Interrupted labor, CONCERNED!

[willparker]

Ok little back story. We live in NC and have had several pets that were abandoned end up at our door somehow. 5 dogs that we had to call animal control to come and get. This happened during hurricane Matthew back in October. We would've taken them in but are not allowed to have pets with our current lease unfortunately. Now, about a month after the storm we had been seeing a small cat, young roaming the neighborhood and asked a neighbor about it. She said she was living on food left out by various ppl and that someone about a block away left and left her to fend for herself. One night she was in our yard so I let her in. She came and went as she pleased, and went into heat and dissappearEd for a few days at the end of january. We hadn't really assumed responsibility for her just a warm home on those cold winter nights and food. At any rate, she got pregnant. Yesterday morning she gave birth to 3 beautiful kittens. She REFUSED to allow me or my wife to leave her, needing1, the other, and sometimes both of us nearby talking and loving on her and has total faith and trust with us handling these new fuzzy bundles and will even leave them in their box to seek out one of us to be near her or both so needless to say we haven't slept much last couple days. Our current concern is that she still has 1 kitten we can feel moving for sure, possibly two still in there. After those 3 were born she stopped. I've read about interrupted labor and is apparently common. A couple hours ago she began having a mucous like discharge again, no smell, little pinking from some blood I'd assume, cleaning it away as she did the first time around. Now I'm a disabled vet and we live on my fixed income. My wife has to help take care of me along with our 6 kids and it seems our new furry family (lease be damned at this point). She hasn't been contracting as she did before, her last kitten was born around noon yesterday about 34 hours ago. She has been feeding and tending to her kittens, but has relied on us to assist, unsure at times of what to do or how to move around them without laying on them or something, been feeding them, cleaning their pee, went to eat, drink and potty herself (we used a storage container and bought some litter to make a kitty box) and seems fine. I'm wondering if and when we should become worried about this other kitten/kittens not being born? If something goes wrong there is no way we can afford a vet bill for surgery or something. I'm sure we could handle spaying her and the kittens at age and shots spread over some time, but this kind of fell in our laps and she has been SOOOO lovable to me and my wife and to some extent the kids. She has adopted us. Now the 1 we know for sure is in there is alive and moving. Her current size suggests maybe another or even 3 more total but I'm no expert. I don't wanna lose her as we have gotten attached in a very short period of time once we started to regularly let her in and keep her in and we would have 3 kittens to nurse ourselves if need be but again when and if, should we get worried about her not birthing the remainder kittens? I know it's possible there were multiple matings and that delay may be what's causing this delay in birth. But with the discharge returning as it did during her initial labor, should we breathe easy and be patient that it's coming? Or could something be wrong with the time lapse? As I said for all intents and purposes, everything seems perfectly fine except she is still pregnant

 

[Sarthur2]

W willparker

Things should be fine. She will likely have the rest of the litter when they, and her body, are ready. She probably mated several days apart. It's not unusual at all. Some cats have even had kittens 2 weeks apart. I'm also guessing she herself is less than a year old - poor gal. She's lucky you've taken her in.

If you state your city in North Carolina I will look for a low-cost spay/neuter clinic for you.

I hope you are able to feed mom some wet food daily. She needs it in addition to dry food for nursing her kittens.

Let us know how things go. [emoji]128571[/emoji]

 

[willparker]

We live in fayetteville. Not my first choice being a medically retired Marine but rent here is cheaper than on the coast near Lejeune. We shop at bjs to help with food costs and bought her a case of wet food there along with a 25 lb bag of dry cat food. As I type this she is having some contractions and is pushing some

 

[pbrewer38]

She has been blessed to have found you!! You seem like such a nice family with a good heart to have take her in like that... and the love she is showing you is great! Good luck!

