My 10-month-old cat has been pregnant since 21st April. On Wednesday 16th June, we took her for an X-ray to make sure everything was okay, and the vet told us she’d give birth within the next 8 days. However, it’s been nearly 2 weeks now and still nothing. She isn’t looking for a place to nest; we’ve set up a cardboard box with blankets for her, but she won't go near it. We’ve also set up a little den for her, but nothing there either. She’s spending the whole day in the bathroom, whereas normally she’s very affectionate and always stays close to us.
On Friday, she had some contractions (I'm not 100% sure that's what they were), but then they stopped! I contacted the vet who told me to come back in a week if she still hadn't given birth, but I feel like that is a very long time to wait!
I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else? And is it normal that she isn’t looking for a nesting spot yet?
This wasn’t a planned pregnancy; we wanted to have her spayed, but the vet told us to wait for her first heat, and she managed to get out exactly when she was calling!
I’ve attached a photo of her belly – I really hope you can help!
Thanks.
Translated from French
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She’s taking such good care of them, I’m honestly amazed myself! I was really worried because of the C-section as well, but she’s turned out to be such a brilliant mum 🥰
I hope that despite the caesarean, she’s happy to look after the kittens? Sometimes, with the op, the mum doesn't quite realise what she's meant to do, especially a first-timer. Fingers crossed that everything goes well for her and the little ones!
Brilliant! I’m so pleased with how it’s all turned out. You’re going to have such wonderful times with your whole little family, and you really deserve it. And you’ll still have the little ones nearby, which is fantastic. Nicole
Thanks so much!!
You're right, if we’d taken any longer to react she probably would have died. It’s definitely better to go to the vet and find out it’s nothing than to tell yourself she’ll be fine and have her die!
Well done on how you’ve managed the pregnancy and all the best with raising the litter.
And most of all, thank you for sharing your story. It might help others reading this thread in search of advice for a similar situation to realise that, while a forum can help with certain worries, if there’s a real problem, the vet is the only option—even in the middle of the night.
Yeah, we’re going to keep them for three months, that’s the plan! We’re keeping one ourselves, and members of my family are taking the others – they’ve all got homes already!
Congratulations! That’s great news about the neutering. Will you be able to look after the babies yourself?
In any case, please keep them with their mum for at least 3 months so that their socialisation and emotional weaning—especially learning bite and scratch inhibition—is fully completed by her. It’s really important for the little ones.
Hi everyone,
Just giving you all an update on my little Nala!
Yesterday evening she lost her mucus plug and started having some strong contractions. I had to stay right by her side, otherwise she was panicking. She went into her nesting box when she started her labour, but after pushing for over an hour, she still couldn’t get the first kitten out. So, it was straight to the emergency vet for an urgent Caesarean (plus she’s been spayed) because the baby was coming out feet first instead of head first; he was stuck and Nala was getting exhausted. The scan showed four babies, but we actually ended up with five beautiful kittens who are all perfectly healthy (we’d been told the one that was stuck might not have survived). Nala came home this morning, everything’s going well and she’s being a wonderful mum!!
Thanks everyone for all your advice!
