How Can You Tell If a Cat Has Finished Delivering Her Kittens?

One of the hardest parts of kittening is working out whether the queen is truly finished — or whether there’s still one more kitten waiting to arrive.

As a family doctor, I palpate abdomens regularly. Honestly, a lot of this is just practice. Over time, you get better at recognising what you’re feeling.

When you think she’s done, quietly stand over her while she’s relaxed and gently feel the abdomen. I usually place my thumbs along the spine and softly palpate underneath with my fingers. Don’t poke hard — you’re trying to feel shapes and textures rather than “find” something.

There are usually three things you might feel:

• A kitten

• Poop

• The swollen uterus

They all feel surprisingly different once you get used to it.

A kitten feels large, firm and well-defined. It’s not rubbery. Often the last kitten sits quite high up under the ribs and gradually moves down over three or four contractions before delivery.

The uterus after birth often feels more sausage-like — elongated, soft and rubbery. It’s enlarged and thickened from labour, but doesn’t have the firm shape of a kitten.

Poop is usually smaller, firmer and lumpier than the uterus. Once you’ve felt the difference a few times, it becomes much easier to tell apart.

One of the biggest clues that labour is truly over is the queen’s behaviour. If she settles down calmly, starts washing and nursing the kittens, purrs, eats food and relaxes properly, that’s usually reassuring.

Having said all that… cats like to keep us humble.

I’ve definitely had occasions where I was convinced a queen had finished, only to come back a few hours later and discover another kitten happily sitting there. Fortunately, cats are often remarkably good at these more spread-out labours, and in many cases no harm is done.

I’ve certainly become much better at telling when we’re truly finished over the last couple of years — but I still never assume too early!

People often ask whether an ultrasound is useful at this stage. Honestly, I’m not entirely convinced it adds a huge amount in many straightforward labours. It can become quite an expensive exercise for what is often very little extra clinical information, particularly if you develop good palpation skills and learn to recognise the difference between a kitten, bowel contents and the postpartum uterus.

As always, if a queen seems distressed, has strong contractions without producing a kitten, becomes exhausted, unwell, or you’re worried at all, contact your vet promptly.

Angelica Pickles settled feeding her 7 babies after a 2 hour labour.