 

[willparker]

Well she FINALLY pushed out the last one. Was dead. I was asleep my wife tried desperately to get it stimulater and got me up. I came out and did some rubbing, she got a warm pack and I got it to breathe but was like a fish out of water type sucking. The mother hasn't had her kittens with her in a few hours because of her movement while laboring this one she's clumsy or not concerned with whether she sits or lays on them so we have been careful. Anyway I got her to do some cleaning, she ate the cord and placenta but then ignored the baby to clean herself. Finally got the baby to breathe fairly normal and has a set of chords in the throat lemme tell ya! Mommy cat was concerned with the distress mewing but promptly went back to tending herself. So I took the baby. He/she sat on my bare chest, we anticipated a problem so I went out earlier and bought kitten formula and some nursing bottles and even though mommy wouldn't sit still to let this one feed, although it got quiet as soon as it was on mommy (warmth, fur etc) so I took it back on my chest and it promptly suckle my beard and went to sleep. Took it away for a minute to get some formula in it took a little doing but got it to eat some but went back to squawking so we tried the beard thing again and same thing! Suckle and sleep! Like...with this one I have become mom. But we brought it back from being dead. Mommy is currently nursing the first three. We are making her lay done and stay there to allow them to eat. She wants to keep getting up and moving around either out the box or constantly repositioning inside the box and we have to move the babies so she don't squish em. So right now we are playing parents. Making her feed them. She does clean up when they pee and such but I'm not sure if it's because she became so dependent on us or if it's a new mommy thing

 

[StefanZ]

Good you tried this reviving.  Sometimes it does success.

If the kitten is weak, and it seems so as it immediately falles asleep as it begins to suckle.   you can put some sweet water on its mouth / gum.   Glucose sugar / dextrose is best, as it goes straight into blood already from the mouth, it doesnt need to be digested unlike common table sugar.   

If you dont have the real thing, honey or white caro syrup contains much glucose sugar...    So in practice, if in hurry, you make do sweet honey water.   This gives quick energy.    

AND also, the such sweet water is to use on dying kittens - as their digestation has prob shut down.   Giving them the little shadow of chance there is.

It does take bottle?  If not, there are other tricks.

Well she FINALLY pushed out the last one. Was dead. I was asleep my wife tried desperately to get it stimulater and got me up. I came out and did some rubbing, she got a warm pack and I got it to breathe but was like a fish out of water type sucking. The mother hasn't had her kittens with her in a few hours because of her movement while laboring this one she's clumsy or not concerned with whether she sits or lays on them so we have been careful. Anyway I got her to do some cleaning, she ate the cord and placenta but then ignored the baby to clean herself. Finally got the baby to breathe fairly normal and has a set of chords in the throat lemme tell ya! Mommy cat was concerned with the distress mewing but promptly went back to tending herself. So I took the baby. He/she sat on my bare chest, we anticipated a problem so I went out earlier and bought kitten formula and some nursing bottles and even though mommy wouldn't sit still to let this one feed, although it got quiet as soon as it was on mommy (warmth, fur etc) so I took it back on my chest and it promptly suckle my beard and went to sleep. Took it away for a minute to get some formula in it took a little doing but got it to eat some but went back to squawking so we tried the beard thing again and same thing! Suckle and sleep! Like...with this one I have become mom. But we brought it back from being dead. Mommy is currently nursing the first three. We are making her lay done and stay there to allow them to eat. She wants to keep getting up and moving around either out the box or constantly repositioning inside the box and we have to move the babies so she don't squish em. So right now we are playing parents. Making her feed them. She does clean up when they pee and such but I'm not sure if it's because she became so dependent on us or if it's a new mommy thing

 

[willparker]

We have honey so I'll try that. All the kittens root around even after finding a nipple. Some will try to push others off there's and a little cat slapping fight ensues which is cute. The new one that I revived seems to be doing well. Aside from the kitten formula I got it to eat he (we think he it looks like a boy under there) was put with his mom and siblings for warmth and I got him to latch onto mom and suckle. It seems right now mom is a food source but he wants to cuddle with me- specifically my face and beard. Curls right up to it on my chest to my chin and turns to suckle on me and squawks pretty loud when taken away. Falls asleep almost immediately once put on me. I don't mind a bit

20170411_044120.jpg

• willparker
• Apr 11, 2017

 

[pbrewer38]

Omg that is the cutest thing I have ever seen... . I joined this forum because my special calico cat that is pregnant and to get ideas and I am learning so much! THANK YOU! You saved that cats life![emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128079[/emoji][emoji]128519[/emoji] Good going! Now it's off to the store today to get a baby syringe and kitten milk or goat milk at the pet store and get ready for the birth of my cats baby's [emoji]129303[/emoji]

 

[di and bob]

You will be blessed for taking care of that poor mama and saving that baby, I pray the little mite does well. Please keep ,working on getting him to suckle, they need to eat at least every three hours. If bottle fed, make sure he is laying on his tummy to eat, goats milk is a good milk replacement too. Mama is young and not quite sure what to do, you are a tremendous help to her.  Please send us a picture of the little family as soon as possible, that shot of him on your beard is adorable! All the luck!

