Expert: Ali - 6/12/2009

Question
QUESTION: My cat has been pregnant for quite some time now. I'm not sure of her due date because she got out of the house a couple of times. Her nipples are pink,she has dropped and you can see the babies moving but yet no kittens have appeared. I have set up a birthing box in my closet along with her food. I have tried keeping it quiet in the house but i have a very active 3 yr. old daughter and 3 boys on top of that. Could she be holding off on labor because of all the noise or is she just not ready to have them?

ANSWER: Dana,

I would like to start off by saying that you obviously have a very busy household! The good news is that once your queen delivers her babies she'll be able to provide for their basic needs almost entirely if nothing goes wrong. For the most part female cats are excellent mothers and they usually have normal deliveries and ample milk to feed their babies. Sometimes queens and their kittens need some extra help and support to ensure that everyone's as healthy and happy as possible. As a volunteer for this site I've noticed that certain questions and concerns show up repeatedly. I make every effort to make sure that every pet parent gets a detailed response that meets their needs. In some cases I spend 3+ hours on a single answer, because I want to be sure that I've provided the best possible solution for each cat and their human caregiver. I read each question thoroughly and consider the best way to address all questions or concerns. I have developed standard answers to address common concerns and in some cases a final answer includes information contained in previously published answers when appropriate - this allows me to help more cats and their humans.

The gestation period for cats is between 60-68 days - 63 days is about average for most queens. Unfortunately I can't tell you for sure when mom's going to give birth because I don't know when she mated or even which mating took. Cats are induced ovulators, this means that a female cat who is in heat is actually letting the toms in her area know that she's receptive to mating, once she chooses a suitable mate she must mate with an intact tom in order to ovulate and become pregnant. Some of the subtle signs you've described can be a good indicator that mom's body is getting ready to start laboring and she may have her kittens within a fairly short period of time (the wait could be a couple of days or a couple of weeks).

If you want to have a good idea when these kittens are due you can take mom to the vet for an ultrasound and/or an x-ray. The ultrasound will allow your vet to evaluate the size, condition and development of the unborn kittens. An x-ray is a useful tool that can help determine roughly how many kittens your queen is expecting as well as an educated guess of the gestational age. An unborn kitten's bones will only show up on x-ray quite late in the pregnancy - I believe it's somewhere around 53 days, but don't quote me on that. It's perfectly safe to x-ray a pregnant queen and her unborn kittens during the latter part of her pregnancy and it's quite routinely done.

Most queens deliver their kittens very well on their own without any human help or medical intervention. It's very important to ensure that the whole family is aware that this new mom needs some quiet, private time when she's in labor and delivering her kittens. If a queen is in an area where she doesn't have the private time she needs to give birth to her kittens, the environment is too noisy or there is too much going on mom can become stressed out and her labor might stall. Ideally it's best for mom to be confined to a quiet, dimly lit area that's off limits to young children to minimize her stress during labor and delivery. Unfortunately if your queen's labor stalls she may very well lose one or more of her kittens if the placentas begin separating prematurely and at worst she might need to deliver her babies by caesarian - if this happens it's best to have mom spayed during the c-section to avoid further pregnancies so that she doesn't have to undergo such a traumatic delivery again.

In a pregnant queen it's not unusual to see mom panting, pacing, shivering, and becoming quite anxious anywhere between 6-24 hours before she actually gives birth. Queens in labor or nearing delivery often spend time trying to make their little ones a comfortable bed. It's best for mom to labor and have her kittens in a quiet, dimly lit and relatively private area that's off limits to the children. This will help to minimize mom's stress during labor and delivery and dramatically reduce the chances that something will go seriously wrong. You might find it best to confine mom to your room with the usual feline necessities before she actually goes into labor as this will allow mom some time to rest up before she has her babies.

Although you've provided a birthing box that's not a guarantee that your queen will give birth there. I normally prepare birthing boxes by lining them with old towels or a small blanket. I also use disposable incontinence pads (meant for use on furniture, not people) to line the bottom of the box prior to adding the towels, this prevents blood and amniotic fluid from seeping into the floor under the box. Bedding in the birthing box should be changed whenever it gets wet or soiled because newborn kittens aren't able to maintain their own body temperature and damp bedding would make matters worse.

