cat in labor

Question
We have a cat that was "dumped" on us a few months ago. We've been told she is less than a year old. We've become attached to her and I was planning on getting her shots (don't know if she's had any) at the local shot clinic, but then discovered she was pregnant. She went into labor yesterday, then had her first kitten at about 2 am, another one an hour later, a third about a half hour later. The fourth was born sometime this morning between 9 and 11 am. They are all healthy and eating. She seems fine, just tired. Once all the babies are latched on, she naps. However, she hasn't pushed since the last one was born, but there is obviously at least one more inside. I can feel it moving. There's no bad smell and she doesn't seem to be in distress. Of course the local er vets want us to bring her in, and I understand that. However, I have done some searching and found many people whose cats have had extended periods between births. What should we look for as far as distress? Should we just let her have some more time? As I said, she is tired and is breathing just a little fast - not like when she was pushing - and purrs when we pet her. Any advice you could give would be great!

Answer
Shauna,

This mommy needs to see a vet ASAP because there's a good chance that if she hasn't had that baby in 8 hours or so naturally then she likely is going to need some assistance either in the form of pitocin to get her contractions moving strongly again or a c-section to get the baby out if all else fails. The sooner you act the more likely it is that the baby will survive. If mommy needs a c-section I would strongly suggest that you allow the vet to spay her at the same time. If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to contact me again at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali

PS: please make sure to bring the babies to the vet with mommy so that you decrease the chances of breaking the bond between them.