My cat's labor is prolonged. When to worry about remaining kittens?

Question

My cat gave birth to one baby on Sunday night and another 48 hours later on Tuesday night. She still has kittens inside. She is in no stress, eating drinking, using the litter and caring for her 2 born. At what point should I be concerned about the rest that are not deluvered? Pet's info: Cat | Colorpoint Shorthair | Female | unspayed | 1 year and 2 months old | 9.5 lbs

Linda G, MS, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello. This is always a bit of a mystery as to why this happens, but I personally have seen a queen have one kitten & deliver 4 more a full week later. Most often, a single birth is a premature kitten, but 2 kittens really confounds even this issue. If you can afford to have Lily seen by your veterinarian, an x-ray can show how many kittens are still present & an ultrasound can evaluate heartbeats. If the fetal heartbeats are around 180 - 200 beats per minute, then all is well. If the heartbeats are 170 or less, these kittens are stressed & need to come out. As long as Lily continues to act completely normal & there are no obvious vaginal discharges, then you can probably wait another day or so, but after that, I begin to get nervous. At this point, I would consider a C-section. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

My cat's labor is prolonged. When to worry about remaining kittens?

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