Sometimes mother cats prefer to deliver their kittens during the night when the househld is quiet and everyone is asleep. It's perfectly normal to hear mom meowing during the delivery - as I'm sure you're well aware giving birth is a painful process. I've met queens who are completely quiet except for some low grunting and purring during the birth process, while others will howl loudly and yowl dramatically during labor and delivery which can be a bit unsettling. I would recommend keeping an eye on mom as she approaches her due date, it's important to observe from a distance, because what might be traumatic or frightening for us is perfectly normal for the queen.

Given the fact that your queen is due to deliver anytime within the next while it's a good idea to have a few basics on hand just in case mom needs any help with her little ones. If you happen to know that mom is in labor and she's delivering kittens on her own you can just sit back and watch from a polite distance on standby just in case something goes wrong and mom needs help or a visit to the vet. It's completely normal for mom to clean each newborn by licking them vigorously as soon as they're born, this helps to stimulate the little one to breathe. Mom will often eat the amniotic sac, cut the umbilical cord and eat the placenta. Queens will usually eat the placentas instinctively, they do this partly to gain some energy to continue with delivering her kittens, protect the nest from predators and partly because they contain a hormone called oxytocin which helps the womb continue to contract well to deliver the remaining kittens and minimize the blood loss mom experiences, this hormone is also thought to have a calming effect on mom that helps her to bond with the newborn kittens.

I usually keep some clean hand towels on hand, just in case mom rejects a kitten or refuses to clean the little one off. In some cases it's not known why queens will reject one or more kittens in a litter, in my experience sometimes cats will reject a kitten if they have some hidden birth defect, they're weaker than the others or they're sick. In these instances if you dry the kitten off, clear the airway and get it breathing there's a chance that s/he will survive as long as s/he can nurse. It's not a bad idea to have a kitchen scale measuring in grams up to 2 lbs, this will allow you to weigh the kittens at birth, most healthy newborns weigh around 100 grams or so at birth, some are slightly smaller while others are larger. In my kitty first aid kit I keep a bulb syringe (can be found in the baby aisle of the pharmacy) to clear fluid and mucous out of a newborn kitten's airway if the kitten needs help - sometimes kittens needing a bit of extra help to clear out their passages will actually blow bubbles out of their nose/mouth.

I also make sure to keep some brand new oral syringes and a kitten milk replacer such as KMR, Just Born or Mammalac around just in case mom rejects one or more kittens or she isn't producing enough milk to satisfy her babies. Kittens who need supplementary feedings should be fed with all four paws facing the floor to prevent them from accidentally inhaling their formula. It's been my experience that kittens often won't accept some types of nipples sold with bottles meant for feeding orphaned kittens, syringe feeding can be simpler, but it needs to be done calmly. You'll want to gently place the syringe tip into the corner of the little one's mouth while slowly depressing the plunger so that the kitten has time to swallow without the risk of choking. If you need to feed anyone by syringe or bottle I'd be more than happy to help you out and send off more detailed tips.

If mom strains for more than an hour without producing a kitten she should be seen by the vet because there's a possibility that the kitten is too large or in the wrong position to be born vaginally. If mom becomes anxious in the days after the birth and seems to walk with a stilted gait (somewhat like an old wind up toy) she may have a calcium/magnesium deficiency, this is an emergency and should be treated by a vet ASAP. If you notice greenish discharge coming from mom's vagina this can be an indicator that a placenta has separated prematurely - if this happens the kitten may not survive because the placenta can't provide them with the oxygen they need to survive if it's not attached to the uterine wall.

In the best interests of these babies it's important for everyone to handle these newborns for short periods of time as this is an important step in socializing these little ones. Appropriate socialization allows the kittens to become good pets as they get older, but it's best to ensure that the kittens aren't being handled excessively in fact I'd actually suggest that younger kids not be allowed to hold the newborn kittens for the first week or so, instead they can talk to these babies and pet them gently. As with any pet of any age it's important to bear in mind that these babies are very fragile and vulnerable to infection and injury. I recommend supervising all children carefully when handling these babies to ensure that mom or her babies aren't accidentally injured by eager little hands.