 

[willparker]

Did and bob, ya she was a stray we took her in kind of half heartedly at first because of our lease but as she kept returning and weather got colder she became part of the family. I knew there was a risk with her in heat and going out but we figured that she should experience motherhood and have babies at least once before we spring for her to be fixed. Got her and 4 kittens now. Might give 1 away, or might keep all of them but the interrupted labor can be frustrating. She went about 40 hours between births after the 3rd and before the 4th. Everything I read was saying as long as she isn't feverish, she's eating drinking, feeding the babies and tending to them, basically normal that just need to wait it out. Inless, while pushing it takes more than about 15 minutes or so and she isn't getting anywhere. Then she may need a vet or if u are comfortable some gentle pushing on her lower belly like trying to squeeze a tube of toothpaste to mimic a contraction. But she just wasn't into it really for the last one, and it was breach (feet first) which is ok, but it can trap the head. And this caused the baby to have stimylation on his back which is what the licking does to get them to breathe, but they are still head in and covered by the membrane. This is what caused the problem. But she didn't try to clear his face like she did the others. My wife did it but he had been breathing the membrane in while stuck in there. She got it off and cleaned his face up but mommy was only concerned with cleaning herself. We think she assumed he was dead or going to die. But while she was trying to clean it and get it to breathe, it was still attached to the cord and placenta and this is very important because with the time it took her trying and failing and then waking me up and trying and after a few panic minutes succeeding in reviving the baby, he was still getting some oxygen from the cord and placenta which allowed us more precious time to revive without any brain damage. He seems fine, robust now even. Strong meow, strong movement etc. Mommy seems a bit more attentive to the babies, feeding cleaning etc. But she is a little clumsy and unsure. She has relied on us ALOT. VERY dependent which is ok. We were mad that she didn't even try with this one though. And she is talkative so when I scolded her for it she kept responding with an apologetic meow. She wouldn't even eat until after I have her some love to let her know I wasn't mad. But we still have the bottles and formula if we need it. If your cat is the opposite extreme of ours, wanting to hide, make sure you know where and only intervene if there seems to be trouble. If your cat is dependent like ours, don't be worried about her getting upset with you for assisting help peel back the membrane from their face it'll get her to clean the goo off quicker so they can get to breathing sooner. Once she has delivered the after birth (make sure she has 1 for each kitten or she could die later if it stays inside) and has chewed the cord and ate the placenta, she should still be cleaning it. While she does this assist by placing the baby near her belly and try to get them on a nipple. It helps. As she progresses to the next kitten, have a small box with black kets to keep them warm so you can take away the clean ones so she can focus on the newborn on and repeat until all are born. Then she should continue to clean up and allow them to feed and she'll sleep. Then she'll get up to eat drink and possibly potty. All this is based on reading and research the last couple days and our experiences last couple days

 

[StefanZ]

HOW many are they in total?  If there is much pushing, you may want to have them rotating, half on with momma, half off sleeping their midday nap in an extra little nest, with heating pad.

Its not only an useful tip.  Sometimes forumists witness mom herself is taking out one or two kittens at a time, nurse them alone aside, and takes them back into the big nest...   My guess is she IS doing a mini-rotating all by herself...

 

[Sarthur2]

Mom will benefit from a dish of KMR per day. She needs the calcium. It often takes new moms about 48 hours to settle in after giving birth. So glad she birthed the final kitten and that you saved it.

Moms have colostrum first, then milk. The kittens should become excellent little nursing machines very quickly.

I will search clinics for you. Thanks for caring for this family!

