what to do when your cat gives birth

How do cats give birth? This guide looks at the basics.

How to help deliver kittens

Is your true cat due to give birth? You might experience nervous at the prospect of your cat going into labour - as well as ensuring that the kittens are safely delivered. Cats frequently give birth unsupported and are private creatures, so watch quietly from a distance in case you need to assistance or telephone call the vet. You can find out more on how to deliver kittens in our video below.

How to aid your true cat during nascency

Earlier your cat gives birth, talk to your vet to ask if your true cat needs whatever specific support or treatments during pregnancy and birth.

The secret to being a good midwife to your cat is ascertainment and timing. It is best to watch your cat from a distance, taking care not to disturb her or make her broken-hearted. Your cat may exist able to requite nascence without needing any help from you, but it'due south important to understand your cat's needs, likewise every bit those of her kittens, in case your help is required. Contact your vet if any problems occur.

Have make clean towels, a warm water canteen, a feeding bottle or syringe and some specialist substitute cat milk replacement - non moo-cow or goat milk - fix in advance.

Nascence, also called kittening or parturition, is divided into three stages, and the second and 3rd stages are repeated for each kitten. Time betwixt commitment of kittens is usually 10 to 60 minutes and stages two and three are repeated. The nascence is usually complete inside six hours afterward the start of the second stage, but tin can terminal up to 12 hours.

First stage of kittening

The first stage of kittening lasts up to 36 hours and is usually shorter for queens that have had kittens before.

What to expect:

• intermittent contractions, simply no straining
• the queen will be restless and make repeated visits to the bed
• late in the offset stage, the queen may scratch the bedding and pant
• vaginal belch is rare

Second stage of kittening

The 2nd phase of kittening lasts five to thirty minutes for each kitten.

What to expect:

• stronger contractions
• foetal membranes (water bag) appears briefly at the vulva and bursts. Liquid is usually cleared upward by the cat
• active straining starts and the kitten usually comes out head get-go
• once the head is out, one or two strains from the true cat should push out the kitten
• the mother breaks the bag and chews through the cord and licks the kitten. This cleans the kitten and encourages it to exhale

Tertiary stage of kittening

The third stage of kittening involves the passage of the membranes and the dark flesh mass of the placenta or afterbirth.

What to look:

• this normally follows immediately, although occasionally two kittens are born followed by two sets of membranes
• try to count the number of placentae to ensure one is passed for each kitten. If they are not all passed within four to six hours, call your vet for communication. Bear in mind that the queen will usually consume the placenta to hide bear witness of the nativity and protect her kittens.
• a red-chocolate-brown vaginal discharge may be seen for up to three weeks afterwards the nativity. Information technology is abnormal if it is green or foul-smelling, although in that location may normally be a small corporeality of green discharge after the kitten or placenta

What tin go wrong during birth?

Most cats manage to deliver their litter of kittens without whatever help. So watching quietly and discreetly from a distance is the best approach.

However, your cat may experience a difficult nascency and in that location are some things y'all tin can do to assistance:

• inquire your vet if you lot have whatever concerns
• if a kitten is partly out, but the mother is very tired and the kitten isn't passed inside a few seconds, you can gently endeavor to pull them out by pulling downwards very gently with make clean hands, merely ask your vet for advice
• if the mother does not clean the kitten, you can quickly and quietly clear the membranes from their head with clean, soft kitchen gyre. Wipe their nose and open the oral fissure to clear information technology. Rub the kitten in small circular movements to get them breathing
• if the mother does not bite through the cord, you lot can tie it off twice with clean sewing thread around 3cm from the kitten's trunk and gently tear between the two ties. Make clean hands are essential
• provide warmth if the mother is avoiding the kittens - a warm, well-covered water canteen does the job
• if you lot've had to help at all, it is all-time to seek veterinary communication as the kittens may exist more at risk of infection or being mismothered - being injured, rejected and not suckled or kept warm past the queen

When to phone call the vet

You should phone call the vet for advice during the nascence if:

• the first phase is lasting longer than 24 hours without any sign of straining
• the cat has been straining for more xxx minutes without producing annihilation - this could indicate an obstruction (eg a very large kitten)
• the kitten has arrived and no further kittens announced after an hour
• the cat all of a sudden seems weak
• in that location is excessive bloody discharge or greenish discharge without a kitten. Withal, there may be a greenish discharge after the kitten or with the afterbirth
• a kitten gets stuck half-manner out and cannot exist delivered by gently pulling

In some cases the kittens may need to exist delivered by caesarean section.

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Source: https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/pregnancy-and-kitten-care/birth-and-kittening

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