Expert: Jessica - 1/27/2011

Question
My cat has gotten pregnent for the first time.  She started haveing the contractions late at night around 10:00, she had the baby about an hour later .She had a beuatifull baby girl, but after that she kept contracting.  Nothing happened and I got really worried.  My mother and I just shook it off, but are cat still has a hard belly.   I dont know what to do. Any advice?

Answer
Hi Krisandra,

You are right to be concerned.  Although it's common for the belly to remain hardened with contractions for many hours after delivery, single-kitten litters are not so common.  It's very probable that your cat still has more kittens to deliver.  Most times, all the kittens in a litter are delivered about 15-45 minutes apart from one another.  

Sometimes, a cat will deliver one or two kittens, and then take a break for several hours before delivering the rest of the babies.  During this time, she should show no signs of discomfort or struggling to deliver the babies.  Generally, the break should last no more than 6 hours.  

I recommend that you contact a vet if your cat hasn't had any more babies by the time you read this answer, even if she is taking care of her little one and seems to be feeling okay.  It's possible that she has no more kittens, and it's possible that there are no problems, and she might deliver the rest of the litter at a later time with no problems.  But my experience has shown me that most of the time, when a cat delivers one baby and no more for a while, there is a big problem.  Acting quickly has saved the lives of all of my mothers, but sometimes it has been too late to save the kittens (fortunately, many of the litters have been saved, too).  If too much time passes, the mother may be beyond saving, as well.

The vet will be able to tell with a physical exam if there are any more babies to be delivered.  If so, they may want to take an x-ray to see if the kittens are in an appropriate position and of a reasonable size to be delivered naturally.  If all appears well, an injection to induce labor will probably be given.  If it looks like there's a problem, the kittens will probably need to be delivered by c-section.  You should be prepared to hand-nurse the kittens for at least a couple days in case this arises.

Best wishes, and enjoy your babies!

Jessica