 

[talkingpeanut]

Did and bob, ya she was a stray we took her in kind of half heartedly at first because of our lease but as she kept returning and weather got colder she became part of the family. I knew there was a risk with her in heat and going out but we figured that she should experience motherhood and have babies at least once before we spring for her to be fixed. Got her and 4 kittens now. Might give 1 away, or might keep all of them but the interrupted labor can be frustrating. She went about 40 hours between births after the 3rd and before the 4th. Everything I read was saying as long as she isn't feverish, she's eating drinking, feeding the babies and tending to them, basically normal that just need to wait it out. Inless, while pushing it takes more than about 15 minutes or so and she isn't getting anywhere. Then she may need a vet or if u are comfortable some gentle pushing on her lower belly like trying to squeeze a tube of toothpaste to mimic a contraction. But she just wasn't into it really for the last one, and it was breach (feet first) which is ok, but it can trap the head. And this caused the baby to have stimylation on his back which is what the licking does to get them to breathe, but they are still head in and covered by the membrane. This is what caused the problem. But she didn't try to clear his face like she did the others. My wife did it but he had been breathing the membrane in while stuck in there. She got it off and cleaned his face up but mommy was only concerned with cleaning herself. We think she assumed he was dead or going to die. But while she was trying to clean it and get it to breathe, it was still attached to the cord and placenta and this is very important because with the time it took her trying and failing and then waking me up and trying and after a few panic minutes succeeding in reviving the baby, he was still getting some oxygen from the cord and placenta which allowed us more precious time to revive without any brain damage. He seems fine, robust now even. Strong meow, strong movement etc. Mommy seems a bit more attentive to the babies, feeding cleaning etc. But she is a little clumsy and unsure. She has relied on us ALOT. VERY dependent which is ok. We were mad that she didn't even try with this one though. And she is talkative so when I scolded her for it she kept responding with an apologetic meow. She wouldn't even eat until after I have her some love to let her know I wasn't mad. But we still have the bottles and formula if we need it. If your cat is the opposite extreme of ours, wanting to hide, make sure you know where and only intervene if there seems to be trouble. If your cat is dependent like ours, don't be worried about her getting upset with you for assisting help peel back the membrane from their face it'll get her to clean the goo off quicker so they can get to breathing sooner. Once she has delivered the after birth (make sure she has 1 for each kitten or she could die later if it stays inside) and has chewed the cord and ate the placenta, she should still be cleaning it. While she does this assist by placing the baby near her belly and try to get them on a nipple. It helps. As she progresses to the next kitten, have a small box with black kets to keep them warm so you can take away the clean ones so she can focus on the newborn on and repeat until all are born. Then she should continue to clean up and allow them to feed and she'll sleep. Then she'll get up to eat drink and possibly potty. All this is based on reading and research the last couple days and our experiences last couple days

Thank you so much for taking care of this little family! Are you able to weigh the kittens every day?

Just wanted to point out for the future that there is no benefit to cats having a litter before fixed. They can get pregnant far before they are old enough to have a litter safely, and cats have no dreams of parenthood like humans might. I hope you will fix the babies as soon as they are ready.

And are you able to keep mom inside all the time now?

 

[willparker]

We know there is a cat population problem and they don't look at being parents like we do. Both of us know that and originally we hadn't really taken full responsibility for her. Just not wanting her carted away to animal control and probably put down so we opened our home but let her come and go as she wanted. Honestly we hadn't seen any other cats around the neighborhood in the 2.5 years we have lived here until we saw her so didn't think much of it. But yes we are keeping them just gotta keep the house clean so when the realtor that manages our property inspects every 6 months they don't know about them. She'll get fixed prolly next month and the kittens once they are ready. Shots will have to be spaced out for cost reasons but she is just too sweet to have put down because of overpopulation and her kittens too so we are keeping them. And yes once we knew she was pregnant we kept her in. Was a struggle at first because she always went potty outside. She was litter trained because she had used it but preferred to poop outside so we had to close the bathrooms off (tubs) to get her to use it. Little typical kitty spitefulness there and whined to go out for a couple weeks. Now she's like a dog really, greets me at the door, licks my hand, meows at me, rubs on me and my face happy I'm home. She listens for my truck my wife said. 1 other thing we found odd. Knowing cats don't have a paternal instinct like human males do, we didn't expect to see any other cats around our house. 1 night after dark we came home and saw a gray cat with white boots and neck on our front steps. This turned out to be the father based on the coloring of all 4 and she hadn't been out in a few weeks at that point nor in heat. Only thing we could think was he had tracked her scent to our home and was either looking for another boots call or was concerned about her with his babies.

