Pregnant Kitty/Now Three New Kittens, help!!

HighPriestess7

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Hey guys! I'm new to the forum because I noticed every cat pregnancy is different and I wanted some opinions or personal experiences to read ...

My cat Freya (she's only a year old) is pregnant for the very first time. We noticed this only about two weeks ago and just this week I noticed the babies moving around. There might be two or three from what I can tell, but who knows. We found out two weeks ago because she lost some mucus, which I read was her mucus plug, but there were no kittens. Then she lost a little more the other day.

While the unborn kittens are moving around quite a bit, she still hasn't given birth. She is more affectionate, she's been licking herself more, her nipples look pink and are getting plump, but she's still eating and playing like normal.

While she's acting completely fine, I'm still nervous because I don't know when she conceived with our other cat (who has been fixed within the last month). With all this information, I was wondering what you guys thought?? Thanks in advance for taking time to comment💕
 

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di and bob

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It's really impossible to pinpoint. since she has lost some mucous it has to be close, but could be a week or two. She's not very big, so around two kittens, three at the most. Kittens getting ready to be born will drop down into the birth canal and line up close to the time of birth. Mama may look visibly smaller and the kittens will stop moving around as much. Licking herself is another sign of close birth. I would guess in the week. Active labour will bring on some restlessness, meowing, and sometimes panting. Make sure she has a private place to go to, be nearby in case she needs help stimulating the kittens and cleaning them up. Take cues from her, a normal delivery means a calmer, non-distressed cat paying attention to her babies. Keep children and others away, you don't want her getting nervous. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
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HighPriestess7

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Thanks for commenting!! I was also thinking within this week or next week. If not by next week, I'll be calling a vet (just in case). I set up three spaces for her so far. One in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one in a closet we don't use. She has one other spot she likes to lay so I'll have to put towels/blankets down there too.
 

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Is she lying next to them in the nest? Sometimes kittens take an hour or so to figure out how to latch on, but if she isn't in the nest with them that is not a good sign. If she isn't in the nest you need to get a sock of rice warmed up, heat pad on low, or warm water bottle wrapped in a blanket to keep them warm. Keep encouraging her to the nest. Do you know if she is done having all of her kittens, do you feel any inside of her moving? Now would be the time to go to the store to get KMR kitten formula or goat milk (never use the Hartz brand formula) if you don't have any already. Kittens need to be fed tummy towards the ground, like the position they nurse from mom. A small syringe (without needle) with a mini miracle nipple is best or a small dropper giving one drop at a time and a chance for the baby to swallow, you have to go very slow and from the side of the mouth so they don't aspirate. Kitten Lady on YouTube has a great video on syringe feeding.
 
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HighPriestess7

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Is she lying next to them in the nest? Sometimes kittens take an hour or so to figure out how to latch on, but if she isn't in the nest with them that is not a good sign. If she isn't in the nest you need to get a sock of rice warmed up, heat pad on low, or warm water bottle wrapped in a blanket to keep them warm. Keep encouraging her to the nest. Do you know if she is done having all of her kittens, do you feel any inside of her moving? Now would be the time to go to the store to get KMR kitten formula or goat milk (never use the Hartz brand formula) if you don't have any already. Kittens need to be fed tummy towards the ground, like the position they nurse from mom. A small syringe (without needle) with a mini miracle nipple is best or a small dropper giving one drop at a time and a chance for the baby to swallow, you have to go very slow and from the side of the mouth so they don't aspirate. Kitten Lady on YouTube has a great video on syringe feeding.
Thanks for commenting! She wasn't lying beside them at first but it turns out it was because she didn't like the nesting box she had originally chose on to begin this journey lol. Now she's in a spot in the closet with the babies feeding. One kitten is smaller than the other two and seems to be struggling more getting to the nipple so I'm stepping in but she hasn't really left their side since. I didn't realize it would take a couple hours lol. I was sort of panicking. It all happened so fast. All things seem to be great so far though. No more babies that I can feel but I'm going to take her to the vet ASAP for a check up
 

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Others might have more thoughts on this but in my opinion I would not take her anywhere including the vet for now. If she was that upset and moving the kittens already then you don't want to stress her and panic her. She was looking for a safe place and has found it for now. She will stay there only leaving to eat and care for her other needs. As time goes on she will leave for longer periods. But right now she just needs to be left alone with her kittens. Instinct tells her what to do. Besides be safe and secluded she was also looking for a darker place. The kittens eyes need to develop still and to much brightness would not be so good for them at this point. Trust the mom, she has many many generations of experience backing her up and telling her what to do.
 
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HighPriestess7

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Others might have more thoughts on this but in my opinion I would not take her anywhere including the vet for now. If she was that upset and moving the kittens already then you don't want to stress her and panic her. She was looking for a safe place and has found it for now. She will stay there only leaving to eat and care for her other needs. As time goes on she will leave for longer periods. But right now she just needs to be left alone with her kittens. Instinct tells her what to do. Besides be safe and secluded she was also looking for a darker place. The kittens eyes need to develop still and to much brightness would not be so good for them at this point. Trust the mom, she has many many generations of experience backing her up and telling her what to do.
Alrighty, I'll hold off on calling the vet for the time being. I am a little nervous though. We seem to have a runt we're keeping a close eye on, and another worrying thing is - Freya keeps laying on her newborn kittens until they cry and I have to move her, because I'm worried she's crushing them. I read some forums about crushed kittens and I'm afraid to go to bed 😂
 

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Right. Weight the kittens every day to see if they gain as they shall. Extra important with the runt. (best to use a scale in grammes, and easiest with an electronical scale. Doesnt need to be fancy nor costly. Perhaps an neighbour can lend?)

