Expert: Dear Tabbi - 8/22/2008

Question
Our cat has been acting peculiar the past few days. She's been acting maternal to our 20 week old kitten and our 9 weeks old puppy, whom she used to ignore or hiss at. She has also gained weight and gone from a healthy size to chubby.

Today, I found her holed up in one of the kid's toyboxes. She had opened the lid with her nose and squeezed in. She didn't want to get out of it, but I didn't want a mess on the toys. She's been following me and refuses to relax unless I am by her side.

I've looked at several sites and some suggest that a "queen" will follow her owner or desire to be completely alone.

Does it sound like she could be in labor? I haven't got much experience with this type of thing.

Answer
Marjorie,

Gestation is approximately 63 days or 9 weeks. To remember: people 9 months, cats 9 weeks.

If her nipples are pink, which happens at about 3 weeks,  then the kittens will come about 6 weeks from then.

Weight gain becomes noticable at about 5 weeks.

From 6 weeks on the nipples will fill with milk.

After the 8th week or when she is about to go into labor she will constantly be licking her nipples and vagina. She may also have a discharge.

Her appetite will be healthy until a few days before birthing then it decreases. She also will become restless.

If you can see the babies moving then birth will be within the week.

Here are some good links for more information on births:
(copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.2ndchance.info/felinelabor.htm

http://cats.about.com/od/reproduction/tp/catsreproduction101.htm

http://cats.about.com/od/reproduction/a/birthprocess.htm

http://cats.about.com/cs/pregnancybirth/a/pregnancybirth_3.htm

Be sure to give her a high quality kitten chow until she weans the kittens (about 8 weeks). Give her as much as she wants to eat. Usually a nursing mom needs about 4 times her normal amount of food to keep the babies from depleting her.

She may be nervous and scared and want you with her when starts her labor. I've had a couple that if you get up, they will get up even with a kitten hanging out! Others, especially experienced moms, who will 'take care of business" on their own. Let her tell you what she wants.

Be prepared that if she is a first time mother she may do some bazaar things if she doesn't know what to do with the kittens. And she will usually move the kittens one or more times after she has them. That is normal.

Try to let her be as much as possible for a few days after the birth so she will have a chance to bond with the kittens. Some mothers won't leave their kittens for a couple of days so it is good to put her food and water, and possibly a litterbox in the room where she has the kittens.

A mothercat may possibly have another kitten up to 24 hours after you think she is through. That is because she can have kittens from each tomcat that bred her, and if one bred her at the very end of her heat cycle then she will have that kitten later. That is also why some kittens may look and act different though born at the same time...different fathers.

Cats usually don't have problems with birthing. I've had breech births where the kitten was stuck with a tail hanging out and I had to help deliver. I've had the mother be too tired at the end to clean the last baby that came out and it was dead (I wasn't there). And I've had to open the sac around a baby so it could breathe because the mother was busy cleaning another kitten. But that's about it.

Sometimes a mother will totally reject a kitten, let it cry, and sometimes move it away and leave it, which sounds cruel, but in those cases there usually is something wrong with the kitten and the mother sensed it. Mother Nature is pretty smart, and the old adage is true "only the fittest will survive".  Sometimes a young mother cat won't nurse or won't know how...just hope for the bet.

The mother cat won't get actual milk until about 48 hours after birthing. She has colostrum at first which is VERY important for the babies to get. You may also want to GENTLY and CAREFULLY trim the fur around her nipples to make them easier for the babies to find. Kittens have 'favorite' nipples and will sometimes fight other kittens for it.

Note: the mother cat can come into heat and get pregnant again as soon as 48 hours to 2 weeks after giving birth!

I hope this information is helpful.

Tabbi