Yellow-tinted vaginal discharge in queen cat

Question
QUESTION: My cat is due any day now.  This is her first litter.  She started to show some vaginal discharge that has apparently no strong odor if any at all, but it is yellow-tinted.  She seems unaffected by what is happening, and does not actively lick herself.  She is just eating, walking around, purring, and very relaxed.  I would not think that the mucous plug would continue 'draining' for so long.  It does not pour like water (or like I would think amniotic fluid would), but sticks to her rear and hair in a more gel-like state.  Today, the amount seems to have decreased, and I must wipe it away with a baby wipe.  Is this the mucous plug?  Could one of the babies be in danger and this is amniotic fluid leakage?  I'm concerned.  Please help.

ANSWER: Hi Lori, you can have the mucous plug showing for up to 48 hours before the kittens come. Usually if a kitten is in distress there will be more discharge and it will be more liquidey.. and dark reddish/green. sounds like she is just losing her plug and that you should have kittens by tomorrow or the next day ! how long have you noticed this? Teresa

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QUESTION: The discharge became dark-brown tinted yesterday.  It was actually that way when it first started.  This morning at 7am she birthed a stillborn breech.  I had to help her deliver as she was not able to do it by herself.  It was a bit painful.
   At around 6am, I checked her rear and did not see anything coming from her birth canal, but I did not use a flashlight (obviously only looking for light-colored drainage).   Her contractions seemed to have stopped.  What should I do?  I haven't felt movement in her stomach.

ANSWER: Hi Lori, the discharge will become bloody as she comes into labour so that is all normal. I see from your subsequent emails that she does have movement in her so that is good news. Hopefully the contractions will start back fairly quickly. You could always run her to the vet to get an injection to get things moving. How much did you 'help' her deliver the first kitten? Make sure she is not bleeding bright red blood and has not been torn. Breech kittens are not unusual in cats and don't normally present a problem so don't worry in the future. And make sure you don't actually PULL on the kitten as it is coming out as you can tear her and cause more problems. All you would need to do is to hold onto the kitten and let her push. It may seem like an eternity but once the kitten starts coming out there is very rarely any problems with a kitten getting stuck. It just takes time to get some of them out...Teresa

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QUESTION: "Queens that are inbred, have nutritional deficiencies, or a disease may have poor uterine contractions (inertia) and require assistance."  I found this in an article.  Kind of hard to follow due to grammar error, but it sounds like cats can get a condition where they're uterine contractions aren't productive and they need vet assistance.  Sparkles is a cat fathered through extensive inbreeding due to ignorant family members of mine.  I really feel that Sparkles was in trouble when the bloody yellow show started.  That is when I should have taken her in for help to deliver.    She ended up delivering the last 4 kittens stillborn between 1:30 and 3:30 this afternoon.  I don't think I've cried over an animal loss in a long time, but this one was too much.
   It is possible that I may have interupted the delivery process by helping the first one be delivered, but I do know that once the thick gooey bloody-yellow tinted stuff started coming out of her, the movement of the babies diminished over time.  From what I have read,  cats tend to lick away the mucous plug, and the owner rarely ever sees it.  Did I share that Sparkles sister, Blackie, had trouble delivering her first litter last year.  The only difference was there was not leakage and all babies lived.

Answer
Hi Lori, well I am so sorry you lost this whole litter. what a shame for the mom cat and for yourself. Usually a cat has to be pretty inbred... like for several generations, before it manifests itself in weird problems like this. It is also possible she has some kind of uterine problem such as a virus that affected her ability to push those kittens out. I would certainly recommend you get her spayed to save yourself any further heartbreak.... Sincerely, Teresa