Preggers cat about to pop -- all advice needed and welcome!!!!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

On Sunday I took in a pregnant kitteh from a friend of a friend who could not take care of her anymore. Since then, I have been online reading everything I can on what to expect/what to do/etc. to help this gal through the birth.

Her name is Happy, she is very young looking, maybe 6-7 months old, and very small, maybe 5-6 pounds sans babies. She has been seen once by a vet two weeks ago, who checked her health and said she appeared to be around 40 days pregnant. He did not indicate how many potential babies we are looking at.

Right now, her vulva is looking kinda puffy and alien, the babies appeared to have moved a bit from where they were when I first got her, you can see and feel them moving around under her fur, she is eating like a pig but ate a bit less this morning, her nipples are just going from white to a touch pink (no discharge), and is very into kitty massages and purring.

So far, I have set up a birthing box (cardboard box with comfy blankies) in my closet (she sleeps there often), gotten together a birthing kit with stuff I might need in case she needs some help (floss, scissors, a timer, kitten formula/bottle/nipple, printed instructions) and have been watching her like a hawk for any of the reported changes she could go through to indicate she is about to give birth.

The thing I am most worried about is her size or age/experience causing problems for her. At this point, I just need any advice or thoughts from those who have gone through this experience that can help me help her though this whole thing.

Thanks in advance for the help and I will be sure to post baby kitteh pictures as soon as they arrive!

And yes, she is getting spaying and the kittehs altered as soon as is reasonable.

Hell


On edit: Are there any safe OTC flea treatments for preggers cats???

[Throd]

1. Close all your drawers

I went to great effort to make a comfortable place for Miss Kitty to give birth. But no, she found an open drawer full of socks and underwear to be more to her liking.

[KatyMan]

2. Maybe

put a decent sized box with a blanket in a quiet place, and let her know where it is. If that's where she wants to have the kitties, she'll go there when it's time.

[Renew Deal]

3. She's going to have those kittens wherever she wants.

And there will be nothing you can do about it when she decides.

[BlueIris]

4. It's sweet that you're prepared to "help," but

she probably doesn't want you to watch.

[LynneSin]

6. You'll wake up and the kittens will all be there

so I would just relax and let nature take it's course

[Critters2]

5. There's a good chance she'll use the birthing box you've made, since you've put it

in a place where she already sleeps.

As to flea treatments for pregnant cats, I'd recommend diatomaceous earth. It's available at hardware stores or restaurant supply places. There are some brands that are a mix of DE and other natrual things intended for use on pets that you can get at Petsmart or Petco, but plain DE will work (and is cheaper). Just don't get the kind made for use in swimming pool filters. It's dangerous to use for some reason.
Sprinkle it on the cat, and comb it through her coat. It won't harm her if she swallows any. DE is fossilized microscopic sea critters, that have jagged edges and damage the exoskeletons of insects including fleas, thus killing them. But the edges soften when wet--like by a tongue--and mammals can ingest them with no trouble. So, it's probably the safest thing.

Also, sprinkle cat nip in the areas where the cat sleeps. She'll find this an attractant, and cat nip repels insects, including fleas.

Good luck! There's nothing sweeter than a mama kitty and her babies!

[Raven]

7. When the kitties are born they will just lay there and look dead.

Don't panic, Mom will lick them and whack them around a bit and they'll come to life. My cat wanted all of us around for the births...me, Willie and even the dog!

[yellowdogintexas]

9. and don't be shocked when she eats the afterbirth. It is IMPORTANT that she do this

helps stimulate the milk. and she will look like she is licking them to DEATH but it gets them to breathe. Usually they just breathe on their own. OH, sometimes the amniotic membrane covers their noses, you can help her get that off if she isn't licking right away at it.

[yellowdogintexas]

8. she is either going to hide out, or yell at you to be with her. Our last pregnant

cat was going to give birth on the sofa, next to my husband or die trying, and she let us know she was getting ready to deliver by much dithering around, and then she got up on the sofa and started licking on her belly, and mewing and panting. The panting is the sign she's feeling the labor.

So we got 3 or 4 big garbage bags and laid them on the sofa cushions, covered that with a couple of towels and she jumped right up there. However if my husband got up off the sofa she chased him down and mewed until he went back to the couch.

She was very young, also. She also knew exactly what to do. I made the mistake of trying to move one of the babies to the actual box thinking we could get her to go there, NO WAY, little beast tried to bite me.


