How to Deliver Kittens

The first thing you should do if you have a cat that is pregnant is talk to your veterinary clinic first.  A pregnant cat is also known as a queen.  It takes about sixty-five days plus or minus a few days for a pregnant cat to have her kittens.  That is their gestation period.  When a cat is getting ready to deliver kittens she is going to refuse food, start nesting, and basically withdraw from you.

When this happens you generally don’t want to intervene.  You should try to be a quiet observer.  You should not get really excited and have a bunch of people around because anytime you interfere the mother cat is going to stop trying to deliver.  That would be a natural thing for them to do in the wild if there was a lot of excitement going on.  As far as delivery is concerned watch what happens.  A mother cat is going to deliver one kitten at a time.  There is going to be an amniotic sac and umbilicus, and the cat is going to remove that amniotic sac and umbilicus naturally.

Then they are going to start licking and grooming this kitten, this stimulates them to move and breath, eventually they will start nursing.  That is when you are going to want to call your veterinary clinic who will guide you through this.  If you have to do anything like removing amniotic sacs, or umbilicus from a kitten, have some latex gloves, towels, and gozz, to help clean the cat and kitten off with. Hemostats are a good tool that can be used if advised by the vet to clamp off that umbilicus and tie that off so it is still not draining blood from the kitten.

Always check with your veterinary clinic first as far as delivery is concerned.  Luckily for the most part the mother cat or queen will do all of the work for you.

Filed under: Cat Behaviors

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