I know this is so irresponsible *very graphic pictures*

My ex feral cat Nyx gave birth to 3 kittens on Friday night/early Saturday morning. I’ve known she was pregnant since she was about 3 weeks pregnant (nipples turn pink and get bigger), we discussed abortion but decided in the end not to.

I’m kinda ashamed tbh, like I have no issues with breeding cats but only if there’s a purpose (e.g. improving a breed) since there’s so many homeless cats.... Harry, our 12 month old cat, is the father. He’s got reoccuring UTI so we were afraid to get him neutered yet as neutered male cats are at bigger risk of obstruction. We were supposed to get Nyx spayed when she was about 4 months old, before she went into heat, but my parents just kinda put it off and kept forgetting. But to be fair re my parents, she never showed any signs of going into heat like we’ve seen with other females and she’s quite small for her age so they kept thinking they had more time.

We were so relieved she had an easy birth, we were worried for her health. She’s done a great job though! She's such a young cat, really just a kitten herself, but she's very good with them. Sometimes when they’re asleep she likes to wander around and come up to us to rub on us or be petted but she frequently goes and checks up on them then.

The 1st little kitten

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Chowing down on a placenta :lol:

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Eating the cord

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You can see how big she was here, amazing how much smaller she is now she no longer has 3 kittens inside her lol

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It was so messy! Poor Nyx was covered in blood and gunk and we had to keep wiping the blood and stuff away. She picked a good place to give birth though I guess! At least the area was wipeable.

IMG_6300 by dylanduck14, on Flickr

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The 2nd kitten being born

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Finally she got into this box we set up for her, where she had the 3rd kitten. And then she rested for a bit while the kittens tried to nurse. It took them awhile to get the hang of it lol.

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All dry and fluffy now!

The darker gray kitten is a girl, the lighter gray with the stripes is a boy, and the black one is a boy I think but I’ll have to take another look at it to be sure.

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Oh wow :shock: amazing photos and glad mum and babies are all doing well. They're so cute .

Thank you for posting this, I have never seen kittens being born before. Hope they all continue to thrive

Awwww bless and what beautiful kittens

Awesome! This is amazing to see them being born.
i had to laugh at her face as she is chowing down on her placenta.

kittens are so cute, xx

Wow that looks ... messy :lol: Glad it all went well though you'll have to keep us updated with kitten pictures

Amazing photo's and gorgeous kittys

Aww congratulations! My cat has actually given birth to 1 kitten today about 6 hours ago and no sign of another one yet;(

I know it's not what you wanted for her, but at least you'll be able to keep them all, so they will have a good home

I wonder if there is a way to make your male infertile that doesn't require a full castration, like they do for human men, that may not have the same risk to his health - you must be worried sick that he will go wandering.

Never realised it was such a messy business :shock: Did you have to dry them or did she do it?

They are gorgeous and I hope you continue to show pics of their progress

put me off my pizza! lol Amazing pics though x

I have been lucky enough to witness kittens being born at work. It was amazing. I never thought I would find it so emotional. :lol:
Glad everyone is ok x.

Lovely pics thank you. What a great Mama she is.

One of those photos reminded me how exhausted I was after giving birth :lol: :lol: :lol:

They dried after a few hours, by themselves mostly. Nyx didn't clean them a whole lot, she was more concerned about cleaning herself :lol:

They seem so big to me for newborns kittens! I've raised two other litters of kittens - 4 newborns, and 3 that were about a week old because their eyes were just opening (found the latter in my woods). These kittens seem to me to be the size of the week old kittens. It was a long time ago though so maybe I'm just not remembering correctly. Or maybe these are well fed, while the ones in the woods weren't (their mom was stray or feral apparently).

I hadn't thought of there being another way to make Harry infertile. I'll have to look into that, and if that's possible see what else it stops because very inconveniently he started spraying everything in sight the day Nyx had the kittens. I gave him a new box to sleep in and he squatted and peed on top of it, then he started spraying everything, including me! I don't think it's his UTI problems because he's yowling and scratching the door and doesn't have any pain peeing like he does with the UTI. And he's never sprayed before. My dad is calling the vets today to see if we should get him neutered now or what.

So we had to put him in the bathroom where pee can be easily wiped up but that's where we had planned on Nyx having the kittens. I think you usually want a queen in a quiet, stress-free room, and it's quite a big bathroom so it would have been perfect for them.

We're having to have someone babysit at all times as Nyx keeps moving them to whereever I am. It's sweet but dangerous! I was doing pet chores and I walked around a doorway and nearly stepped on a kitten (and her), she was just laying in the middle of a walkway letting it nurse:shock: And then I was reading in the hall with my ducks and 3 times she laid down next to me with a kitten. My rabbit Ben was very interested, I was worried he was going to bite the kitten or something:shock: So far she hasn't moved them as long as I'm nearby. I never realized she was so attached to me! I guess keeping her in the bathroom wouldn't have worked after all then, if she was upset she couldn't be near me all the time. :?

That's adorable but I can see how it will get frustrating very quickly! Can you keep her in a room where you can close the door when you leave? She might not like it, but it's better than her carrying the kittens around after you!

That's odd that he has reacted like that, I've never bred cats so no idea, but is it possible that he may be a threat to the kittens? Could he be reacting to the strong smells of hormones and the birth that must be all around her at the moment?

just bear in mind cats can get pregnant VERY quickly after giving birth. If she were mine I would lock her and babies in a quiet room with a few cardboard boxes lined with cloth on their sides to make her choice of nest---and not let her out again until the kittens are weaned and she can be spayed.
your boy cat will be aware that she can come on heat again very soon which is probably why he is acting up- he needs to mark terratory in case any other male cats come sniffing after her.

Congrats on your new additions. Great pictures and you will have to keep us updated on their progress xx

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Yeah I wasn't sure how quickly cats can get pregnant after giving birth - I know with some animals it's pretty much immediately after - so I wasn't taking any chances. Harry can't roam the house right now anyway, so there hasn't been any risks.

Yeah we definitely need to put Nyx/the kittens in a private room. Thing is the only rooms with doors are the bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry room and there's reasons that they can't be in those rooms. I guess we'll just have to get Harry neutered and then Nyx can be put in the bathroom.

I hate to because he gets the UTI every few months so he's due for it again (last happened in January) but we can't keep him in the bathroom forever even if there weren't any kittens as obviously he's going to get frustrated about being locked up very quickly and we can't have him roaming the house when he sprays everything.

I'll post some more pics of the kittens later today, they're so adorable! And so incredibly soft Their fur actually reminds me of eastern mole fur:lol: I rescued a couple last year and they had such soft, dense fur similar to the kittens.