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MissLucysMom

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I recently adopted a stray cat. I say adopted because we didn’t just “take her in”, we made her a part of our family. She came to us two weeks ago. I took her straight to the doctor to find out she was pregnant but otherwise healthy. My 4 year old has been praying for her very own kitty so when Miss Lucy showed up it was like a dream come true. I say this because she was with me at the vet when we found out she was pregnant. There was no way I could spay her at that point because I knew my daughter would not understand what happened to the kittens. So, here we are.

I have read everything on cat labors, birth and kittens. We *think* she is 64 days, today. I only guessed that because I went door to door around several neighborhoods trying to find her owners. One woman told me she fed her a couple times and noticed her stomach getting drastically bigger around the first week in April. I started counting at day 35 on April 10 to get that number.

I’ve read most of the threads and I think Miss Lucy will be having her kittens soon. Her temperature was 98.9 at 3 pm yesterday and 99.0 at noon today. I haven’t checked her again because I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. She has also been restless for a bit and then sleeping, restless, sleeping, restless, sleeping and so on. When she is awake, she is constantly licking. The last hour or so she is paying special attention to her genitals but I don’t see anything coming out. The part that baffles me is she is walking over to her food bowl every now and then to eat. I have wet food for her and she seems to be just licking it instead of biting like normal but she is consuming something. Most things I read said she would stop eating 24 hours prior.

She has rolled on her back three times today for me to rub her stomach and she hasn’t done that in the 2 weeks she’s been with us. She is pooping a lot in her litter box and has awful gas. Her stomach is just rumbling.

The second question I have: I came to check on her about 30 minutes ago in “her room” so we could settle in for the night. Her vertebrae is clearly showing now and there were two distinguishable limps on one side with the rest of her stomach sunken in around it. Is that normal? It seems to have rounded back out but my biggest fear (thanks to reading too many birth stories...) is that she will have stillborn kittens.

Also, I must mention that before she came to us she broke her tail. It doesn’t seem to bother her but it is literally broken in half with it just hanging limp behind her. The vet thinks she may have been hit by a car and it was as recent as 3 weeks ago. I’m worried this hurt the babies as well.

Sorry for the long post. I’m just an anxious mom trying to help my sweet girl and knew there would be someone here who could at least keep me company or help me out until we make it through.

Thank you!!
 

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mmeyers9

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my cat had her babies on day 63 and I didn't notice changes at the time. but now that I look back there were differences before the birth, that day as well as a few days before so if there's anything specific you want to know I might be able to answer some things.
her babies are 12 days old

, and she had 6 babies even though the vets imaging said 8 s

if you got an image telling you how many babies?

don't be discouraged if it's wrong.

because we were so worried that there was babies left inside that were in stress and found out that there was no more babies inside and everybody was healthy
 

mmeyers9

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for about 3 days she was very uncomfortable and didn't sleep a lot and stay in one spot a lot.

she was kind of bratty for those 3 days, very moody I would even try to roll over when she was laying down but she couldn't cuz her tummy was too big

for about 48 hours, she would only eat a couple bites of food every hour, hardly any food at all.

at 1 a.m., update 63...
she tried to pee 3 times in her litter box, and nothing came out.

at 1:30 a.m. she pawed at my blanket to try to get underneath it , in bed

, so I lifted it up and she went underneath and lay under there and licked your hind foot toes for about 15 minutes.
she never sat and just licked her toes before.

and then she woke me up at 5 a.m. with the baby coming out, next to me in bed

but she never made a noise until she pushed it out.

and when they're going to push you will see, just like women do, when they push.

she only pushed two or three times with each baby

and only cried with the first two babies

and I was told it's because they're scared and don't understand what's happening. so don't panic if she gets really loud. it scared me emotionally because I did not want her and pain.

but from the third baby on, she never made a noise.

baby 6 was not moving, and after licking it for a few seconds, mommy left it alone...

so I had to take the sack off , pick her up, stimulate her and dry her off and rub her chest...

and after about 15 minutes, she was meowing and moving around. it took time but I didn't give up
 

mmeyers9

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* oops

correction

at 1 a.m., on day 63, is when she tried to pee 3 times but would not pee

and at 1:30 a.m. was under my blanket licking her toes and fell asleep for 3 hours and woke up at 5 a.m. pushing a baby out and crying really loud.

by 8am, all babies were here

some 30min apart, some 10min apart.

baby 6 was only baby who took 1hour,
and wasnt moving.

also, I let her eat the sacks, and the cords all she wanted.

i heard some people say to not let them eat them all.

but if she wanted to do what she wanted to do?, I let her do it.
the only one she did not eat, was with baby 6.

and after I revived baby 6 and put it on Mommy to nurse, Mommy accepted her,

and I threw the sack away that was laying on the floor next to her

please don't panic with her noises

it's okay!!!

