Kittens Soon! Animal Lovers Please Help

She should do just fine on her own, very few need any help with birthing (queening is what they call it in cats). She may try to find a private place to do it, but that all depends on how comfortable she is. The day she is going to have them, she won't eat, she will be restless, and have "nesting" behavior, kind of like a person in their last few weeks. If you plan on keeping her, you should be aware that she can get pregnant again within about 4-6 weeks. I would take het to be spayed as soon as the kittens start eating solid food. There are always mobile spay/neuter clinics going around where you should be able to get it done for around $30. Call you city offices or local animal shelter for info on that.

As far as givig birth, it is pretty much a human invention to need a lot of help for the process. Cats generally do just fine by themselves. She's going to choose where to do it, so make the place you want her to have them comfortable and inviting, but don't be surprised if she doesn't accomodate you!

If you are going to keep her then you should take her to a vet. Rule out ticks, fleas, ear mites, worms, and such that can make her less comfortable (and some can affect you and your family). Get her spayed and vaccinated. For her well being and yours. Most kitty diseases aren't dangerous to humans (except rabies, but you'd probably know by now) but they can be horrible for her and devastating for your family to witness her going through one (and they're generally fatal).

I had to go through being a midwife to my cat that passed a few years ago. Your cat needs a safe, warm and smaller space to have her kittens. If you provide one she may or may not use this, however she will try and find some out of the way place to hide them. My cat insisted on my closet, a few weeks prior to delivery she would dig around in my closet trying to make a nest so to speak. I put in there a cardboard box and tore one side down lower and put a old towel in there for her.

You needn't take her to the vet for this, it is all pretty natural for them however my cat struggled with delivering the last two kittens and I had to assist in pulling them out. She shouldn't labor for long and just check on her frequently to make sure all is well. She will clean them, clean up the mess and all (I know gross huh?) and they should go straight to nursing themselves.

Good luck, kittens this time of year are really easy to find homes for! :) Wait until they are 6 weeks of age at least and weaned for the most part. Some pet stores will take them too if you cannot find homes for them. Yes, cats can go into heat during nursing their kittens so if you are keeping her, get her spayed sooner then later because she can become pregnant again before she weans! Call your local humane society as they typically offer lower cost spaying. I had to take my cat in when her kittens were still with her because she was showing signs of going into heat again!!! So be careful there! :)

The cat should do fine on her own. Our cat needed help. Probably would have died in the wild and we were on the phone all night with the vet to be walked through helping. Usually they do clean up everything, but in our case, the cat was too weak to. I agree with Deb, they can go into heat very soon after having babies. You do have to spay when hormones are right. Our cat nested for the next 10 years of her life. She never got past that "new mom" stage. The vet said it was probably because she had been spayed too soon after having kittens. Have fun! You're kids will learn so much!

I have attached a bunch of articles below from a reputable veterinary website regarding queening. You may also find some links to other articles to help you from this website.

Kittens can be delivered at any time of the year and the gestation length is 63 days, give or take. If the queen is not already on kitten food, make sure and get her started on some ASAP to meet the demands of what pregnancy has done to her body in addition to the demands of nursing a bunch of kittens. If she is undernourished, she has a greater risk of developing eclampsia which causes seizures from low blood calcium.

A trip to the veterinarian is never a bad idea---you can spend as little or as much as you like. The DVM can take a radiograph to tell you how many kittens to expect. The queen can also be tested for Feline Leukemia or Feline Immunodeficiency Virus which could greatly affect the mortality of the litter if she were positive, and many stray cats are. The kittens can also be examined at a few days of age for any birth defects. You may be in a position where the DVM may need to see the queen in the incidence of a dystocia--see attached article. (FWIW---the brachycephalic/smashed-in nose kitties (i.e. persians) have a higher incidence of dystocia so keep a close eye on the queen if she looks like a cross of one of these types of breeds---it would mean the litter would have to be bottle fed until they are old enough (3-5 weeks of age) to eat a gruel of kitten food and formula.) And, if you are selling the kittens they need to be at least 8 weeks of age---I am not certain if this is the same if you just give them away but to legally sell them they must be 8 weeks. Your veterinarian can also get you on a schedule of vaccinating the kittens for their first distemper.

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Best wishes and keep us posted regarding the soon to be blessed event(s).

Hi, S., well good news there is no need to take her to the vet. She will try to have them most likly in her bed, but you can set up a big box with a really old towl, or sheet, if you just keep puting her in the box she will have them in there and that will keep the mess down. It also gives a place for the kitties to stay and feel safe. She will tell you when she is ready to deliver, She will start meowing alot and trying to get your attention. the babies should stay with their mother four at least six weeks, but most vets say eight is best. good luck and have fun.

If you keep a close eye on her she will start to show signs of when she is in labor, panting, not moving, etc. Make sure that you put her in her box and just keep an eye on her. If this is her first litter she may have trouble delivering her first kitten, but then the rest should be okay. There will be breaks between delivering each one, and she will start to like the newborns right away. If she feels safe, she will stay in her bed with her babies, but if she doesn't she will move to a quieter more secluded space. While she is delivering just pet the top of her head and speak softly to her. You shouldn't need to take her to a vet. Good luck and enjoy your new babies :)

