re: my siamese gave birth

Question
Hi.. im really worried! My siamese cat gave birth yesterday and unfortunately the kitten died, i just woke up and found it dead. Now, how will i know if she still have a baby on her stomach, im worried and bothered that there's still a kitten there.. ? please help..

Answer
Hi Jhe.  So sorry to hear the little one didn't survive.  The only way to know for sure if there are still any kittens is to have an x-ray done on the mother.  The skeletons of any unborn kittens will show up perfectly well on an x-ray, so if there are any unborn kittens, it will tell you how many.  

Most of the time, a cat will deliver her entire litter at once, right on schedule.  Once in a while, she will deliver a partial litter and then go on to deliver the rest of the litter later.  At times, the first kittens may be born prematurely, and the body corrects itself to deliver the rest of the kittens on time.  If this was the case, it would explain why this first kitten didn't survive.  Do you know when your cat became pregnant?  The average healthy pregnancy lasts 63 days, but Siamese tend to carry longer, around 68-70 days.

Single kitten litters do happen, and one of my Siamese had one.  So it's possible this was her only baby.  It's also more likely that single kittens will be neglected, so if you hadn't witnessed mom actively caring for the baby, it's possible the little one didn't receive enough milk or warmth to survive.  Just some things to think about.

You could wait and see how mom does, but if she doesn't eat normally, if she begins to vomit, if she begins to hide, if her activity leve goes down, or if her belly seems painful to the touch, she should see a vet.  These are signs that she may have kittens that she was not able to deliver.