Feline Dystocia Symptoms

Feline dystocia refers to difficulty in giving birth. Symptoms include lethargy, persistent straining, rapid breathing, painful caterwauling, weak labor, and more. Generally, when a cat is giving birth normally, she will deliver a kitten within half an hour. If the cat is pregnant with 4-6 kittens, the labor will last about 3-6 hours. However, if a cat experiences dystocia, she will have frequent contractions without delivering a fetus or passing amniotic fluid bubbles. As the cat's energy gradually drains during dystocia, she may exhibit signs such as lethargy, bleeding or brownish discharge from the vulva, and even vomiting in severe cases.

Here are some other common signs of feline dystocia:

A cat's pregnancy usually lasts about two months. If the cat does not give birth by the expected due date, she may experience dystocia.
The normal labor process for cats lasts about 30-40 minutes. If the cat has not given birth after one hour, it indicates that she is experiencing dystocia.
If a cat's amniotic sac ruptures but no kitten is born within one hour, it suggests dystocia, especially in cats giving birth for the first time.
If you notice a cat exhibiting symptoms such as depressed mental state, gradually decreasing body temperature, dark red and fishy-smelling discharge from the vulva, weakened abdominal contractions, and overall weakness during labor, it indicates a severe case of dystocia. Seek immediate veterinary assistance.

Note: If your cat shows any of the aforementioned dystocia symptoms and does not give birth within 24 hours, or if the interval between deliveries is longer than six hours, it is considered dystocia. In such cases, emergency cesarean section surgery is necessary at a pet hospital, otherwise, both the mother and her kittens may face life-threatening risks.