Long story ahead.
First of all, P (the cat) is not mine, she's my brother's who is away atm. It's only been 3 days since I moved back to my home country (I was 14 hours away by flight before) so you can imagine the stress/jetlag. I only got to know she's pregnant the day before she went into labour as well so honestly I wasn't expecting she was anywhere near to giving birth. But due to my jetlag, I woke up early and I heard her meow once from my brother's room and went to check on her. I saw something hanging out from her back, sort of like a yellowish/greenish tinged sac and started to suspect she's in labour. The day before, she was really affectionate and kept wanting to be petted. As I was away for a long time (3 years, with some months visiting home) not sure if that's her normal behaviour or an indication that she's going into labour. So honestly by that time I was panicking inside, I was not her owner and really wasn't prepared to help her in any way. I had cats before, but only males. I had taken care of a queen and her litter before for someone but she had a normal delivery so was able to take care of her own kittens. Never witnessed a birth myself. I knew usually cats don't have problems delivering but somehow that day I felt that something was wrong.
Due to the weird substance (that sac) coming out, I was quite concerned. I went to look for a box for her to nest in and she kept making trips between the box and the litter box. After 2 hours, I saw legs coming out and then halfway of the body but it got stuck. I didn't know what to do, but P was strangely calm, she's always been a quite cat and she acted as if nothing was going on because she kept walking everywhere and even asking to be petted. After reading online, it said I was supposed to help pull the kitten out but I wasn't brave enough to do it so I decided to call the vet and they asked me to bring the cat to them. Bear in mind that I live in a small town, where we only have 3 vets (and that's only a recent development!) where one closest to me was closed that day and the vet in charged of the other clinic only came in like 2 hours later. Also I didn't have a car and no driving license so I had to call someone to help me. So I had to bring it to the only vet open. They tried pulling the kitten out (and it was a difficult process since the kitten was really stuck) so they told me just to wait outside and they'll wait if the mom will push it by herself. I was called back in a few mins later and the kitten was out but after over 1 hour, it was already dead.
The vet gave her an anaesthetic which ended up being a problem after that because she did not wake up fully and did not have enough strength to deliver on her own the rest of the kittens. At that time, the vet said to bring her home and just wait. I was worried as she's bleeding and I knew that I would not be able to provide the appropriate care and support for her to give birth so I went to the '2 hours later' vet (it was a one hour wait by then). The vet was not in yet but the staffs said they would keep an eye on the cat. I had to go home but kept calling the clinic to check on her progress and then later finally the vet called me and said that it would be wise to proceed with a c-section. I called my brother to make sure he agreed with that. The doctor said that there's a high possibility we would lose her if she didn't undergo surgery due to the fact that she's losing blood and risking infection. And there's no way she's gonna be delivering on her own. The vet also said they will keep her overnight for supervision so honestly at that point, the way he said it seemed like all the kittens were likely to be dead. One thing I regretted was not getting the cat spayed at the same time, I was panicking the whole time and forgot to mention it to my brother, and now she would have to go through the same process in the future
I went back home and cried to sleep. But then I woke up to phone ringing, it was the vet and he said to take back P today because she had 3 kittens and they needed to be fed overnight and there won't be anyone to supervise that. I went and get her and the kittens, the vet said to separate them for a while to feed the kittens and so that the mom was not disturbed because she did get mad when the kitten latched onto her probably due to the pain. This is probably amother mistake of mine, I should have put the kittens still within P's sight (they were in a box next to her but she could not see them and she was just lying tiredly). I had to feed the kittens in the meanwhile, bought a syringe and goat's milk. It took time, honestly feeding might be the most stressful thing I've done yet but slowly, we (my mom and I) managed to get them to drink some milk. The vet said to feed them every 2-3 hours and the kittens seemed to be feeding better every time. And I burped them afterwards. I kept them in a huge box with towels lined in it and there's some handkerchief blankets. Added a warm water bottle wrapped in a sock after that and my stuffed panda (adult cat size) which seemed to work in making the kittens sleep peacefully. Tried to help the kittens urinate/defecate as well. We are touching them using gloves btw.