My family had barn cats that gave birth to kittens at ALL times of the year, once one of them got into our car to give birth! It was a huge mess to have so many cats around and I wish that my parents would have done more to take care of all the cats and get them all spayed. Get your cat a nice clean bed of old towels or blankets in a cardboard box or something, she will be just fine giving birth on her own, you don't need to take her to a kitty OB or anything. You should start feeding her kitten food instead of cat food now because she needs the extra nutrition. After the kittens are born you need to make sure that they are safe and your kids do not hurt them, but they can be handled very gently as soon as they are born, and they need to be socialized so that they are not afraid of people. You will need to consult a vet about how soon you should get the mother spayed after the kittens are born, I don't know that, but I do know that it is REALLY important to get her spayed as soon as possible She and the kittens need to get all their shots too, it can be horrifying to see the diseases that un-innoculated animals will get, and spread. Make sure that the kittens all go to good homes where they will be spayed or neutered and innoculated as well. I know that is easier said than done, if you have to, you can give them to the animal shelter. The last thing that you should do is just let them roam wild and spread disease and have more and more kittens and end up getting hit by a car or tortured to death by sadistic kids or die of gruesome and totally preventable diseases. I know that it seems like a lot of money and work, but in the long run it is better to take care of one mama cat and one litter of kittens than to end up with 5 times that many in the space of 1 or 2 years (yes, it really does happen that fast) ecause you didn't want to spend the money to spay and innoculate and stop the sad cycle of the stray cat.

When my cats were ready to have their litters... they would spend lots of time in their beds. If she has a warm, safe bed that is out of the commotion of the typical garage she will be fine. My cat would make a new bed in the bottom of the linin closet because her bed in my room was not private enough. If you can get her a "dog house" like home around her bed.. that will help. Being a stray I don't know if you know if she has had other litters. If this is her first she may not know what to do once the kittens are born. If she has had others... she will be just fine. Keep the kids away for a few days once she does have them.

Good birds and bees lesson.

she will deliver the kittens when and where she feels comfortable. is this cat one you plan to keep, tame, and love? do you plan to keep the kittens? if so, do make sure they get and have all their shots. you can call an animal shelter to see if they will do it cheaper than the vet. if you don't plan to keep the kittens or cat, i would turn them into the humane society. i heard that farrel cats are put to sleep if you take them to the pound. that's all i know. hope it helps.

Gestation is 63 days (or 8 weeks) for cats, so it's not a long period. Just as we experience, the activity level does go down around week 6/7 because it's difficult to move around, so that's normal. Week 8 she'll start nesting and increase her activity a little bit. When she starts stage 1 labor, she'll probably become extremely loving...to the point it is annoying. It's a rare cat that wants to be left alone in stage 1. Just pet her and talk to her when you see her, and keep an eye on her.

If she's familiar with the bedding box, she'll probably queen in there (give birth). Sometimes they go for a private area, but she already knows this is a safe and fairly warm location, so chances are she'll choose it. When she does queen, keep an eye, make sure she doesn't need help. Generally, this is a rare thing and people helping only impede nature, but sometimes a dystocia happens (kitten gets stuck). DON'T FRET ABOUT THIS because it really isn't a common occurance in domestic cats, just take a look at her once in a while to make sure she's okay. If she's crying while pushing, don't panic. It hurts them like it hurts us, and sometimes screaming just helps with pushing. She's just saying "come on, kid! Get out here! Ouch!"

Once she's queened and the kittens are here (expect at least 4 in the litter, but don't be surprised to see 8 or more), make sure your kids don't bother the kittens. Momma can move them when she feels they're in danger, and she won't hesitate to. They can see, but no handling for about 10 days (you can handle a little bit, but just a little bit). They'll have their eyes closed for a couple of weeks and be more rolling in movement than walking in movement. You *might* want to place a heating pad on low under the bedding or box, or get a heat lamp to help keep the kittens warm since the nights are cold and in case cold weather moves in.

If you want to get an idea of where mama kitty stands in terms of giving birth, see if she'll let you check her milk. When it is bright white and rich and no longer with a yellowish color or sticky, she's very, very close.

After the kittens wean (about 6-8 weeks) and her milk dries up (about 10 weeks) take her to the low-cost clinic and get her spayed and shots. It's not a lot of money, will prevent more pregnancies, keep her healthier, and help prevent the spread of feline disease. Through the low-cost clinic it will be less than $100.

Good luck, have fun, and good for you to take in a stray! :)

I just recently had a stray have babies on my front porch! It's fun. I didn't need to help her at all in the delivery, she did everything on here own. I just checked up on her every now and then. Try to provide a quiet out of the way little place for her to deliver. She may not use it but I would do all that I could to make sure that she doesn't end up delivering under some bush somewhere, which if that happened the kittens would be sure to die in the cold night. I just happened to have a large dog kennel in my garage that I pulled out to let her use for shelter. She wanted in my house very badly but I didn't want to let some stray in when I didn't know if or who she belonged to. She ended up delivering in the kennel, did a very good job on her own. She had a litter of 5, 2 of which I think she thought were dead because she had pushed them away from the other 3. They were quite cold and stiff. If this happens in your situation, what I did was warm a couple of towels in the microwave and use the warm towels to hold and pet the kittens to warm them up and dry them off. After a few minutes they perked up and became a bit more active. The mama kitty let me pick them up, she watched me closely but she was ok just as long as she could see me hold them. Kittens really should stay with their mother until they are at least 12 weeks old just because around 8 weeks is when the mother starts teaching them hunting skills and other kitty skills. You should also wait until she is finished nursing before having her spayed. Some vets won't spay while a cat is lactating. It's harder to get past the mammary glands than if the cat isn't lactating. Also the milk could get into the incision and cause problems. We decided to wait until our stray was finished nursing her litter before getting them all fixed, and we just got that done a few weeks ago :)