YOu are doing a goood thing, can't wait to see the babies

[JCMach1]

12. Never forget my 3yr old in the middle of the night- MOM there's something in the bed

Our cat had her cats right there underneath the covers...


ummmmm. Cats tend to do what they want in that regard.

[DeepBlueC]

20. so now she knows where babies come from...

her bed!!! That could get awkward...lol. Buts cats are remarkably unconcerned with our plans for them, aren't they?

[DeepBlueC]

13. wow, that is amazing

She wanted your husband in the delivery room! This is a new generation of cat.

[JCMach1]

14. my 3yr old daughter!

The babies were torties (2) and they went to live eventually with a you girl who was fighting leukemia.

On a sanitary note, the sheets had to be washed and WELL bleached.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. Thanks for all the good tips!

:hi:

I am 99% certain she is gonna do just fine on her own, but I think I must have been a Boy Scout in a prior life -- I am all about being prepared. :D

Thanks again!
Hell

[marzipanni]

11. Ohhh, the story wells up in my memory again...

When I was a kid my friend had a cat named Walter. Walter got a bit portly but instead of dieting got rid of the extra weight by producing several kittens. Heh, when does a male cat become a female cat? When he has kittens...
Later that week their devout Catholic babysitter commented to my friend's five-year-old brother, "Oh, look at the sweet kittens God gave to Walter!"
"God didn't give them to Walter, they came out of her BUTT!"he replied.

:rofl:

My last kitty, Bitty, was a young, small girl like Happy when she adopted us. She was left when someone a block over moved. She was still lactating, so I followed her "home", wanting to find her babies, after she came in a few times to eat my cat's kibble. She took me to an empty duplex, and I asked a neighbor if he knew who she belonged to. He said her people had justed moved, and he thought her two kittens, who were almost weaning age, had been carted off with the sofa that had been on the veranda waiting to be transported. He had noticed they had been sleeping behind pillows on the sofa.
I asked my vet how to dry her up and he told me to give her cheap kibble. Since she was on her own we welcomed her into our household. I think young, small cats tend to have small litters.
Good luck to you and Happy!

[Taverner]

15. HOT WATER!!! HOT WATER!!!

Well, that's what they do in movies :shrug:

[DeepBlueC]

21. and TEA BAGS, fer Chrissake!!!!

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Sounds like you're ready! Here's a little advice from one who's been there.

Make sure there are no folds in the blankets. Mama will be just as comfortable on a flat blanket, trust me. The babies could get lost in a fold and suffocate. Also: don't be too quick to try to change the soiled blankets. Wait several days or even a couple of weeks (unless you think fleas might be a problem. See next point).

If fleas are a problem, talk to a vet ASAP. I know you asked about preggers-safe flea remedies but I can't help there. Talk to a vet about this before she gives birth.

Trust Happy's instincts. My first couple of times through this, I had tomforce this conscious thought onto myself: "cats have been doing this for eons. Leave her alone." Now: you've probably read about how to tell if she's in trouble during birth (while passing a kitten, not while cleaning one). Pay close attention to what you read about this.

Make sure she has PLEN-ty of food and water very nearby at all times. She probably won't leave the kits for a couple of days, but don't worry. She'll eat when she's ready. Nursing takes TONS out of a mother cat so keep it coming.


Finally: let her eat the placentas. She's supposed to.

You are going to be just fine. I'll be Happy will be less nervous than you.

Watch from a distance, be amazed, and congratulations!

[mcctatas]

17. check your laundry baskest before you put them in the washer...

I almost washed my former kitty's first litter, she gave birth when I was gone over night and was not with them when I threw my clothes on top of the dirty hamper to take to the wash, if she wouldn't have freaked out when I started to carry the basket I might have had a tragedy on my hands...

[cwydro]

18. Put a box with some comfy towels or old rags in it

in a dark place like a closet. Then keep showing it to her (putting her in it every now and then).

She may choose to go elsewhere, but if she likes it she'll have them there.

Then leave her alone.

After she gives birth, a new mother's cocktail of egg beaten into milk is usually appreciated if you take it to her and hold it while she drinks. Congratulate her and speak reassuringly to her.

Don't handle the babies for at least a week or so, especially since she doesn't know you so well. If you do handle them, she might move them. It will cause her stress.

After this is all over, do the right thing and get her spayed. Kittens too.

[arcadian]

19. If you move da kittehs from where she gives birf to the kittehs

She will just move them right back to where she wants them. Played this game with "our" kitteh for the past two weeks. She just had de kittehs.