If the runt has difficult to come to nipple, being shooshed out by biggies, lay him to momma when they are asleep...

Momma laying on kittens happens sometimes. Its not optimal but happens. You must help to look out....

You had got very good advices so far, Im glad you listened to them.

HighPriestess7 HighPriestess7
 
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HighPriestess7

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Right. Weight the kittens every day to see if they gain as they shall. Extra important with the runt. (best to use a scale in grammes, and easiest with an electronical scale. Doesnt need to be fancy nor costly. Perhaps an neighbour can lend?)

If the runt has difficult to come to nipple, being shooshed out by biggies, lay him to momma when they are asleep...

Momma laying on kittens happens sometimes. Its not optimal but happens. You must help to look out....

You had got very good advices so far, Im glad you listened to them.

HighPriestess7 HighPriestess7
I'm doing all I can for Mama and babies. My head is killing me but I'm still awake checking up on them every ten minutes or so. My boyfriend and I talked about sleeping in shifts to make sure we can keep an eye on them. As for the scale, we have one but it's so small idk if a kitten would fit on it lmfao I'll have to pick a cheap one up tomorrow but so far they've all eaten. I'm making sure I help out the runt as much as possible. I have a tiny bottle and KMR on hand just in case!
 

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I'm doing all I can for Mama and babies. My head is killing me but I'm still awake checking up on them every ten minutes or so. My boyfriend and I talked about sleeping in shifts to make sure we can keep an eye on them. As for the scale, we have one but it's so small idk if a kitten would fit on it lmfao I'll have to pick a cheap one up tomorrow but so far they've all eaten. I'm making sure I help out the runt as much as possible. I have a tiny bottle and KMR on hand just in case!
It may help if you have them in some sort of plastic box to weigh in, so they dont fall off.

Kittens whom have momma, are often reluctant to bottle, so be prepared with a dropper or a little syringe too... Its often easier.
 

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I haven't posted these anywhere yet, I was going to make a thread to tell the story. But I thought they might bring you a little piece of mind. The feral mom had a batch of kittens under my house last fall. I knew she had a bunch because she lost so much weight and just as I was making plans to crawl under to find them she brought all six up and put them in the basket. So then there is a rest of the story which I will keep for another thread. So this late winter she did what feral cats do and found a boyfriend and started showing. It was still really cold and frozen outside and I was a bit concerned how this was going to play out since the other kittens were all still here. Well in a repeat of before she went down under the house and had the new ones. In about 3 weeks she brought them up and put them in the basket with the others. I thought they would be in danger fro the older kittens. Turns out mom knew best. Apparently since they all smell like mom they just added to the pile and everybody has been happy. In the first picture there is a little head popped up between the bigger kittens down in the lower left. The babies got and still get laid on a lot but they appear to enjoy it more than anything else.
In the second picture the mom is at the top. They have overflowed the basket. There are 5 little kittens in there and 4 older kittens and the mom. Two of the older bigger kittens are not there (there were 6) because they decided to move into the house. So, bottom line is a little bit of overcrowding and getting laid on doesn't appear to be a bad thing.
Kittens1.jpg


Kittens2.jpg
 
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HighPriestess7

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I haven't posted these anywhere yet, I was going to make a thread to tell the story. But I thought they might bring you a little piece of mind. The feral mom had a batch of kittens under my house last fall. I knew she had a bunch because she lost so much weight and just as I was making plans to crawl under to find them she brought all six up and put them in the basket. So then there is a rest of the story which I will keep for another thread. So this late winter she did what feral cats do and found a boyfriend and started showing. It was still really cold and frozen outside and I was a bit concerned how this was going to play out since the other kittens were all still here. Well in a repeat of before she went down under the house and had the new ones. In about 3 weeks she brought them up and put them in the basket with the others. I thought they would be in danger fro the older kittens. Turns out mom knew best. Apparently since they all smell like mom they just added to the pile and everybody has been happy. In the first picture there is a little head popped up between the bigger kittens down in the lower left. The babies got and still get laid on a lot but they appear to enjoy it more than anything else.
In the second picture the mom is at the top. They have overflowed the basket. There are 5 little kittens in there and 4 older kittens and the mom. Two of the older bigger kittens are not there (there were 6) because they decided to move into the house. So, bottom line is a little bit of overcrowding and getting laid on doesn't appear to be a bad thing.
View attachment 328875

View attachment 328876
They're so cute!! This did give me a little peace ❤❤
 
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HighPriestess7

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A few of the websites I read said that you can't determine the sex of a kitten until they're a few weeks old, but the other day I was helping one of the kittens (the black kitten) and noticed he is DEFINITELY male. I decided to check the others, and also certain the first born (a.k.a the lighter one) is a girl. I'm struggling to figure out the gender of the runt. S/he is a little smaller than the other two so it's a bit more difficult...

I was wondering if anyone here could tell what the middle kitten might be?? Boyfriend is set on naming this one since I already named the other two, and he wanted to know as soon as possible 🤣
 

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