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Supplemental Diary Information
The Stats at birth
#1 10:19 am – 113.880 grams (4 ounces) #2 12:50 pm – 81.851 grams (2.875 ounces) #3 8:00 pm – 85.410 grams (3 ounces) delivered surgically unresponsive February 28th 8:05 Keva begins to lose her plug. She is burrowing under her towels and meowing occasionally and biting and pulling at the towels. She is having clusters of contractions. They are not as strong as and regular as she has experienced in the past. She growls and at 9:35 she delivered an undeveloped fetus and placenta. This looks to be between 4 and five weeks of development. Keva's last day of breeding was on the morning of December 24th. Our males are not free running ever. Something must have interrupted the development but kept the tissue functioning. It has not resorbed or putrefied.
At 10:19am kitten one is born head first. It cries out as its birth sack is cleared from its face. Mum concentrates on eating the placenta. I pinch and tear the cord loose. Then help her by cutting the placenta into smaller pieces. The kitten is big and strong and begins nursing. At 10:45 Mum runs away from the box and curls up inside a kitty condo. I have to remove her by the scruff and bring her back to the birthing box. She wants to leave again so I block the front with a piece of foam core board. I can look over the top and reach in to stroke her. Once she relaxes and takes care of her baby, I remove the board, and she is fine again. I weight (4 ounces) and mark kitten one blue. It's a nice sized kitten and nurses constantly. No more contractions until 12:30 pm. At 12:50 kitten 2 is born head first. Momma is trying to get to it and sits on its back half. I help her and break the sack from its face. I rub it with terry cloth and it begins breathing big gulps of air. It cries out with a very low and surprisingly loud cry. It continues to breath open mouthed big belly breaths. We are still awaiting the placenta. Keva drags the kitten in three revolutions trying to find the placenta. As she settles down there are no more contractions. I give the cord a very gentle tug. This cannot be done with force. If a placenta is still attached to the uterus it can cause a queen to hemorrhage if torn loose. The placenta slides right out. I pinch and tear the cord and allow Mum to eat this placenta too. I wrap the kitten in a terry face cloth and rub it. Mum wants nothing to do with this kitten. I hold it by the heater and rub it. I try multiple times to get Keva to lick it. It is breathing more normally now, not gulping, but is too tired to nurse yet. I leave it to Mum for half an hour but she still is not interested. She licks kitten one and fusses if it cries. I decide to wash kitten two. I'm concerned he is getting too chilled from being gooey wet. I wash the kitten with a cloth in front of the heater. I place the wet but clean kitten by Keva and she immediately begins washing it and snuggling it. When its warm and dry I weigh it (2.875 ounces) It cries but has not suckled yet. I have tried placing its mouth against a protruding nipple with no success. At 3:30 we discover it wants a flat nipple, it latches on and begins nursing. At 4:15 Keva has used the litter box twice had a drink of water but no contractions. She is now sleeping. We give her the Oxytocin sub-q in the scruff. We wait another hour with no progress. I reach out to my Vet. At 6:pm We head off for my Vets animal hospital. An x-ray confirms there is another kitten waiting. Keva gets another dose of oxy but labor does not progress. I have a heating pad, under the towels, plugged in to keep the kittens warm in the carrier while Keva goes into surgery. The doctor realizes something doesn't look right when she makes the incision in the uterus. As she removes the kitten pus oozes out of the uterus opening. The kitten is non responsive. Attempts to resuscitate it are unsuccessful. A culture is done on the pus. We discuss briefly treating the infection and keeping Keva intact. I decide against this option. I opt to spay her removing the infected tissue. Keva is washed inside and out to remove any bacteria that may have escaped the uterus.. While in recovery they use a blow dryer to help dry her fur and warm her. She is given a shot of penicillin. As she comes around she can hear kitten two yelling and is very distressed. I bring the carrier back and we try placing the kittens with her. She tries to nuzzle them but is still too drugged and lashes about. They are tucked back into the warm carrier nest. I stay with Keva and rub her and stroke her face and kiss her. As she comes around more she is still very distressed not being with her babies. At 9 pm we try placing her in the carrier. She curls up immediately, nuzzles her kittens, and calms down. She still too scared to allow them to nurse. With the car warmed we set out for home. With her past low kitten count and missed pregnancy she probably had a bit of endometriosis going on. The cure for that is to get pregnant. Some of that overgrowth must have become infected. The beginning of pyometra. I am very happy we have two healthy kittens from this litter and Keva is doing well. Return to:
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