POOR LITTLE CAT

After a night of watching and waiting Moth had still not produced her kittens. She had by then been in first stage labour for about 22 hours,which is not at all unusual. I have had considerable experience delivering all sorts of animal,including cats,but there was something about this birth that had me worried.

At 24 hours she was still in first stage labour and displaying all the usual signs ,we kept her quiet and I kept her company,two hours later I was sure that something was wrong.

I shall not go into the gory details but three in the afternoon it was obvious that she needed help the first kitten had been visible for over an hour ,but it was impossible to tell which end was coming first(kittens can be born head or feet first) I was very loath to intervene as pulling the kittens head can do damage.

Moth was still restless and by now was exhausted, I could detect movement in the kitten but Moth seemed unable to push hard enough to expel the very large kitten. It was time to take her to the Vet.

Now it is a well know fact in animals and humans alike that if there is going to be a medical emergency it is almost always on a weekend or after surgery hours.....or both. This time we were luck and our vet was still open ,he agreed to see our poor little girl,if we could come at once.

I now had the task of getting an already distressed cat,a cat who has never allowed us to pick her up in to a small cat carrier, I was amazed when the little darling walked in to the carrier and settled down on the news paper as if it was something she did every day.

A cab was called, a local cab company so that,we hoped he would have no trouble finding us,.The driver was new, the drivers command of English was practically none existent. In short he got hopelessly lost! His Sat Nav took him to the wrong place as he had taken down the wrong post code letters and all attempts to talk him down, so to speak failed as he did not understand a word we said.

By now Moth had decided that she did not care for the carrier,I covered it with a towel to make it dark and sprayed some cat calming pheromones on to the towel, then I prayed.

At last the controller managed to explain things and he arrived in a huff and got a large piece of my sons mind,which I must say he seemed to understand perfectly.

Our dear little cat behaved impeccably while the Vet examined her,he seemed to think that all she needed was an injection to strengthen the contractions and this was done at once. Pleased that at least both she and the kittens were well we returned home with the Vets latest words ringing in our ears. “If she fails to deliver within the next few hours she will need a caesarian at an all night clinic in Northolt at a cost of £2,000!

Northolt is many miles away ,a taxi there would cost almost as much as the operation, we made a pot of tea,and we waited.

If anything the contractions were fewer and milder than before the injection and I quickly became very uneasy, an attempt to help the cat by pulling the kitten out on a contraction only made it even cleared that something was badly wrong,by now one leg and a tail were out,and they were cold.

We decided that she must return to the Vet and as we prepared a friend called to see how things were going, when I told her she immediately gave me the address of her vet who would she said be less expensive and was situated only two miles away. I called them at once, the young lady vet asked me if |I could dislodge the kitten,I told her what had happened and she advised us to take her in at once,and that is what we did.

By we I mean my son,a tower of strength throughout this horrible time carried of our little cat in a taxi at once.

Now comes the difficult part, it seems that the first Vet we took her to may have been more interested in the out of hours fee than with the welfare of our cat and her kittens. Instead of dealing with her problems he sent her home with an injection,he must have know that it could not work. All he thought about was a £2,000 fee at his night clinic so far away.

My son called to tell me that Moth would need an emergency caesarean, and that there was little chance that the kittens would survive.

My poor little cat, after all her brave struggles she will have no kittens to fuss over,it is breaking my heart to think of it. We are waiting now for my sons return,the hospital will let us know when there is any news and Moth will stay in hospital for a while,it dreadful to think of her waking up in a strange place in pain and with strangers.

So for now there is nothing to be done but wait and hope.