is this normal?

Question
Hello, my kitty Mia just had her first (or second, i can't tell, we've recently had her) litter of kittens. The first one was feet first, it was hard for her (his name is Lucky!) and an hour and a half till the next two. So three, so I thought anyway. The next morning I found 5, except the last two were dead. I felt so bad because i thought i could of helped but I suppose that is life...So now we have these three beautiful babies, but sometimes she's so big and the closet she had them in is so small she sits on them and I try to get them out! I know she's not a bad mommy but she crushes them at times. Then maybe twice a day she will just come out of the closet and do her own thing for half an hour. So, I was just wondering if the two babies that died were normal and her crushing them and not even knowing it and leaving them alot is normal. I'm new at this so thank you so very much!

Answer
Jasmine,

First of all, please, please, please get your cat spayed now!!!  The fact that she delivered breech (feet first) is not good.  That is the same as a human delivering a breech baby(feet first) and that is an urgent situation requiring a C-section.  

It's no different with a cat that's delivering breech.  It's a situation that warrants a C-section, and is extremely painful for the mother, and almost always, the babies will be stillborn as the cord may be wrapped around the kittens, or because they're breech, and it's a longer, more difficult birth without intervention, they are without oxygen for a long period of time, hence the stillborn kittens.  More concerning at this point, though, is the health of your mother cat.  

Like I said, a breech delivery is very painful and can be detrimental to her health, if not result in her death during birth.  Luckily, she didn't die, but I have to wonder if she is healthy on the inside now.  I strongly recommend you take her into your vet for a thorough post delivery check up.  She needs to be checked for any retained placentas, bleeding, rupture of any structures, and infection.  Any of these alone, or in combination, can be deadly.  Not to mention she's probably in a lot of pain from giving birth to a breech presentation baby.  

Secondly, I'm sure she's not intentionally sitting on the kittns and crushing them.  For the vast majority of mother cats, motherhood is an instinctual, natural process, just like it is for humans.  Mother cats know what needs to be done to care for their kittens, and my guess is that what she's trying to do when she lays on them is to keep them warm.  Newborn kittens lack the ability to thermoregulate, or keep themselves warm.  Therefore, one of the big jobs of mom is to keep them warm so they don't get chilled, catch cold, and die.  I've often seen mother cats sit on her kittens.  The kittens will be able to breathe, and they, too, know instinctively that mom is trying to keep them warm--they are cold and know it.  Often, kittens that aren't snuggled up next to mom or aren't underneath her will often not be warm enough and will die.  When they're not warm enough, their brains don't function properly, and their entire body functions slow down, therefore, they don't have that instinctive drive to get next to or under mom for warmth--they're simply too slow doing it.  

So, unless you see obvious respiratory distress in the kittens, let them be.  The mother knows what she is doing, and she's just being a mom.  As far as her wandering away, moms will also do that.  They need time away from the nest, and they need to go get food for themselves and have "alone" time.  Again, just like humans, a mom can't be with her baby(ies) 24/7--in fact, it's not healthy psychologically or physically to be with your baby(ies) 24/7.  So, it's fine when she wanders away on her own.  Just make sure the kittens have bedding, blankets, and are in a warm place. If mom is gone for hrs, that's not good.  But you said an hr.....that's okay, but any longer I'd start getting concerned.  Every day that goes by, the kittens are getting bigger, stronger, and healthier.  They're better able to fend for themselves both physically and emotionally, and every day that goes by means they're a day older, which means that they will be able to thermoregulate more efficiently and start to control their own body temp much better.  

Keep an eye on mom and how long she's away from the kittens.  I wouldn't let it go beyond an hr, and I'd even encourage her to return sooner.  But certainly, for 20-30" at a time, that's fine.  She also could be wandering off because something's not right with her (see my first paragraph).  Again, I can't stress enough how important it is to have mom checked out by a vet, and get her spayed as well!!  I hope you have good homes for the kittens, or are going to be keeping the kittens yourself.  Keep a good eye on the babies as well, and make sure she's feeding the kittens enough, and they're eliminating normally, and going through their developmental stages normally.  

Good luck.

Savannah