 

[talkingpeanut]

We know there is a cat population problem and they don't look at being parents like we do. Both of us know that and originally we hadn't really taken full responsibility for her. Just not wanting her carted away to animal control and probably put down so we opened our home but let her come and go as she wanted. Honestly we hadn't seen any other cats around the neighborhood in the 2.5 years we have lived here until we saw her so didn't think much of it. But yes we are keeping them just gotta keep the house clean so when the realtor that manages our property inspects every 6 months they don't know about them. She'll get fixed prolly next month and the kittens once they are ready. Shots will have to be spaced out for cost reasons but she is just too sweet to have put down because of overpopulation and her kittens too so we are keeping them. And yes once we knew she was pregnant we kept her in. Was a struggle at first because she always went potty outside. She was litter trained because she had used it but preferred to poop outside so we had to close the bathrooms off (tubs) to get her to use it. Little typical kitty spitefulness there and whined to go out for a couple weeks. Now she's like a dog really, greets me at the door, licks my hand, meows at me, rubs on me and my face happy I'm home. She listens for my truck my wife said. 1 other thing we found odd. Knowing cats don't have a paternal instinct like human males do, we didn't expect to see any other cats around our house. 1 night after dark we came home and saw a gray cat with white boots and neck on our front steps. This turned out to be the father based on the coloring of all 4 and she hadn't been out in a few weeks at that point nor in heat. Only thing we could think was he had tracked her scent to our home and was either looking for another boots call or was concerned about her with his babies.

The pregnancy/delivery hormones can smell like the heat hormones and confuse males. I don't think it's paternal.

You're doing a great thing for mom and babies. Keep us posted!

 

[willparker]

It's 4 total, the 3 initial and then the 4th one born that went dead and we brought back. She doesn't seem to doing any kind of nursing rotation it's just when she tries to adjust herself from laying on 1 side to laying on the opposite side. She let's all 4 nurse together although we have had to take a couple out here n there due to a little infighting lol. They are all doing great now, we have given her breaks or she will get up to eat, potty, etc on her own. I've been in n out all day and each time I come back home she greets me like she normally would at the door (my little catdog) and we have given her some kmr. She REALLY likes it too.

 

[Sarthur2]

Cape Fear Spay/Neuter Clinic is about 45 minutes from you:

http://www.capefearspayneuterclinic.com/prices.php

Here is another clinic in Fayetteville that is priced about the same as the Cape Fear Clinic:

http://www.unchaincc.com

(We will be offline today for several hours beginning at 1pm Eastern time while the site switches to a new platform.)

 

[Sarthur2]

W willparker

How are things going? I posted a couple of links above for lower-cost spay/neuter clinics.

 

[willparker]

They are good, kittens anyway, mother mill come in np. But we have an issue with her behavior. She is still completely trusting of my wife and I with the babies. Kids to a degree but we can tell when she gets anxious. Our concern though is during feeding and grooming. Now before I get to that, she was abandoned and we assume young. She was hanging with us fairly steady for 2 months before she went into a heat, and was outside solo about a month before that. So taken away from mom VERY young. Anyway when feeding the kittens, she'll fall asleep or sometimes won't but regardless she will abruptly try to sit up and "chirp" like a half purr meow and either try to clean herself or the kittens mid feeding. She ONLY does this during feeding time. I know she's supposed to stimulate potty and clean up but that's not the case here because that's already done prior to eating. We have had to separate them from her except to feed and clean because sometimes during these startle actions she'll bite the closest kitten. She hasn't shunned any of them and tries to love them. When she cleans she licks HARD like she would herself and tries to nibble like for fleas (they have none) and will lick their ge Italian excessively until the mew crying and she doesn't stop. On top of that with the boys we have to watch her even close because she doesn't seem to understand what their little ballsack is for and tries to nibble it off. She hasn't hurt any of them because my wife and I have been taking shifts ever since she went into labor and haven't stopped to ensure the kittens get their feeding every 2 hours without being interrupted by her odd behavior. After allowing them to feed, sleep, then feed again shortly after when they have popped off and decide to sleep we then move them to their own little box with a covering to help keep them warm with venting to regulate because we can't trust her with them. Would her lack of time and bonding/memories with her own mother be a factor with this? God knows she tries and loves them, but she sucks at momming and sometimes seems to be inconvenienced by them because she MUST clean herself or something. We are not keeping them totally separate so they can bond and learn from her cues, but we have to separate them fairly often throughout the day because of this.