Pregancy in young concerned about age of mother.

We have a new cat that has adopted us about two months ago. We live on a farm and have a doggy door. We are surrounded by strays in the area.She is the second (that we are aware of) to use the doggy door but she chose to stay since we moved here a year ago...... We have two neutered male cats and an older bloodhound that is fixed as well. She has slowly become our cat and very much so in the past few weeks. It is almost if she needs us as she does not like the other animals at all. She hisses at them all the time. We do not know her age but she is small @ 9 pounds. We took her to the vet 3/64 as she is having yellow mucous from her vulva and I was concerned about infection. He said not to worry as is likely a vaginitis. He did an ultrasound and said they look healthy and that there are at least two. I have confined her to our bedroom with food, water and box. She has had colostrum with manual expression for about a week. he guessed a week or two. I asked about prophylactic ABX and he said no. At my request he gave us pregnancy safe wormer. 

I have not had kittens before and was researching that she might be too young? The vet never mentioned her size but days she thinks she is under a year. Vet did not recommend vaccination. We just recently put down a male cat that had recurrent chronic HSV that was disabling for him-they did have contact. (He used to be a barn cat that we got free as he was going to be euthanized). Anyway I am concerned about everything. She sneezes when drinking water every time. She is very needy but paranoid. Scared of every noise and especially the dog. She does like her humans. She keeps having vaginal discharge that is thick mucousy and is frank yellow. Any suggestions on a healthy kitten litter? I have been feeding her salmon, tuna and kitten food and probiotics. I was going to KMR this afternoon. I am keeping the other cats away as she tries to fight them. Will add pics in just a sec. 

The mucusy stuff could be her mucus plug.  Pregnant cats get protective of their unborn kittens and do not want any other animals around.  She will be like this until the kittens are 3 -4  weeks old.  Is there a room she can have to herself?  It needs low lighting and her food, water and litter box should be in there.

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Thank you! I put puctures of my other animal so you can see how well they get along!!! Oh well. I just feel bad for the other animals as they can no longer come in our room.

Handsome Kitty said:

The mucusy stuff could be her mucus plug.  Pregnant cats get protective of their unborn kittens and do not want any other animals around.  She will be like this until the kittens are 3 -4  weeks old.  Is there a room she can have to herself?  It needs low lighting and her food, water and litter box should be in there.

 [article="31379"]​[/article] 
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I thought mucous plugs were supposed to be clear or blood tinged? Plus it has been occurring for a week? I read on here if it was yellow to go to vet immediately.
Any concerns since she may never have been vaccinated? Thanks again!

Has she been tested for anything?  You can't vaccinate a pregnant cat, it can cause birth defects.  You can treat for fleas, however.  Advantage II is safe for pregnant cats.

Have you felt this yellow stuff?  Pus and mucus feel different.  Does it smell?  You can take a sample to the vet and that way she won't be stressed out by the trip to see him/her.

I showed him the pic and he said vaginitis! This yellow stuff comes out every day. Kittens are very active all day. He did not suggest testing? He said if pyrometra or infection kittens would be dead. He was not concerned about it since there were no other signs of infection. She is eating, drinking and does not have a fever. She does not have fleas. We are in Oregon and I think it might be too cold ? None of our animals have ever had fleas but have had tics. He did not seem to be concerned about her sneezing as he said she seemed healthy. I work full-time and will be gone during the day time hours. Hopefully she will have them while we are home! Is it normal for her to have colostrum for over a week? The colostrum started the same day as a yellow discharge 3/27.

I have not smelled it but it is very thick. It was very stressful the first time to the vet! They said she was brave though for the ultrasound.

It's not unusual for the milk to come in a week before she gives birth.

I will call the vet we saw to arrange to take sample in tomorrow to get it tested. Hopefully it will give us answers. Maybe she will have kittens tonight then. She has been sleeping a lot today. If her test comes back with something will the kittens need treatment too? Sorry for all my questions!

It depends on what it is.  The vet should know.  Usually the kittens will get enough antibiotic through mom's milk.

