My cat was quite big, and the kittens were overdue by one week. We expected that she would have 4 or 5 kittens. She gave birth to the first kitten around noon. Nothing happened until the next day. More than 25 h later, #2 and #3 were born, and 2 h later #4 and #5 were born. All kittens are fine now (two weeks later).
After the first kitten, she seemed fine; she was not in labour; she was a bit confused, and not really very interested in the kitten.
Needless to say, we were very concerned, called several animal hospitals, who advised us to bring the cat and the newborn kitten to them as emergency, because nothing was happening for several hours (this was during the winter, and in was -34 deg C outside). It was late in the evening, so we decided to wait for the next day. The next day I went to the vet without the cat, and talked to her. The lady was very friendly, and she told me to wait, and only if there are other symptoms, like blood or “yellowing-green” discharge, to bring it to the vet.
In the end, everything went fine, although the waiting was quite intense. We are glad we did not take the cat and the kitten to the vet. It would have been very stressful.
I would advise others not to overreact in similar cases, and monitor the situation with the cat closely. Watch the cat, if she is in labour, and nothing happens, or if there is a change in her behavior or condition, then she should be taken to emergency.
Another interesting observation is than when close to giving birth, the cat wants to be petted and massaged on the tummy. After the first kitten, she continued to turn her tummy to be massaged, instead of nursing the kitten. Since we expected that she would have more kittens, we continued massaging the tummy. Later we read online that physical touch, which is pleasant to the cat, produces a hormone, which can induce birth and improve lactation. So the cat clearly knew what needed to be done; we only have to learn how to “listen” to her.
After the first kitten, she seemed fine; she was not in labour; she was a bit confused, and not really very interested in the kitten.
Needless to say, we were very concerned, called several animal hospitals, who advised us to bring the cat and the newborn kitten to them as emergency, because nothing was happening for several hours (this was during the winter, and in was -34 deg C outside). It was late in the evening, so we decided to wait for the next day. The next day I went to the vet without the cat, and talked to her. The lady was very friendly, and she told me to wait, and only if there are other symptoms, like blood or “yellowing-green” discharge, to bring it to the vet.
In the end, everything went fine, although the waiting was quite intense. We are glad we did not take the cat and the kitten to the vet. It would have been very stressful.
I would advise others not to overreact in similar cases, and monitor the situation with the cat closely. Watch the cat, if she is in labour, and nothing happens, or if there is a change in her behavior or condition, then she should be taken to emergency.
Another interesting observation is than when close to giving birth, the cat wants to be petted and massaged on the tummy. After the first kitten, she continued to turn her tummy to be massaged, instead of nursing the kitten. Since we expected that she would have more kittens, we continued massaging the tummy. Later we read online that physical touch, which is pleasant to the cat, produces a hormone, which can induce birth and improve lactation. So the cat clearly knew what needed to be done; we only have to learn how to “listen” to her.
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