Pregnant cat, water broke 2 days ago, no kittens

I'm so glad I found this forum. I have a pregnant cat, due any time. She is 64 days exactly. I've been present at several births and have a degree in Animal Science but I've never had a cat have her water break and go this long without having a kitten. Her water broke two days ago, there was a lot of it, clear bloody discharge, but she really didn't show any signs of labor. I talked to our Vet and was totally dissatisfied with him; he said just bring her in and I'll do a c-section, without even looking at her! I don't really have the $300 to do that.

She seems perfectly healthy; eating and drinking great; very loving and content to sit on my lap all day long kneading her paws. Occasionally she spots a small amount of bloody discharge. She has an occasional contraction but nothing consistent. I check her temp regularly and no fever; her temp is right at 100. She has shown some nesting behavior but not much.

I've always had a lot of cats but Nellie is particularly important to me. She was a three week old orphaned feral kitten that my daughter found in the middle of a busy intersection, barely alive, and I raised her. She's three years old now and she does everything with me, including taking a shower! this was a planned litter with a beautiful male cat that we own. She's always wanted kittens so bad, even trying to nurse some of our other full-grown cats but now I wish I hadn't bred her. She such a unique cat and we had several friends and family who wanted a kitten from her, so we decided to let her have a litter. Now I'm really worried about her. I'm wondering if it's uterine inertia and if a shot of Oxytocin would help, but our vet doesn't seem interested. We live in a very rural area and I don't really have another vet to try. Does anyone know of any natural ways to try to stimulate uterine contractions? I know in humans that milk stimulation will produce oxytocin, and I been milking her nipples, which makes her very happy, but no contractions!

Thanks for any help you can give.

Jaclyn...I cannot provide you suggestions but Gaye, who is our moderator may have some suggestions. I would definately reach out to another vet in the meantime.

Katie

Are the babies moving around at all? Do they seem low in her belly between her legs? You mentioned a few contractions ... do they seem weak or is she pushing with them?

I am sorry, you aren't going to like my answer. I've experience rom w/no kittens in one of my kitties...it can indicate uterine inertia as you said, it can also indicate a mal-presenting kitten OR a very large singleton kitten - two reasons I would never advise using oxytocin without an x-ray (safe to do at this stage of the pregnancy).

Just as with humans, rom starts a clock ticking where the risk of infection grows as time passes. I would make a payment arrangement with this vet, ask them to work with you, explaining that *if* appropriate, you really want to try all alternatives before a c/section. If this cat has an infection beginning, you are risking her as well as the kittens - but you could ask for antibiotics and oxytocin so long as the xray doesn't show a presenation issue (IMO).

I am sorry..this needs a vet exam, and I'd do so as promptly as possible. I am assuming you know what giving oxytocin can do if there is a presentation issue..it is the last thing you would want to do.

as to who the heck am I, since no, I'm not Gayef, I am a long time breeder (now retired for a number of years) and a retired labor and delivery rn who had years of experience in adminstering pitocin (aka oxytocin) drips.

Originally Posted by Pat & Alix

I am sorry..this needs a vet exam, and I'd do so as promptly as possible. I am assuming you know what giving oxytocin can do if there is a presentation issue..it is the last thing you would want to do.

as to who the heck am I, since no, I'm not Gayef, a long time breeder (now retired for a number of years) and a retired labor and delivery rn who had years of experience in adminstering pitocin (aka oxytocin) drips.

Click to expand...

I wanted to assess the answers to the questions I posted but honestly Pat is right here (and she is also someone I trust - I have asked her advice many times and she is always spot on with it) and you really do need to have this cat in to be seen as soon as possible.

Thanks Pat for stepping in - sometimes it is hard for me to "read" how precarious the situation really is.

~gf~

Originally Posted by gayef

I wanted to assess the answers to the questions I posted but honestly Pat is right here (and she is also someone I trust - I have asked her advice many times and she is always spot on with it) and you really do need to have this cat in to be seen as soon as possible.

Thanks Pat for stepping in - sometimes it is hard for me to "read" how precarious the situation really is.

~gf~

Click to expand...

Oh gosh, I was so busy editing to correct my horrid spelling, I didn't see your note at all. Those were excellent and appropriate questions!

Thank you so much for your replies. She is having more contractions but she does absolutely no straining with them, so they must not be very strong. I can still feel the baby (ies) moving around but they are still pretty high up, it seems. I have a degree in Microbiology and Animal Science and I've been monitoring her pretty clsoe for infection, and so far no signs of one, but I know the risk is great. There is one more vet in a neighboring town that I will take her to see tomorrow. The problem with the vets here is that they are mainly large animals (for the farmers) and do mainly cattle, and I'm not real comfortable with their operating on a small animal.

By the way, what does rom stand for? I'm assuming ruptured membranes?

This is a great site. It's so nice to find others who are as crazy about cats as we are!

Jackie

Hi Jackie,

Sorry, yes, rom is a nice abbreviation for rupture of membranes..first came the nursing career habit of abbreviating while charting, then email/internet and I got even worse

Oh big time crazy cat folks here

Btw, welcome to TCS!