Prelabor has begun!

[Silentstar03]

Hi I'm new to the site! We took in a 6 month old male cat a few months ago. While waiting on his upcoming neutering appointment, my female indoor only cat went into heat while we were away one weekend. Well long story short, my cat is now 58-59 days pregnant. And before I get bashed for it, the male has since be neutered and mama (Jinx) will be spayed as soon as the kittens are weaned. But anyways, a couple of days ago I noticed a minimal amount of clear discharge and she has been grooming herself constantly. Last night I noticed a tad bit more. I woke up this morning to find her nesting all over the house. I have her confined to my room at the moment. She has had one litter about 3 years ago so I definitely know her prelabor signs. She is purring nonstop and for the past hour wouldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes. She is also chirping ever so often when I talk to her. I've seen a drastic drop in appetite over the past couple of days. She is currently laying under my bed and I can see the "boiling" of the kittens. I'm pretty certain she will be delivering sometime tonight. With her first litter, she didn't show signs of labor other than discharge until 30 minutes before delivering the first kitten. She has also been super affectionate with all 3 of my kids and my 2 dogs. She normally keeps her distance for the most part from my 2 year old daughter. However, the last couple of nights she has been insisting on curling up with her on the couch which never happens. I have a couple of nesting boxes set up for her in my room which she has been visiting off and on. Fingers crossed everyone for a safe and healthy delivery!

**She is not sleeping in the pic. She is purring, pawing the air, and breathing pretty rapidly. Also kittens are super active.

 

[Sarthur2]

I hope all goes well for her! Please keep us posted.

 

[Silentstar03]

Still waiting on labor to begin. She is still nesting and napping in between. Her appetite has definitely decreased since yesterday morning. She is not as vocal as she was yesterday, but discharge has increased and she is still super affectionate. She has also been grooming herself nonstop. The kittens have definitely dropped today. She is no longer bulging on the sides as much. I can still feel the kittens, but they are much lower now. Also, her mammary glands have increased since yesterday. I've had a feeling this whole time that she would have them in St. Patty's day so we'll see if I was correct.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! How are things with you and mama?

 

[Silentstar03]

Hi! How are things with you and mama?

Still nothing. She's really been keeping me on my toes this go around. This morning the babies were extremely active. She is still having discharge but I can't really tell how much because she is constantly grooming herself. Last night my daughter was watching YouTube and there was kitten meowing in the video and she came running in the room doing her little mama call and looking around everywhere so she's definitely ready lol

 

[Furballsmom]

there was kitten meowing in the video and she came running in the room doing her little mama call and looking around everywhere

awwww

 

[Silentstar03]

Woke up this morning and she is offi ially losing her mucous plug!!!

 

[WhiteasSnow]

Woke up this morning and she is offi ially losing her mucous plug!!!

Noice! Good luck with everything. Please share pictures of the babies.
By chance do you of a picture of your cat before and after her belly dropped? Also when did it drop? When did she start producing milk. I’m wondering when my cat’s belly will drop as I have no idea how far along she is. Sorry you don’t have to answer this.

 

[Silentstar03]

She was laying next to me and started meowing like crazy so I got up and lead her to her box. She went in and laid down. I lifted up her tail to check for discharge and her water broke!

 

[Silentstar03]

She has started panting now and is having visible contractions

 

[Furballsmom]

hang in there, this could take a while !

 

[Silentstar03]

Ok here's an update guys. After her water broke she was having off and on contractions all day but not very strong ones. She had a good bit of light green discharge. She was super clingy and wouldn't let me leave her side. Anytime I left out of the room she would try to follow me. I have her box next to my bed and I literally had to sleep on the floor right next to her to keep her out of my bed. She may or may not be a little spoiled lol. Yesterday morning not much had changed except a lot more discharge. I stayed by her side all morning, which is pretty difficult when you have 3 kids. I left the room at about 1pm to go fix me some lunch and when I came back in she was sitting in front of my door meowing like crazy. I took her back to the box and then she had her first big contraction. At this point it had been over 24 hours since stage 1 had started. She started pushing and the first kittens water broke. This is when things went south. Her strong visible contractions stopped at this point. I knew that a kitten had to be born within 30 minutes after this point. I waited and waited and waited and nothing. Our state is on lockdown at the moment and I couldn't find a vet that was open on a Sunday. During this time she kept coming out of her box to eat and drink.

It wasn't until 2 hours later that she finally started having strong contractions again. I was already prepared for what was about to happen when the first kitten showed it's face and sure enough I was correct. It was stillborn. I didnt even have time to process it all the way before another one came popping out. This time it was super active and meowing as soon as it came out. No placentas had been delivered at this point, so both babies were still attached. It took a whole 45 minutes before the first babies placenta was finally delivered. After that another healthy baby and then another placenta. At this point she was delivering babies and placentas as quickly as she could clean the baby and dispose of the placenta. So after a long and stressful labor and delivery, we have 4 healthy babies; 2 boys and 2 girls. There is a girl of each color and a boy of each color. Mama has been great and hasn't left their side.

 

[Silentstar03]

Sorry I posted the pic in the middle and can't figure out how to edit it to put it at the end

 

[Silentstar03]

Here is another pic I snapped this morning when she came out to eat

 

[Sarthur2]

Thanks for the update. The kittens look fantastic! Sorry for the first kitten who stayed in the birth canal too long.

 

[Furballsmom]

What darling babies !!

RIP sweetheart

Are you giving your new mama extra food? Do you have a way to weigh the tiny ones?

 

[Furballsmom]

How is the new family?

 

[Silentstar03]

How is the new family?

Mama and babies are all doing amazing! We are lucky enough to have a neighbor that raises goats and she has been super generous in providing us with milk for mama. I do not have a scale to weigh the kittens, but they are indeed growing like weeds. I do have one little grey girl that it the runt, but she seems to be growing and putting on sufficient weight. With there only being 4 of them, she has not had any problems nursing or fighting for a nipple. I'm lucky in that mama is super sweet and let's me handle the babies daily to check on their wellbeing. She has remained in her original nesting box as well in my bedroom. I have a pillow propped against the opening where she can get in and out of it. It cuts down on drafts and makes her feel more secluded and safe. She comes out to eat, drink, and use her litterbox more frequently now. Yesterday she even jumped up on the bed with me for a few minutes for some snuggles and kisses, but had her eye on her box the entire time. She's such an amazing mama and things couldn't be better.

 

[Furballsmom]

She's such an amazing mama and things couldn't be better.

oh my goodness, this is so fantastic, and YOU are terrific as well! Thank you so much for sharing about them, they are DARLING!!

 

[Silentstar03]

oh my goodness, this is so fantastic, and YOU are terrific as well! Thank you so much for sharing about them, they are DARLING!!

Thank you so much! I couldn't ask for anything more to get us through this quarantine at the moment. My daughters can't wait for them to get big enough for them to start playing with them. They are 3, 8, and 12. My 8 year old asks me everyday if they are big enough yet. I've only let my 2 oldest see them momentarily a couple of times, but I haven't allowed them to touch them. My 3 year old is going to lose her mind when she finally gets to see them. She is amazing with all of our animals! But of course they are far too young right now for little hands, even as gentle as she is. I know they are all going to be super loved and already come prespoiled once they go to their new homes. We have decided that we will be keeping one of the girls. I think my 8 year old has her heart set on the little black and white girl, but we shall see. I'm a firm believer in letting your pets pick you. Mama came from a litter of 9 all black kittens. She was the one who kept jumping out of the box and sitting on my lap. I can only hope that they are half as wonderful as she is.