P is disinterested in her kittens which might be due to my mistake or from what I read, c-section cats sometimes reject their kittens. At times she shows interest and curiousity but hiss at the kittens whenever they are near. But overall, P is recovering well, she has eaten and drank, gave her meds and she has also urinated and pooped. Still very affectionate but sometimes gets very jumpy from sudden movements. There's also the male cat (which I had separated from her since labour time) inside another room that I had to constantly checked upon so that he won't feel neglected. I really can't wait for my brother to return as I have been feeling completely overwhelmed by the sudden responsibilities and so afraid of messing things up. I feel guilty for a lot of decisions I had to make as I didn't know if that's the best for them. Thank google honestly otherwise I wouldn't know what to do and I still have a lot of questions:
1) When will be good to spay P as she just had a c-section? Can we spay the male cat first to avoid future breeding as we could not spay P in the meantime.
2) P seems to be recovering well but are there any symptoms I should be on the lookout and be aware of that may need a vet's immediate attention? I will try to get them to a vet as soon as possible for a follow up check but today I'm beat and sleep deprived. Have been waking up constantly to feed the kittens and check up on the other cats.
3) I got the kittens to urinate and one of them pooped today. What should I look out for like colours of the urine/poop etc? Is it okay if one the kitten hasn't pooped yet?
4) I didn't have a scale to weigh them so has been feeding them 3-4 ml per feeding each and based on their demand. Not sure if this is enough. And is it appropriate to use a luggage scale?
5) Do I need to wipe them with a damp cloth to clean them as their mother would not do so?
6) P has not been breastfeeding at all. I would love if she would gain interest in her kittens but I'm not too hopeful at the moment. She doesn't mind their smells anymore but still hiss at them. I've been trying to get her to smell them and to rub her smell on the kittens. Not sure if you have any advice I could try to get P to accept them. Otherwise when I bring them to the vet, I'll bring up the issue that she won't nurse them. This is her first litter and she's also a young mother.
7) Should I try extracting P's milk? I am afraid if she will react violently but she has allowed me to touch her stomach.
7) So far the kittens seem well, has been moving around, responsive and feeding well. How do I detect if there's problems with them? I could tell if they are crying out of hunger because it's like a clockwork but not sure if there are other issues.
Will try to upload a picture of them later. Any advice you think I should know will be appreciated. Thank you.
First of all, P (the cat) is not mine, she's my brother's who is away atm. It's only been 3 days since I moved back to my home country (I was 14 hours away by flight before) so you can imagine the stress/jetlag. I only got to know she's pregnant the day before she went into labour as well so honestly I wasn't expecting she was anywhere near to giving birth. But due to my jetlag, I woke up early and I heard her meow once from my brother's room and went to check on her. I saw something hanging out from her back, sort of like a yellowish/greenish tinged sac and started to suspect she's in labour. The day before, she was really affectionate and kept wanting to be petted. As I was away for a long time (3 years, with some months visiting home) not sure if that's her normal behaviour or an indication that she's going into labour. So honestly by that time I was panicking inside, I was not her owner and really wasn't prepared to help her in any way. I had cats before, but only males. I had taken care of a queen and her litter before for someone but she had a normal delivery so was able to take care of her own kittens. Never witnessed a birth myself. I knew usually cats don't have problems delivering but somehow that day I felt that something was wrong.
Due to the weird substance (that sac) coming out, I was quite concerned. I went to look for a box for her to nest in and she kept making trips between the box and the litter box. After 2 hours, I saw legs coming out and then halfway of the body but it got stuck. I didn't know what to do, but P was strangely calm, she's always been a quite cat and she acted as if nothing was going on because she kept walking everywhere and even asking to be petted. After reading online, it said I was supposed to help pull the kitten out but I wasn't brave enough to do it so I decided to call the vet and they asked me to bring the cat to them. Bear in mind that I live in a small town, where we only have 3 vets (and that's only a recent development!) where one closest to me was closed that day and the vet in charged of the other clinic only came in like 2 hours later. Also I didn't have a car and no driving license so I had to call someone to help me. So I had to bring it to the only vet open. They tried pulling the kitten out (and it was a difficult process since the kitten was really stuck) so they told me just to wait outside and they'll wait if the mom will push it by herself. I was called back in a few mins later and the kitten was out but after over 1 hour, it was already dead.
