birthing large kittens.

Question
I bred a BSH queen for the first time about 2 months ago. The male was a medium size male. Mother-to- be got very large and on the 66th day went into labor. After about 2 hours of labor she had one dead male kitten that weighed  5 ounces. The second one was stuck so I took "MOM" to the vet where she passed the large male kitten which was also dead and weighed just a hair under 5 ounces. Vet gave a shot of oxitosin and we went home and she labored but had nothing and labor slowed down so I took her back to the vet who x-rayed her and said she had 2 more kittens in her and they might pass alright. We got another shot and went home where she birthed another dead male kitten who was about 4.5 ounces. A half hour after this, she went into labor and produced an active and crying female kitten who seems to be doing alright. During the end state of her pregnancy there was little kitten movement, in the uterus, that I could observe. This is my question: although the kittens seemed almost impacted, and she did birth them vaginally, would it be advisable to breed her again and have her x-rayed towards the end in order to have a cesarean if indicted, or could this have been just a "bad " litter which can happen at times.  She is a fine cat and i would like kittens from her from my male who in the states would be considered a medium size cat.   thank you  

Answer
Hi Raymond

Firstly I am so glad that you did end up with one live kitten and that she is doing well.  A first litter is always fraught as you have no 'track record' to go on.

A second litter could be very different though especially now she has had one litter, as her muscles will not be so tight next time.  I would suggest that you have her scanned at around the 61/63 days of pregnancy to ascertain how many kittens they are and to check everything is in order.  I would also be very careful about your dates of mating so that you can be precise on date of birthing.  If she has similar problems that you consider a c.section next time rather than go down the avenue of two lots of oxytocin.  She was probably going into uterine inertia and the really only effective remedy is a c.section.  

Don't be put off by one bad experience, but if you have two then I would consider neutering her.

Marcia.