How can I assist my cat when she gives birth?

My cats did it all themselves. I wasn’t there for one of them [a pregnant stray] but I sat with my own cat. I was 14–15 and it was amazing! We thought she was too young to get pregnant! Naive!

Boil lots of water.

I don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout birthin’ no kittens!

Leave her alone. I have yet to hear of a cat who had problems doing this, and usually, they like to hide when it’s going on, they don’t really want to be helped, it’s actually a good way to get yourself hurt if you try to intervene. They’ll be fine…don’t disturb the litter either until their eyes are open, you can look at em but hands off. Just make sure your cat has access to plenty of food and water as she’ll need to be able to nourish herself and her kittens for the first few weeks.

My cat didn’t mind when I touched her babies.

Touching is OK to a degree, just be gentle, don’t disturb the litter, don’t pick them up, she’ll kind of have them placed how she needs them to be to nurse, you disturb that and it can cause problems. That said, they are pretty resilient, not like you’re signing the kitten’s death warrant if you do touch it or even pick it up, just best possible outcome is to leave them be as much as possible until their eyes are open.

Make sure she has has a nice dark place to hide and leave her alone.

It’s so deeply instinctive that we have no place in the process. She is at her most vulnerable so she wants to be as hidden away as possible. Also touching the kitten will be stressful to the mother because her drive to protect is more powerful than any affection for her owner. We were always told the mother is more likely to move the kittens if she is stressed

The best thin g that you can do is have a safe, warm, private location and let her take care of having the babies.

My cat kept getting up to follow me if i walked away, trailing afterbirth behind her! She was half Siamese- maybe that makes a difference.

@faye – thanx for the visual there…

@stratman37 anytime!

Leave cat alone during birthing.
We had to separate the mother from the kittens for a bit after some long long period of time because she was staying awake and watching them sleep and never getting any sleep herself.

Cats just do it naturally. If the cat has any problem, you want to take it to the hospital, because that means something has gone wrong.

@Zaku That seems just wrong. If you say they do it naturally, well, you didn’t.

It looks like the consensus is to leave her alone. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll name the babies after all of you.

@tdreichert thanks, you can name mine Yarny

@faye I was 5 years old but my memory is it was like days after birth and she hadn’t slept and was looking totally exhausted but was just staring at them while they slept. By taking her away she fell asleep and got some rest. Then we let her back with them.

First time nervous mommy sydrome! You probably saved their lives.