Mindy's First Litter

by Kimber H.
(Forest Grove, OR)

My one-and-a-half year old cat, Mindy, was in gentle labor for three hours, and successfully birthed her first two beautiful kittens within 40 minutes of each other. She was a great mom, cleaning her new babes and purring all the while.

Based on Mindy's large tummy, I believed that surely more babies would come soon, but one hour went by (after the birth of the second kitten), then two hours, then nearly three hours went by. Suddently contractions came on once again and she got up, turned around, gave a howl, and suddenly I saw two tiny back legs of the kitten poking out of Mindy.

Common sense told me that any newborn coming out backwards was a very serious situation and potentially fatal for the baby. I decided that the kitten must come out immediately to avoid complication, and because I was the ony one there, I needed to assist it out! I stroked and gently pressed on Mindy's belly hoping to speed up another push so that the baby could come out a little farther. It seemed to work, and now the baby was half out, with its head and front legs still inside, so I took both of my hands and gently wrapped my fingers around the baby's tummy area and gave a slight tug.

I was so afraid to pull too hard, so I gave two more slight tugs and "pop", the baby quickly slid out! My excitement was held back for a couple of minutes while watching Mindy lick and clean the newborn, and I was holding my breath waiting for the new babe to respond. When the kitten moved and gasped its first breath I released my excitement with laughter and joy! It's been 5 days now, and our new mom and the three babes are doing extremely well!