originally thought but she is doing good. Getting bigger by the day. I do hope it is soon!

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Aww don't worry! Her time will be soon. I wish you both the best of luck, keep me posted! You can PM me if you'd like

Wow! How many are there?

felineutopia said:

Wow! How many are there?

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There are 7 kitties in total. 4 girls and 3 boys

Oh my goodness! They are so cute. My kitty is pregnant and im hoping she doesn't have TOO many haha

Congratulations on these beautiful kittens.

blueyedgirl5946 said:

Congratulations on these beautiful kittens.

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Thank you all so much! They're growing so quickly and their eyes look like they'll be opening soon. I will continue with the updates!

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile. Michelles kittens are now 5 weeks old as of today, running everywhere, using the litterbox and eating solid food now.
They'll be seeing the Vet next week for their vaccines and dewormer. I have found them all wonderful homes, after interviewing many families. I will be so sad to see them go, but I am so happy to know that they'll be going to loving, caring homes. I still have 3 more weeks with them though! I just have one question...I never had trouble with previous litters, however, this one has tended to bend the rules of normality haha! The kittens aren't really interested in water. I've tried syringing a few drops of water into their mouths, they'll swallow it, but they aren't connecting the water bowl with the taste of water they receive from the syringe. Some kittens had trouble finding the food bowl, and this method worked. I'd hand feed the stubborn kittens (they'd lick my fingers), and then I'd slowly bring them closer and closer to the food dish...they figured it out faster than they'd starve. It's a different story with the water though. I feel like it will help wash down their food, but they're just not interested. Some kittens will stick their paws in the water, and that annoys them, so they'll just spend the rest of the time cleaning their wet paw. I never had issues with previous litters, so I wonder why these kitties aren't getting it. They're perfect little angels otherwise! I'll post pictures when I get a chance, they keep me busy!

Hi there!!!
As most of you know, my cat Michelle had a beautiful litter of 7 kittens, 7 weeks ago. The kittens all saw the vet, received their vaccines and went to their new homes this past week. Their mama Michelle, went through a period of looking around for them, and crying a bit. She still looks a little depressed, but I think she's starting to make peace with it. She's a healthy cat, never had an issue. Now, I've recently noticed that her teats are extremely full, and hard. I can feel where the mammary glands start and finish. The kittens were off her milk for a good 2-3 weeks now, but her teats look bigger than ever. They are very clean and healthy looking, it doesn't look like mastitis either. I've even extracted milk from each nipple and the milk is a very healthy, thin white colour. She lets me touch them and that, but she seems slightly bothered by it. I'd think that they'd feel a bit achey and what not. They are just SUPER full. I am assuming that the milk will dry up? I never noticed this with any of my other queens. I guess I am just more observant this time around!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Yeah her milk is drying up