Post delivery

Question
QUESTION: I recently adopted a pregnant stray cat, took her to a vet and was told she was healthy and FIV/Felv negative.

About two hours later she gave birth to four kittens (I'm not sure if it was early due to stress since she was a stray) with what appeared to be no difficulties.

It has been approximately 30 hours since her last birth. I noticed today she has began to pant intermittently for a few minutes at a time. I thought it might be heat so I've taken measures to to cool down the area, spoon feed her water and food, but also being careful not to let the babies chill. However the panting has continued on and off. Should I be worried or am I just being overly sensitive?

She has been feeding and caring for her kittens just fine as well as eating and drinking.

ANSWER: The biggest concern in this is whether or not she still has a kitten in there and is starting to get toxic from it. That is not the most common thing to happen and if she is eating/drinking it doesn't sound like that is the case.

It could be she is just too hot where she is laying. Take her temperature rectally and it should be 101.5. It might be a bit higher, like a half a point, if she is nursing and just hot.

But it shouldn't be higher than 102. You might want to take her in for a quick check by the vet to make sure there isn't a kitten in there.

Cats pant just like a dog does when they are overheated so that could be all it is.
If she continues to pant too much call the vet tomorrow and ask him/her.


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

QUESTION: So momma cat has stopped panting, but one of the kittens died early this morning. It was the runt and seemed to be born premature compared to the others. His head was half the size of the other kittens and he had little fur and scaly/dry skin when born. I though he would be okay since he immediately attached to the best teat. This morning he was very cold, weak, and not moving, I tried to bottle feed and warm him, but it was too late or maybe he didn't know how to suck?
I'm concerned for the other kittens, even though they seemed to be born much stronger and more developed to start. What is the chance that the momma cat is not producing enough milk or that I should be bottle feeding the rest of the litter because one died.

She was really upset when we took him away. I think she blamed us for not fixing him. =(

Answer
Kristy,
Unfortunately this happens. You are correct in that he may have not been able to suck properly since his head was so small. He might have had a cleft palate also, which is not uncommon in runts. You are probably right about him being premature. See cats are induced ovulators, in other words, when a cat gets bred she produces more eggs so that way the kittens can have more than one father and it also means that this runt probably was the last one produced. In that case, and since you said she had her kittens a bit early from stress, then he wouldn't have had time to develop as well.

I am sure she was upset. Cats don't seem as quick to reject kittens the way dogs do when the kitten isn't doing well. When the newborns get cold, even a little, that is usually the beginning of the end along with the other problems. He got cold because he wasn't able to keep himself warm internally most likely.

She sounds like a really good mamma. You could keep some Esbilac or Nurturall on hand but I would wait and check the kittens daily before you step in and supplement. Get a postal scale and weigh each one and write down their weight. That way you will know if they are gaining everyday.
Do that for the first week then they should be fine. She needs to be eating a GOOD quality kitten food right now, like Science Diet kitten  growth. Then you can wean the kittens onto it. It is the best kitten food out there and you will save money in the long run and make healthy kittens for life!
So get her some and free feed her. Just leave a big bowl of it out for her.
The chance of her not producing enough milk is slim and she will do even better on this kitten food.
Let me know how they are doing in a few days.