I allowed myself to get into panic attacks because of the pain that it seemed my fur baby was in. but when I look back on it, most of it was fear.

like I said, from baby 3 on she never made a noise and they actually were coming quicker.

and she was a first-time Mommy, only nine months old oh, so if she can do it, your cat can do it and she will be awesome
 
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MissLucysMom

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Thank you so much! This is so helpful. She went to the litter box today and stayed for a good minute trying to pee. I thought her water had broken because she was squatting so long. She then pooped and walked away. I checked her pad underneath the box and it’s completely dry so she didn’t pee. That was around 3:30 this afternoon. She also has the worst gas. It has been going on since 3:30 too.
 

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I recently adopted a stray cat. I say adopted because we didn’t just “take her in”, we made her a part of our family. She came to us two weeks ago. I took her straight to the doctor to find out she was pregnant but otherwise healthy. My 4 year old has been praying for her very own kitty so when Miss Lucy showed up it was like a dream come true. I say this because she was with me at the vet when we found out she was pregnant. There was no way I could spay her at that point because I knew my daughter would not understand what happened to the kittens. So, here we are.

I have read everything on cat labors, birth and kittens. We *think* she is 64 days, today. I only guessed that because I went door to door around several neighborhoods trying to find her owners. One woman told me she fed her a couple times and noticed her stomach getting drastically bigger around the first week in April. I started counting at day 35 on April 10 to get that number.

I’ve read most of the threads and I think Miss Lucy will be having her kittens soon. Her temperature was 98.9 at 3 pm yesterday and 99.0 at noon today. I haven’t checked her again because I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. She has also been restless for a bit and then sleeping, restless, sleeping, restless, sleeping and so on. When she is awake, she is constantly licking. The last hour or so she is paying special attention to her genitals but I don’t see anything coming out. The part that baffles me is she is walking over to her food bowl every now and then to eat. I have wet food for her and she seems to be just licking it instead of biting like normal but she is consuming something. Most things I read said she would stop eating 24 hours prior.

She has rolled on her back three times today for me to rub her stomach and she hasn’t done that in the 2 weeks she’s been with us. She is pooping a lot in her litter box and has awful gas. Her stomach is just rumbling.

The second question I have: I came to check on her about 30 minutes ago in “her room” so we could settle in for the night. Her vertebrae is clearly showing now and there were two distinguishable limps on one side with the rest of her stomach sunken in around it. Is that normal? It seems to have rounded back out but my biggest fear (thanks to reading too many birth stories...) is that she will have stillborn kittens.

Also, I must mention that before she came to us she broke her tail. It doesn’t seem to bother her but it is literally broken in half with it just hanging limp behind her. The vet thinks she may have been hit by a car and it was as recent as 3 weeks ago. I’m worried this hurt the babies as well.

Sorry for the long post. I’m just an anxious mom trying to help my sweet girl and knew there would be someone here who could at least keep me company or help me out until we make it through.

Thank you!!
MissLucysMom MissLucysMom any news?
 
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MissLucysMom

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And congratulations on your sweet new bundles!! You’re amazing for not giving up, I will have to remember that!!
 
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MissLucysMom

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Not yet! She’s still laying beside me though, breathing heavy and purring. She’s not cleaning so excessively now but she’s still cleaning her paws and stomach. She’s laying on her side now too and she’s definitely not a side layer. Maybe we’re close? Maybe it’ll be next week?? Who knows?!? ‍♀ Haha...these crazy labor and deliveries.
 

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Not yet! She’s still laying beside me though, breathing heavy and purring. She’s not cleaning so excessively now but she’s still cleaning her paws and stomach. She’s laying on her side now too and she’s definitely not a side layer. Maybe we’re close? Maybe it’ll be next week?? Who knows?!? ‍♀ Haha...these crazy labor and deliveries.
I think I sent that the second you sent your other message :p
Do you have a vet on call just in case?
I bet your kiddo is excited and will be a big help in raising and socializing those babies. Update us whenever you can :wave3:
 
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MissLucysMom

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Yes!! She’s so excited. I told her that she went to the doctor to have the babies though. In case anything went wrong. I have three girls so these babies will be super socialized. Haha

She keeps stretching, passing gas and then licking her food? I never thought I would be so involved in a cat’s private area. Haha
 

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@StefanZ has very good advice about rearing kittens by hand, I tagged them, they might have some ideas as to what to look out for in case of emergency and be able to judge ballpark as to when she might be ready to deliver.
 
