My Cat gave birth this morning - a few questions

Hi Everyone.

I'm Camilla - from Australia.
Our cat Cha-Cha gave birth to four little kittens in the early hours of this morning on our bed! of all places. She, and the babies seem well, but just a few questions:
1. What should I watch out for in Mum's health - to ensure she is ok
2. How soon can we try to determine the sex of the kittens?

Thanks for your help.
:-)
Camilla

Hi Camilla and welcome to the TCS Pregnant Cats and Kitten Care forum. We are so glad you found us here!

A couple of things to look out for with Mom ...

Make sure she is taking proper care of the kittens, nursing them freely and willingly, grooming them, etc. A queen that doesn't take care of her kittens is a sure sign something is wrong. Also, she will bleed a little bit for a few days - it should only be a drop or two (but as I always say, when it is blood, no matter how little an amount, it looks huge!) and it should subside no later than 10 days after delivery. If she is bleeding large amounts or if she begins discharging anything other than a little bit of blood, it's time for the vet. Place her litter and food/water in the same room with the nest, but far enough away from it to ensure she won't move the kittens and far enough away from each other that she won't refuse to eat or potty normally.

As for the kittens, you want to see fat, round, taut little bellies. When they are not getting enough to eat, the skin across the belly will get saggy and wrinkled looking. It is also suggested that you get a daily weight for each of the babies and chart it to observe progress. While others may not feel it is necessary to do this, I have found that it may help to catch a failing kitten a little faster so you can intervene.

The umbilical stump should dry up and fall off within several days. You will also begin to see their little eyes opening within a few days as well. Once the eyes start to open, watch out for eye goopies - here is a good article on what to watch out for with that:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54375

When you can, I hope you will post some pictures of your babies here so we can enjoy them along with you. If you take pictures, please remember that little eyes are still in the early stages of development and a flash isn't the best thing for them in close up facial shots. Try to get a good, sunny day and forego the flash, but if you have to use a flash, tape a couple of thicknesses of tissue over the flash unit to diffuse the light.

Here is a good link for determining the genders:

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/clientED/kittenSex.asp

Again, welcome to TCS. We look forward to hearing more about you and your kitties!

~g~

Mom should be ok - just make sure you check her milk and feel that she is none of the nipples are red or hot to the touch - that means problems.

You can determine sex at birth - if you know what you are looking for (tho breeders sometimes are fooled - I was ).

What colors do you have? And what color is mom/dad (if known). If you have any calicos/torties, you can be pretty sure they are female - that's a help in determining the others.

Hi.

Thanks everyone. She seems to be doing well - she is definitely attentive to them - she just seems to be quite clingy with me. Is this normal? When we went to bed she was up on our bed, purring and lying by me head. I was a little concerned that she wasn't with the kittens. She must have gone backwards and forwards as she kept waking me up in the night by jumping on the bed. This morning she woke me and I went and checked on the babies and they seemed fine..all sleeping together with full little bellies. Is it normal for mum cat to be so clingy with me?

I tried to have a peek at the sex, and they all seem to be boys except for the little white one. Mum is a grey long haired cat...and she has one little grey one, just like her, 2 little black ones with white dots on their chests and a little white girl. This is her second litter, and in her first, she had 2 black and 2 white. The white ones grew up to have grey points on their noses, ears and tails, with blue eyes - they looked a little like himalayans.....As soon as I work out how, I will attach a picture with mum and babies.

Originally Posted by CamillaB

Hi.

Thanks everyone. She seems to be doing well - she is definitely attentive to them - she just seems to be quite clingy with me. Is this normal? When we went to bed she was up on our bed, purring and lying by me head. I was a little concerned that she wasn't with the kittens. She must have gone backwards and forwards as she kept waking me up in the night by jumping on the bed. This morning she woke me and I went and checked on the babies and they seemed fine..all sleeping together with full little bellies. Is it normal for mum cat to be so clingy with me?

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Our momma cat was and still is the same way with me. Her kittens are now a lil over 2 weeks old. She sleeps on our bed but when it's time to feed the kittens she goes right back to them.

If there is any worry that she is not with them often enough, either move the kittens and her into the same room as you or keep ehr and the kittens confined to a large crate or a small room by themselves.

They sound really cute by the way, can you post some pictures?

By the way, rememebr that the momma can get pregnant almost right away after giving birth so she needs to stay inside and away from intact males until she is spayed. That can be done when the babies are around 8 weeks I believe and the kittens can be spayed and neutered then too but they should stay with momma until 10-12 weeks. What are your plans for the babies? Keeping them? Rehoming them?

Great - thanks for that, that puts me mindat ease...I was quite worried. Thank you.

Thanks Jen. I tried to put her in the room with the kittens and lock the door, but she scratched at the door. strange. But I will just keep checking on the kittens to make sure they are getting enough attention from her.

I posted some pictures on the other thread. hopefully they worked....We are keeping one baby, and the others we will need to find homes for. We had two friends express some interest, so hopefully they are still keen. I am sure we'll find good homes. There is an older man over the road who just loves cats, he's already said he will have one if we are short.

Originally Posted by CamillaB

Thanks Jen. I tried to put her in the room with the kittens and lock the door, but she scratched at the door. strange. But I will just keep checking on the kittens to make sure they are getting enough attention from her.

I posted some pictures on the other thread. hopefully they worked....We are keeping one baby, and the others we will need to find homes for. We had two friends express some interest, so hopefully they are still keen. I am sure we'll find good homes. There is an older man over the road who just loves cats, he's already said he will have one if we are short.

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Camilla...just make sure that whoever takes the remaining kittens agrees to spay/neuter these kittens and provide them with their shots. It would be great if you had a vet that would spay/neuter the kittens before they are placed into their new homes.

Katie

To post pics go to www.imageshack.us. Upload your file, check "resize image", choose 640 x 480 and click "host it!". After that, copy the url for forum(doesn't matter which one) and paste it in your reply message.