She's in labour!

[WingsAloft]

First stage labour, lots of skin twitching and discomfort and thinking she needs to mate. Shall we try for a live birth thread?

She's truly beautiful OP. Her kittens will surely be beautiful too.

Good grief no kittens yet?? Have you tried giving her some curry and a brisk walk round the block op?

I second bear.

If those suggestion don't work then get her one of those balls to bounce on and a couple of pineapples.

Ops abroad. She's probably just getting up now.

Shameless placemarking

Come on kitties!

Another here who's been checking for progress!

Desperate for a peek 😻

Stand down folks. Nothing to see here.

She's playing games with us. She's decided to go with the "serene expectant mother" look for a while. I am Not Impressed and seriously considering tipping her up and trying to shake them out of her.

Belly's hanging low, bowels are having a good clear out, nests are getting a good looking over - surely it can't be much longer!

Gin and a hot bath, maybe?

Can we have another photo?

I know nothing about cat pregnancies - how long do they carry for? Can you approximate a due date? Do you have gas and air for her?

9 weeks, give or take a couple of days. Small litters (which I think she has) or Oriental-type cats (which I think she partly is) are known for taking a bit longer. As we don't know when she mated we don't know when she is due. All of the signs she's showing can be apparent any time from 2 weeks to 12 hours before birth.

Gas and air Bet she'd love that!

Cod liver oil? It's fishy isn't it, perhaps cats would like it

(I jest of course!)

She is beautiful . Come on Kitty. You can do it.

Poo sticks that you aren't in the UK Wings. She is going to have the most delicious kittens .

Raspberry leaf tea and some driving over speed bumps.

All right, cat people, I need your knowledge.

She's been rolling around like she's in heat on and off for the last few days, but not actually calling (she's quietly going prrt instead of yowling). Tonight she's rolling and treading like crazy but also breathing fast and panting at times.

What do you think? Could she be in proper early labour and misreading the feeling as being in heat?

As an added ick, I picked her up a bit earlier and she left a little wet spot on my arm where her fanjo was resting.

have you made her a whelping box? a cardboard box with some towels, hot water bottles or position near a radiator somewhere private.

your local ooh vets will happily advise over the phone that things are proceeding well.

No need for a radiator - it's early autumn here and was hot enough earlier that I turned on the air conditioner. It's night now and pleasant under the fan but a bit muggy without it.

I've found any vet but my own to be useless over the phone. "We can't say without seeing the animal," they say. I've given up asking them anything because I know what they'll say. Besides, this is hardly an emergency. I'm just after some different perspectives here because I know I tend to overthink things.

She has to have these kittens soon or I'm going to be back at work and unable to watch over her all the time.

And yes, she has a choice of three boxes in my room, two of which I've seen her digging in. I also have another box with supplies for the event, including kitten formula.

A worrying thought just occurred to me.

What if she's resorbed the kitten, or had a phantom pregnancy, and is actually in heat at this point? How can I know?

You saw 'wriggling' though?

I saw her skin twitching. I've never seen anything I've recognised as kitten movement under her skin.

You have no vet access? (At least easily.)

I can't afford to take her myself, and I'm reluctant to insist that the rescue pay for her to be seen if she's not actually unwell. One way or another it will eventually become clear, but I'd appreciate not actually losing my sanity along the way.

It would be nice if she would give me some consistent signs. I'm hoping it's just this, which i just found:

At the very end of pregnancy, just prior to the onset of parturition (birthing), the level of progesterone in the female cat's blood drops off (progesterone is the hormone responsible for maintaining the non-cycling, pregnant state) and a spike in the level of blood estrogen occurs. This spike in blood estrogen levels can be enough to cause the late pregnant cat to display the signs and symptoms of being in heat and to even allow mating to occur! The mating is unlikely to result in pregnancy in the already pregnant cat.
www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/cat-in-heat.html#pregnant-heat

When I was a child we had a pet dog who had a phantom pregnancy. Everyone in the household was completely convinced by it. Real, genuine changes happened to her body, I distinctly remember being fascinated by her nipples growing so much. Yet she has no puppies. We just waited, and all the symptoms disappeared.

I'm not sure if that is typical of phantom pregnancies, or if she was pregnant and it was reabsorbed? Maybe she miscarried while out having a poo and no one noticed? I don't know, but I can clearly remember not believing there were no puppies, given how obvious it was that she was about to give birth.