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MissLucysMom

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@StefanZ has very good advice about rearing kittens by hand, I tagged them, they might have some ideas as to what to look out for in case of emergency and be able to judge ballpark as to when she might be ready to deliver.
Thank you!!
 
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MissLucysMom

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The vet told me to check her temperature so we can monitor how long it stays low for. It was 100.1. Whaaaaat the F, y’all. She’s been between 98.9-99.3 for at least 24 hours. Can that really happen?
 
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MissLucysMom

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Don’t worry about the temperature. It’s not a reliable indicator. She’s close! The babies will come when they come.
That’s good to know! Thank you. I’ve left her for the night to get some rest. I have a baby monitor on her so I can hear her if she calls for me. I feel like it’s important for me to be there with her in case she or her kittens need a little extra help.
 

mmeyers9

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if you are going to bed, make sure you keep her in the same room with you with the door shut so she doesn't go off and have them somewhere that you don't know about.
I had my cat in my bedroom with the door shut, and a box nest ready a week before she had her babies

so that when she went into labor on my bed, all I had to do was grab her by the back of the neck and pick her up and lay her down into her box very gently, to finish having the babies in there.
because I knew that was the best place to have them safely
I'm sure being in labor and being grabbed by the back of the neck feel good to her, but I did not want to hurt the babies or her body and my vet always said when the animal is in pain, just grabbed by the back of the neck and their body will hang relaxed.
and that's what she did and when I set her down into her box she finished pushing her baby out.
lol
and the first time she couldn't pee was at 1 a.m. and she had her first baby at 5 a.m. which was in 4 hours and she never had any drainage come from her private parts

and she never had no signs of contractions

in fact the only difference is that she was a little bit more relaxed than she had been the last few days
 

mmeyers9

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no one can ever prepare you for what you're going to hear or see, because every cat is different, and unfortunately my cat made awful noises with the first two babies.I literally had a panic attack and almost had to go to the emergency room and I had to stop and say a prayer that I could remain healthy and strong to help take care of her and her babies.

if you would like?

, I have a video of her getting ready to have a baby,

it's about 30 seconds long and I honestly can't watch it anymore or listen to it ,because it heightens my anxiety

but if you want to see how she was acting, to realize that even though it sounds painful, they will be okay!

it's on my Facebook profile, for the public to see, and if you want to see it, I can give you a screenshot of what my profile looks like and where the video is inside my profile.

and just ignore me crying, because I was in a panic attack with a friend on the phone who was trying to calm me down while Leon was having her baby
 
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MissLucysMom

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Still no change/progression. She stopped grooming herself so much but she is still staying around her food bowl non stop especially when I’m with her. She isn’t eating the food she is just licking it. Would that be comforting to her? She has always been very affectionate so I can’t really use that as an indication.

I did make her another nesting box to go in her room. She now has three. Haha. She has a big kiddie pool half covered with a blanket (I found a spot of blood on one of the pads that I put in there yesterday). A box with a blanket over it with a heating pad. I have layers of blankets and pads alternating in between so she doesn’t get too warm and it cuts off automatically when it reaches a certain temperature. The last is just a cardboard box with a pillow in it. Maybe she just likes being treated like a queen too much to have these babies. Haha. Picture is from this morning!
 

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Have you a vet on call as suggested by 1 bruce 1? It seems a good precaution considering that she had some kind of accident when her tail was broken. Fortunately she appears to be in good shape but precautions are always advisable.
 
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MissLucysMom

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Have you a vet on call as suggested by 1 bruce 1? It seems a good precaution considering that she had some kind of accident when her tail was broken. Fortunately she appears to be in good shape but precautions are always advisable.
Yes! I have three on call. She seems content right now with all the belly rubs. Her tail is starting to bleed from hair loss so I’m going to bandage it up. The vet said it wasn’t necessary but I don’t want it to bother her. You can see it on the picture. Scroll on if you have a weak stomach though. Haha
 

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