There are a number of opinions about how old kittens should be when they leave their mother and move into adoptive homes. I've cared for many kittens over the years and in my experience kittens who stay with their mother for the first 12 weeks are less likely to have certain health and behavioral issues. It really is best if mom cares for her kittens til they're at least 12 weeks old, at that time they're less fragile, they've been eating solids for awhile, they won't usually suffer from low blood sugar (can happen quite suddenly in kittens 9 weeks old or younger and it can be fatal if not discovered in time) and by the age of twelve weeks kittens have learned some basic etiquette in terms of how they socialize with other cats and their human caregivers.

Although young kittens are cute it's important that you play the role of helping socialize them with people so that they behave appropriately and have a better chance of living in a permanent home. Never allow any kitten, no matter how adorable to chew any of your posessions, never ever permit a kitten to bite, scratch or attack any part of your body - this includes hands, feet, fingers and toes under the blankets at night. Kittens should be taught that they can play with mom, their siblings and toys. If kittens think that biting or scratching is a game it can cause their adoptive family to euthanize, abandon or admit their cat to a shelter because they're worried that their cat may hurt someone. In North America the leading cause of death in cats is euthanasia due to behavioral problems, some problems are completely preventable by properly socializing cats when they're tiny kittens, others are prevented or reduced in intensity by spaying/neutering kittens as early as possible.

Newborn kittens have very little resistance to infection so it's important to keep mom and her babies away from any other pets and be sure that anyone who handles this little family takes time to thoroughly wash their hands in hot, soapy water to reduce the likelihood of passing along some sort of infection. Kittens should stay with their mother for at least the first 12 weeks of their life, this is when they're growing most rapidly and they also learn important skills including how to defend themselves, how to stalk, pounce on and kill prey, how to interpret feline body language and respond appropriately. The first 12 weeks of a kitten's life also include milestones such as potty training, eating solid food and learning skills like bite inhibition and not using their sharp claws/teeth on any part of any person's body which are important parts of their socialization and will help to ensure that these baby predators are as adoptable as possible.

Unlike dogs nursing queens don't require any human help to wean their kittens, this normally happens some time in the first 12 weeks of a kitten's life. I would recommend providing mom and her newborn family with a comfy bed made from a cardboard box lined with old towels or a blanket, the box should be large enough for mom and her babies to stretch out and nurse comfortably, have low enough sides that mom can come and go easily and have high enough sides to prevent the tiny newborns from wandering off on their own. I recommend against ever allowing mom and her newborn kittens sleeping in bed with any person because kittens are easily suffocated if we accidentally roll onto them.

Mom should have access to as much fresh water as she likes, she should also have as much of a high quality, holistic cat food made from human grade ingredients as she wants. I've found that Wellness and Spot's Stew by Halo are good quality foods and they're made from human grade ingredients. Wellness is meant to be fed as a combination of canned and dry food which can be a bit pricey. I feed my cats Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat by Halo, a 6 lb bag costs roughly $25 and lasts my 3 resident cats about a month. You can choose to feed canned food, dry food or any combination you like. Mom's food intake can double, triple or even quadruple in some cases while nursing kittens because she has to meet her own nutritional needs as well as those of her rapidly growing family. High quality foods may initially appear expensive when compared to brands sold in grocery/discount stores. When cats are fed a high quality food they tend to eat less because they don't need as much food to meet their nutritional needs. Litter box deposits are less frequent and less pungent. Cats who are fed high quality foods have fewer health problems which means that you spend less money at the vet's office. Another advantage to high quality nutrition for your cat is that she'll likely live a much longer, healthier life.

Kittens learn about things like litter training, using scratch posts and how to interact politely with people from their mother.
When the kittens start being more mobile (2-3 weeks of age) it's a good idea to make kitten sized litter pans available - a cheap, easy and disposable solution is to use aluminum pans with low sides from the grocery store, the ones meant for baking are best, the lower the sides are the sooner the kittens will begin to explore their litter pans. I would recommend that you use a non toxic kitty litter such as one made from wheat or corn to ensure that the kittens won't become sick if they eat the litter and many do, at least initially. As the kittens see mom using a litter pan they will eventually copy her in most cases. Sometimes it's easiest to gently get the little ones using their paws to scratch and dig in the litter and then you or mom can gently stimulate them to urinate/defecate by using a cotton ball lightly moistened with warm water to gently wipe the kitten from genitals to bottom which will help reduce the likelihood that the little one will develop a urinary tract infection. Once the kittens are able to smell urine/feces in the temporary kitten litter pans they will begin to use the litter rather than squatting where they happen to be at the time the urge to go to the toilet hits them.

