Tell me your cat labor stories please!

vanderlone

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So we just rescued a pregnant cat (apparently this is her second litter and she is only 10 months old herself!) and have no idea what to expect. We have made a den for her and have a spare bedroom for her, but when should we lock her in that room to ensure a safe birth? The vet gave us such a vague due date that I don't want to confine her to only one room in the house longer than is necessary. Plus, she seems to like going under our bed and seems to be nesting there, but it doesn't seem safe to just let her give birth under there-right? Please share your birth stories, what happened and what didn't so we know what to expect. Much appreciated. P.S. Will she be very protective of the kittens....will she let us take them and put them in another basket next to her during sibling births? I can't imagine she'll let us get that involved....although, so far she has been nothing but needy, loving and cuddly. Hope that doesn't change too much once she gives birth. We are just as cuddly back. We love her so much. thanks. Any input is helpful.
 

godiva

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There's lots of info on this site and elsewhere on the internet if you want more reliable advice, but I'll tell you my story and you can take what you want from it.


Sneakers got pregnant a week before Ziggy was fixed.
Never trust a tom. Anyway, so we knew fairly quickly (about three weeks after he got fixed) because she was such a tiny cat and she grew in size rather quickly. She's 2.5 years old.

She lost a somewhat dry mucus plug about three weeks before hand, then we could feel the babies a week later, and then another week and a half, she had the kittens... but we weren't expecting it at all! I was just putting her up for the night in her nesting room, and noticed some bloody, yellowish-white, thick discharge. I said, "Sneakers, what's going on?" (I'm a blonde...) and then I put two and two together... she had been clingy the past two days straight. The next thing I knew, she started pushing (out of the blue!!) and I saw a browish bubble (the sac) coming out of her bits and freaked out. I got dressed as I knew there might be problems because of her size.

I waited a half hour, and no kitten came, and the bubble burst. I had read online that if it bursts and no kitten comes, that emergency care might be needed to save the kitten from suffocation, so I took her to the ER vet minutes from my house. (I'm still not sure I needed to do this, but the staff said the kittens' heads were large). They aided the first three kittens, gave her some oxytocin, and then I went home with her to have the rest of them.

It went very smoothly! She ate all the placentas and seemed to know what to do. It was so cool. I've never seen anything like that before!

Here's links to my kittens and such in chronological order; if you have questions about my set up, just ask! It has worked really well so far.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90087

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92010
 

goldenkitty45

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With all my breeding cats, they were confined to a large cage to deliver and stayed in there till the kits were a few weeks old.

Some did everything without any help from me. My first queen wanted me to stay right with her. She HATED to cut the cords - she actually had this really "yuck" look on her face. So I would tie the cords with dental floss and cut them and she would clean the kits up.

This female would actually delay having kittens unless I was there!

Most of the others had their kits without any help tho I was nearby to keep an eye on things if needed.

Some mothers were more protective then others but all allowed kits to be handled from the minute they were born or for me to hold the kittens in a small bed on the side when they had the next one.
 

gemlady

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We had one who refused to stay in the nest unless the dog sat beside her.
 

jessienkitty

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Originally Posted by gemlady

We had one who refused to stay in the nest unless the dog sat beside her.
thats kinda funny.

my cat was about 9 or 10 months old when she had her first litter.she was a tiny cat and i was the only one in my family who knew what to do if she started having problems so as soon as my mom saw she was having contractions, she came and picked me up from school (i was a freshman in highschool) and everything went fine.

i confined Kitty at night (she HATED that) she is just not the confining type of cat. when the time came she just jumped up on the couch where my entire family was and started pushing.
she didnt cut the cords either so i had to do that. (gross) and she had 2 beautiful, healthy babies. everytime i would get up to go get floss or scissors or something (she was in the middle of labor mind you) she would try to get up and fallow me. haha.\\

good luck with yours!
 
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