My Cat paused while giving Birth - for over 7 hours now

Question
As you can tell by the subject line - my cat started having kittens - like all of the other times before - (this is her 3rd litter) and she went through the normal - pacing - going to the litter box a lot - you know the usual - then she made it to the maturinty box - and she had the first kitten at 10:30 this morning - and then seemed to have contractions about a half hour later - but nothing came of it - she went to sleep - and it is now 5:46pm and she hasn't had any more kittens - no more contractions - no pain or discomfort - I know there are more kittens in there - so my Question is:  how long can this last?  Or should I be calling my Vet?

Answer
It is always a good idea to have them seen by a vet in a case like this.  However, if she is no longer having contractions, then there is not likely to be any more kittens.  If she had more kittens, but they were just too big to come out naturally, she would continue to have contractions...she has no control over them.  If she does not seem to be in any discomfort, and you are sure that there are no more contractions (you can feel them by putting your hand on her belly) then she will probably be fine.  The contractions you saw about a half hour after the last kitten was born could have been her body expelling the after birth.  Congratulations and I hope everything works out.

Amanda