There is an incredibly serious pet overpopulation issue that affect shelters and rescue organizations. Unfortunately many animal loving staff working for animal welfare organizations are forced to euthanize healthy, adoptable animals simply because they don't have the time, space or resources to devote to each animal until their forever family comes along to adopt them. The euthanasia rate for cats tends to be much higher than that of dogs, possibly because cats are seen as disposable or simply because pet parents aren't taking the simply step of controlling pet overpopulation by spaying/neutering their cats. It's important to keep the new mom indoors and away from intact male cats because she can become pregnant as early as 24-48 hours after giving birth. I would also recommend that you discuss spaying/neutering with anyone who wants to adopt one or more of these kittens, it's important that potential adoptive parents be prepared to accept the responsibility of providing their kitten(s) with appropriate care and spaying/neutering is definitely a part of ethical pet parenthood.

There are many good behavioral and medical reasons to spay/neuter our cats. Cats that have been spayed/neutered are prevented from getting uterine, ovarian or prostate cancers. The earlier in life that a cat is spayed/neutered the less likely s/he will be to develop prostate or breast cancers. Unspayed female cats are at risk of developing a potentially life threatening uterine infection called pyometra which causes the womb to fill with pus, if the uterus ruptures and spreads infection throughout the abdomen the cat's chances of survival are pretty low. The only treatment for pyometra is to perform an emergency spay, this procedure is much riskier than a routine spay because the cat is already quite sick which is associated with higher risks of anesthetic death and post surgical complications. The emergency spay is more complicated and time consuming so it tends to be quite a bit more expensive than a routine spay.

The leading cause of death in cats living in North America is euthanasia secondary to behavioral issues. This statistic is heart breaking because many behavioral issues can be prevented or minimized by spaying/neutering our cats. Common behavioral problems including inappropriate elimination (urinating or defecating outside of the litter box), fighting with other cats (the resulting injuries from cat fights often require medical care because bite wounds tend to get badly infected forming abscesses which must be drained under anesthetic, flushed with sterile saline and treated with antibiotics), queens howling to advertise their availability to mate, tom cats caterwauling and fighting to win the right to mate with receptive queens and wandering over a large area are all issues which can be prevented by having the cat spayed/neutered before they reach sexual maturity. Behaviors like house soiling or fighting can sometimes occur with cats that have been spayed/neutered however these behaviors are often related to things like improper introductions to new cats in the household, poor litter box hygiene, scented litter, and other issues which can be easily solved.

Ultimately spaying and neutering our cats is a responsible and ethical choice which saves countless lives each year. For pet parents that are having difficulty getting the money together for routine vet care I may be able to help find a solution to those issues. I keep an ever growing list of resources that may be willing to cover part or all of the cost of routine care like kitten vaccines and spay/neuter procedures. The only information that I ask for in these cases is that the pet parent provide the general area they are writing from - in Canada or the US the province or state is fine. Spaying and neutering helps cats to live longer, healthier lives and as kitty caregivers that love our pets we all want to have as much quality time as possible with our furry friends. I'd be more than happy to provide more information about kitten development, proper socialization, nutrition and any other questions or concerns you might have, so please feel free to contact me again.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First I would like to thank you, you helped alot. Now here's my second question. Now my queen has lost her mucous plug and im anticipating labor to start soon but she started losing her plug 24 hours ago. Does this mean she is close to giving birth?

Answer
Dana,

Your very welcome, I'm glad that I was able to provide you with some helpful information. Since you suspect that mom has lost her mucous plug I would expect labor to kick into high gear and newborn kittens to start arriving within 24 hours or so at most. If there's any other information I can provide for you I'd be more than happy to address any questions or concerns that you might have.