# Cat Pregnancy with no delivery!



## esechter (Sep 16, 2008)

Hello,

This is my first cat pregnancy and I am confused and concerned, but don't know if I should be! I'm actually in North America but I've taken info from this board before as you all are very helpful!

I am currently fostering a pregnant cat for the local humane society. She is a beautiful and incredibly friendly Manx kitty who was surrendered while pregnant and the vet who serves the humane society decided that the kitty was too far along in the pregnancy to spay her. She was turned over to me and I was told that they estimated 1-2 weeks before she delivered. She had a respiratory infection at the time and I was to give her antibiotics once a day for a week, which I did. She had a round tum and very, very prominent mammary glands, which had shape to them. On her 3rd evening with me, she has a weird spell where she suddenly yowled and ran off to cower in a bookshelf. Concerned that she might be going into labor, I left her there alone for a half hour and returned to check on her. She was very agitated and when I comforted her she slunk off under a table. I coaxed her into a crate I had set up for her, where she bunkered down. I checked on her every half hour, she was panting occasionally for an hour or two, then went to sleep and nothing more happened.

She has been with me for 5 and-a-half weeks now. She is very active, friendly, and playful. She spent about a week-and-a-half hanging out in that crate when I discovered she had ear mites and we took her back to the humane society and they took her to see their vet (the vet is in another town, they take the animals that need to be checked there once a week). I got her back 2 days later (I have no car and rely on friends to transport my foster animals) and was given Otomite Plus to drop into her ears once a week, and was told that the vet thought she was another 2 weeks away from delivery, but that the humane society staff was sure it'd be less and that the vet was bad at guessing pregnancies. It's been more than 3 weeks since then, and my major concerns are that she is no longer nesting, is still very active, and mostly that her mammaries seem to have disappeared. I am afraid that she somehow stopped her labor and the kittens have died inside, or something similar. She is a very small kitty, but I have never seen kittens moving through her stomach or felt them moving, although she does not like having her stomach handled and I don't know exactly where I should be feeling.

I'm sorry this is so long! I have attached a picture showing her the day after we got her and today to show the change in her mammaries. I don't know if this is something I should be concerned about or the humane society staff and vet don't have a clue and are just really bad at guessing the pregnancy because she is so tiny. Their next vet run isn't for another 5 days, so there's nothing to do between now and then unless there's an emergency. What do you think is going on with kitty?









or ImageShack - Hosting :: mamakittyquestionjb7.jpg (note that the "day" listed on the picture is since she moved in from me.)

In summary:
-Brought home (told 1-2 weeks until delivery)
-3 days: hiding/panting fit
-2 weeks: back to shelter for ear mites
-2 weeks, 2 days: brought back home, stops nesting (told 2 weeks until delivery)
-5 weeks, 2 days: today, still no delivery

Nothing about the way she behaves indicates to me that she is sick, nose is cold and wet, eats healthily, spends lots of time running around playing with toys, and follows me around talking to me and rubbing affectionately.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my situation and hearing my concerns, however legitimate or illegitimate. I just want to make sure she is okay!

-Elizabeth


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## LousKoonz (Feb 9, 2008)

Hi Elizabeth and welcome x

can vet not scan her to check??

could have been a phantom maybe 

sorry i can't be of much help otherwise  xx


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## Rraa (Apr 15, 2008)

Hello Elizabeth and welcome to our chat board. Thank you for telling us so coherently with a helpful summary and some nice pictures, about "your" adopted girl. Its great that there are people as caring as yourself in the world to look after 'lost' queens. 

From your explanation, it would seem that this queen really ought to have given birth to the kittens by now. Normal gestation is between 63-70 days and the number of weeks you have listed in your summary comes to more than that already. 

I wonder if LoosKoonz' suggestion may be a possibility? The vet really ought to have given the queen a scan to make sure that everything was proceeding as expected - perhaps you may like to ask the vet to do this next time she has a check over. I am not able to say very much more since I cannot feel her tummy but you said you have never seen nor felt any kittens moving - this is why I have some doubts. I do hope that we are wrong and that the queens is just very good at hiding her little cargo of kittens.

Does she scratch around and try to make a little nest? Does she try to find a secret hidey-hole? She ought to have been doing these things by now. 

Please keep us posted - let us know how she is doing.


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## Abooksigun (Oct 16, 2008)

Hi I'm new to breeding but from what you have explained I think maybe the when you first brought her home the panting may have been to do with being in a new environment perhaps?? 
I have been told that for the first 6 weeks or so of pregnancy the kittens are rather like jelly & then the skeletal bits are formed so if before this stage of prenancy she may have re-absorbed but after this stage I would think more likely with still-births. So sorry to be graphic but just trying to think of explanations.

Anyhow good for you for taking her in & as been said please keep us updated with any info you find out!

Good luck


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

as everyone else has said, its so nice you have taken her in to care for her,she looks beautiful, and keep us posted about wether its a phantom pregnancy.


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## lizward (Feb 29, 2008)

Has the vet actually felt kittens in there? It sounds to me like a phantom.

Liz


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## Selk67U2 (May 5, 2008)

*Hi Elizabeth, welcome to the forum. 
The cat could of re-absorbed the kittens, it has happened with as little as 2 weeks to go sadly.*


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## Cerridwen (Jul 26, 2008)

I would guess she's etiher experienced a phantom pregnancy or a pregnancy that have been terminated prematurely. If the foetuses are young enough they're re-absorbed so you really wouldn't be able to tell when it happened.

If she's got dead kittens inside, you'll notice. If the body doesn't expel the kittens the uterues will become infected and the cat will become ill. She'll probably develop a fever, be tired and maybe stop eating.

If you really wanna be sure about what's happening you need to take her to the vet and have them to an ultrasound (or x-ray).

The alternative is to just wait and see as long as the cat is healthy and doing well.


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## esechter (Sep 16, 2008)

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the helpful responses. She went to the humane society's vet on Thursday and xrays showed no kittens. I was a little disappointed because I was so excited for kittens! But I know it's best for her and best for those kittens in the long run. She's going to be spayed next week and I am going to adopt her  I found out she was closed in a room with 5 other manx kitties in a mobile home (probably all litter mates) when they were rescued, she and another female was pregnant. She's an absolute sweetheart and I'm really happy to be taking her in, although I sure don't mean for this to become a trend as a foster parent! I'll end up with a dozen cats in no time 

Well thank you all again for your help and I hope I'm back sometime in the future to share my first successful kitty birth. Take care to all the mommies out there!

Elizabeth


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## Rraa (Apr 15, 2008)

Good luck Elizabeth with your new found girl - I do hope that some day you will have the kittens your heart yearns for ... at the right time. 

Please don't be a stranger in the meantime - come and pop in whenever you can.


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## Biawhiska (Mar 28, 2008)

Ahhh bless her, she sounds lucky to be going to live with you :001_wub:


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## Sungold-Bengals (Mar 10, 2008)

Sorry there were no kittens but as you say it was probably for the best.

Well done you for giving her a forever home, she has fallen on her feet there with you


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## Cerridwen (Jul 26, 2008)

Good to know everything is OK.


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## Abooksigun (Oct 16, 2008)

Awww glad to know she is ok Elizabeth & agree pop on from time to time & let us know how she is getting on bless her!!


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