queen mama with milk BUT NO kitties yet??

Question
Please help...I read that once the mama has milk it should be 24 hrs. or so for her to have the kittens. The fluid from her nipples is the clear sticky stuff which I thought had all the nutrients for the babies. It has been 3 days now and STILL no babies. Is this normal????

Answer
Hello Shelly,

This is a real difficult one to answer without examining your cat.

Is she showing nesting behaviour yet? By this I mean has she looked for and found a nice quiet place that she seems to be spending alot of time in?

Is she showing any unusual behaviour? By this I mean is she straining, or vocalising unusually?

What does her abdomen look like? Can you see or feel any movement? A cat's gestation period can be up to 70 days in some cases. But as a veterinary nurse I would suggest the best course of action is to have a vet check her over to make sure there are no problems. There are always certain things that can go wrong, for example, one kitten may have died or is deformed and this is blocking the passage allowing no other kittens to come out, if this is the case you should be seeing her straining. Or she may have only been pregnant with one kitten that has unfortunatly died, she may also just be having general difficulty in giving birth to them due to unseen physical complications.

My advice to you is to take her to the vets and get her checked over to be on the safe side, any complications can be very serious and it will also put your mind at rest.

I hope this has helped you a little and I hope everything is ok.

Thank you

Kelly