anyone ever have one kitten in a litter?

I am new to the board, but not new to cats! LOL I have loved animals all my life, of all kinds, and have been raising siamese cats for over 14 yrs. I haven't had a litter in a few years though, and am now not sure if one of my girls is expecting or not. It's kind of a long story so I'll try to sum it up. A woman called me, who had bought 2 kittens from me 3 years ago. She couldn't keep them due to allergies so I told her I would take them back. She kept them healthy, well fed, vaccinated, and obviously well loved, however she did not spay them as stated in our agreement. That is a moot point now that I have them back anyway... The one I had spayed, the other I decided to keep intact as she turned out very nicely. The woman said she had an ''accidental'' litter a year ago, but only one kitten was born. I decided to put her with my male when she came into heat, about 10 months ago (I've had them back for a little over a year). Anyway, nothing happened. She has since come into heat several times and each time nothing happened. She has not come into heat "that I know of" since x mas, but now appears to be pregnant. She looks noticebly bigger in the tummy, is eating more etc, she does not have worms, nor can anything be palpated. I wondered if anyone has experienced a cat who only had one kitten and if there is anything in particular I can look for? If she is pregnant and only has one baby again I will be getting her spayed, but it would be nice if she had a normal litter. Her tummy looks big enough to be past the stage where anything can be felt by palpating anyway, so the only thing I can think of is wait and see... but I have no patience...LOL By the way, she REALLY hates going to the vet, so I don't want to take her in just to find out, it would be too stressfull.

Yip, one kitten in a litter is common. In all your 14 years of breeding, did you never have a 1-kitten-litter?

When they're having one kitten it's not as easy to tell they're pregnant. But you still get the nipple change, which is the main indication. Have you been running her with a stud? If you have it would have been responsible to write down the dates. Then you would know when she's having kittens. Are you still a registered prefix holder?

Not having a go, just curious. Thanks.

After a year of her coming into heat and the male not bothering with her, I had written down a few planned matings that never happened, as she did not conceive. As I said in my post, she hasn't had a heat that I knew of since x mas, and after a year of her not getting pregnant I didn't think she would, though I hoped she would. And yes I did have a one-kitten-litter once. It was about ten years ago, and the mother actually showed all the signs of pregnancy as if she were having a larger litter, but it was one very large kitten. One experience with it doesn't give me enough to compare to which is why I asked. And yes, I do still have my prefix registered, permanently.

Pondwader, is your name from a book (or series) about People Of The Lightning ?

To answer your question, I've seen a cat have just one kitten before. She was a stray a girl I babysat brought me one day. I noticed nothing until *one* kitten arrived.

One thing I would be concerned about, though, is pyometra. It's a silent killer, and not restriceted to canines alone.

Here's some info on it: http://www.drpetra.com/Cats/Pyometra in Cats.htm

Yes That is where the name comes from, that is my favorite series of books, though I can't say that Pondwader was my favorite character... I love them all, Wolf Dreamer aka Runs In Light got me hooked, Raven Hunter was an amazing villain, and later on I loved Green Spider, Pearl, Otter, and Black Skull, Kestrel, Lambkill was awful, Tannin was just part of the story, Tanager and Elk Charm, Little Dancer aka Fire Dancer, Dancing Fox, Ice Fire, Bad Belly aka Still Water, White Ash... they're all great... lol... in fact, I think I'd like to read the whole series again now that you have me thinking about it! I've already read them all many times.
As for pyometra, yes I am aware of it, and I am positive she has no illness or infection. She is either just fat, or pregnant and I don't think I will know which one is true untill a month or so goes by... if she has kittens or not, then I guess I will know. It's not worth the stress on her to take her to the vet when there is nothing wrong with her.... so unfortunately I'll just have to wait and see.

I've only read one book, the one I mentioned - I usually buy used books so I'll have to search for others in the series.

I've read most of The Clan Of The Cave Bear series. If you haven't read them, you may really like them.

Oh I would recommend reading the whole series! And, The Clan of the Cave Bear is another series I love, I coulldn't say for sure which one was my favorite. I have several copies of each of the books in the earth's children series, including a first edition COTCB. I've read them all again and again so many times I know them inside and out and have worn out several paperbacks...lol...
there is a great site I go to dedicated to that series...
www.ecfans.com
It has a great forum. Have you read Shelters of Stone yet ? (book 5 of the series)
I hope she doesn't take too long writing the next 2 books, I waited 12 years for Shelters of Stone.!

Well this one kitty of mine sure is keeping everyone confused. She seems extremely affectionate today, as if in heat, bt no yowling. I noticed it looks like a bit of blood discharge dried on her... but I still feel no kitten. She has no fever, temp is normal, about 99, seems very healthy and happy. I had one cat that had a false pregnancy once, and succesfully fostered a litter because she could nurse and wanted babies so badly,lol, but I don't remember her having any kind of discharge. I want to take her to the vet so badly, but if she is pregnant it could stress her to the point that she aborts the kitten if there is one, or if she is close to delivering, she may decide not to care for it or hurt it if she is upset. If it was pyometra she would have been showing signs of serious illness by now.... ugh! I guess I'll set up somewhere for her to have kittens (or A kitten) just in case....

I've had a cat that had single birth preganancys. I guess you wouldn't really call them litter since the word itself implies multiples?

How true.....

My cat had one kitten her first litter and 5 in her second litter so I guess it is normal.