The vet gave her an anaesthetic which ended up being a problem after that because she did not wake up fully and did not have enough strength to deliver on her own the rest of the kittens. At that time, the vet said to bring her home and just wait. I was worried as she's bleeding and I knew that I would not be able to provide the appropriate care and support for her to give birth so I went to the '2 hours later' vet (it was a one hour wait by then). The vet was not in yet but the staffs said they would keep an eye on the cat. I had to go home but kept calling the clinic to check on her progress and then later finally the vet called me and said that it would be wise to proceed with a c-section. I called my brother to make sure he agreed with that. The doctor said that there's a high possibility we would lose her if she didn't undergo surgery due to the fact that she's losing blood and risking infection. And there's no way she's gonna be delivering on her own. The vet also said they will keep her overnight for supervision so honestly at that point, the way he said it seemed like all the kittens were likely to be dead. One thing I regretted was not getting the cat spayed at the same time, I was panicking the whole time and forgot to mention it to my brother, and now she would have to go through the same process in the future
I went back home and cried to sleep. But then I woke up to phone ringing, it was the vet and he said to take back P today because she had 3 kittens and they needed to be fed overnight and there won't be anyone to supervise that. I went and get her and the kittens, the vet said to separate them for a while to feed the kittens and so that the mom was not disturbed because she did get mad when the kitten latched onto her probably due to the pain. This is probably amother mistake of mine, I should have put the kittens still within P's sight (they were in a box next to her but she could not see them and she was just lying tiredly). I had to feed the kittens in the meanwhile, bought a syringe and goat's milk. It took time, honestly feeding might be the most stressful thing I've done yet but slowly, we (my mom and I) managed to get them to drink some milk. The vet said to feed them every 2-3 hours and the kittens seemed to be feeding better every time. And I burped them afterwards. I kept them in a huge box with towels lined in it and there's some handkerchief blankets. Added a warm water bottle wrapped in a sock after that and my stuffed panda (adult cat size) which seemed to work in making the kittens sleep peacefully. Tried to help the kittens urinate/defecate as well. We are touching them using gloves btw.
P is disinterested in her kittens which might be due to my mistake or from what I read, c-section cats sometimes reject their kittens. At times she shows interest and curiousity but hiss at the kittens whenever they are near. But overall, P is recovering well, she has eaten and drank, gave her meds and she has also urinated and pooped. Still very affectionate but sometimes gets very jumpy from sudden movements. There's also the male cat (which I had separated from her since labour time) inside another room that I had to constantly checked upon so that he won't feel neglected. I really can't wait for my brother to return as I have been feeling completely overwhelmed by the sudden responsibilities and so afraid of messing things up. I feel guilty for a lot of decisions I had to make as I didn't know if that's the best for them. Thank google honestly otherwise I wouldn't know what to do and I still have a lot of questions:
1) When will be good to spay P as she just had a c-section? Can we spay the male cat first to avoid future breeding as we could not spay P in the meantime.
2) P seems to be recovering well but are there any symptoms I should be on the lookout and be aware of that may need a vet's immediate attention? I will try to get them to a vet as soon as possible for a follow up check but today I'm beat and sleep deprived. Have been waking up constantly to feed the kittens and check up on the other cats.
3) I got the kittens to urinate and one of them pooped today. What should I look out for like colours of the urine/poop etc? Is it okay if one the kitten hasn't pooped yet?
4) I didn't have a scale to weigh them so has been feeding them 3-4 ml per feeding each and based on their demand. Not sure if this is enough. And is it appropriate to use a luggage scale?
5) Do I need to wipe them with a damp cloth to clean them as their mother would not do so?
6) P has not been breastfeeding at all. I would love if she would gain interest in her kittens but I'm not too hopeful at the moment. She doesn't mind their smells anymore but still hiss at them. I've been trying to get her to smell them and to rub her smell on the kittens. Not sure if you have any advice I could try to get P to accept them. Otherwise when I bring them to the vet, I'll bring up the issue that she won't nurse them. This is her first litter and she's also a young mother.
7) Should I try extracting P's milk? I am afraid if she will react violently but she has allowed me to touch her stomach.
7) So far the kittens seem well, has been moving around, responsive and feeding well. How do I detect if there's problems with them? I could tell if they are crying out of hunger because it's like a clockwork but not sure if there are other issues.
Will try to upload a picture of them later. Any advice you think I should know will be appreciated. Thank you.