She needs to be treated for her vaginal infection. Yellow mucus daily is not good. Is there a reason why she has not been treated for it? It's not healthy for it to continue. Since she's already been seen the vet should give you a prescription to pick up. She should not have to go back in. The sneezing may be an upper respiratory infection. She can pass that to the kittens when they are born. It's better to treat mom now for that too.

Since an ultrasound showed healthy kittens, it's not likely to be pyometra, but she needs treatment for the discharge and possible URI immediately!

Thank you for caring for her! Let us know what the vet says. I don't understand why this has been allowed to continue.

catwoman707

sarthur2 said:

She needs to be treated for her vaginal infection. Yellow mucus daily is not good. Is there a reason why she has not been treated for it? It's not healthy for it to continue. Since she's already been seen the vet should give you a prescription to pick up. She should not have to go back in. The sneezing may be an upper respiratory infection. She can pass that to the kittens when they are born. It's better to treat mom now for that too.

Since an ultrasound showed healthy kittens, it's not likely to be pyometra, but she needs treatment for the discharge and possible URI immediately!

Thank you for caring for her! Let us know what the vet says. I don't understand why this has been allowed to continue.

@catwoman707

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 I strongly agree, NOW is the time to get her ready, and a vaginal discharge is most definitely abnormal and needs to be cured ASAP.

Yes, this can pass on to the babies.

Having the discharge sample tested will tell what it is and can be treated accordingly.

Somehow your vet doesn't sound caring enough, he sounds a bit too aloof about a pregnant cat having discharge, or having a uri just before delivery, I mean...who does that?! You mean it's okay to have an active herpevirus/uri going on so she can surely pass it on to the babies for them to live with their entire lives too??!

What's wrong with this picture......

I have to tell you, when a young cat has babies, they are immature and inexperienced, so hoping she will deliver when someone is there, often times young cats (kitten herself really) will panic with labor and randomly drop them out and not break the sac open and get them breathing, or will ignore the cords and you end up finding a knotted together clump of cold babies, etc.

It doesn't mean for sure, but it is much more common when young cats have kittens for these things to happen. 

Do you have someone who can pop in during the daytime to check on her, or better yet a neighbor who can cat sit while you are away at work when she is close?

I have a neighbor that can come. I felt like an idiot for taking her in by the end of the visit. I live in a very small remote town. The visit was $126. I even asked for prophylactic antibiotics and he said she did not need them. I think she dropped today as all the sudden the spine by the tail is very prominent appearing. I really want healthy kittens. The mucous that comes out looks like the snot you have when you get all congested and blow your nose with a cold. Could the possible HSV cause sneezing and vaginal discharge? When I call tomorrow should I ask for antiviral and antibiotic until we get results? Or should we just wait for results? How about lysine?

I did mention the sneezing to the vet but it was not the same vet who recently put down our other cat as I wanted her to be seen right away. I was not really thinking HSV I guess. I only asked them about chlamydia and pyometra. I was also concerned that maybe a kitten was stuck in the birth canal. He saw pics of the vaginal discharge. He said the kittens would be dead by now since she had the yellow discharge for three days. He said not to worry as cats rarely needed cesareans or pregnancy interventions. During the ultrasound he checked to see that the kitten hearts were beating. He did not measure the actual heat rate though. Feeling frustrated.

My cat is in labor. I had my neighbor check and she said she is meowing and having contractions right now. I am running home for lunch which is from noon to one to go check on her. I took a swab of the yellow mucus this morning with a Q-tip and placed it in a plastic bag to take to the vet. Unfortunately I cannot run by the vet now as running home to help with the kittens. I am worried they are going to be sick or stillborn. Will let you know what happens next.The vet was closed and I had to be at work at 7 AM this morning.

ok Try to stay calm.  The cat will pick up on your stress and anxiety and it will effect her.

If the kittens are coming right now, there really is not a whole lot that can be done. The thing you can do is try to stay calm and help her through this as best you can. If the kittens are sick that'll be the next step, but for now she has to deliver them safely. I will keep you in my thoughts and hope for the best!

First kitten here. Looks small

.

Will weigh when she calms down

Does it have fur?