Expert: Jessica - 6/29/2010

Question
QUESTION: This is our cats first delivery(we think one may have been reabsorbed) and she has been pushing over an hour without any signs of a kitten. Should we be concerned

ANSWER: Hi Nancy,

About an hour is the limit.  If you still have no kittens by now, definitely get her right to the vet, even if it means contacting an emergency facility.  Sometimes all it takes is an injection of Pitocin to strengthen contractions, but sometimes there is something more dangerous going on, and she may need help delivering the kittens.

Best of luck!

Jessica



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

QUESTION: We took her to the vet he did a csection on her and now its been 3 hours and the kitten can't seem to latch on for some reason,mom is still very sleepy but she let's the kitten try and nurse,what can I do?

Answer
Oh no!  First, check inside the baby's mouth for any deformities.  Be sure he doesn't have a cleft palate.  If he has any deformities of the mouth that are preventing him from latching, chances are probably small that he will survive.  Nonetheless, you could try nursing him with some kitten formula and an eye dropper.  If the formula doesn't come out his nose and he doesn't cough or sneeze from it, you can try bottle raising him.  Sometimes holes in the palate will close on their own during the first couple weeks of life.

If the kitten appears healthy but just unable to latch right now, you should still try feeding him formula with a dropper for now until he seems strong and active.  Then you can try getting him to latch onto a teat again.  

The formula will need to be heated to 100 degrees.  Be sure that the milk in the eye dropper doesn't cool down, since feeding him cool formula can cause his digestive system to shut down.  I recommend feeding brand newborns every 2 hours, NOT every 3-4 like the formula says.  I lost about half my kittens on that schedule, and not a single one feeding them every 2 hours.  You can place the baby with mom for heat and (hopefully) for cleaning and stimulation to go to the bathroom.

If the kitten still won't nurse once you've built him up to be strong during the first day or two, you may need to bottle raise the baby.  Bottle raised kittens can be happy and healthy, it will just be a lot of work for you.  Otherwise, you could choose to leave him with mom and let nature take its course.  This is very difficult to watch, indeed.  But there may be a reason we can't see why he won't nurse, and accepting that may be perfectly reasonable.

I hope all turns out well!