Well, the third kitten finally emerged leg first and got stuck. So the cat is having a caesarean after all. I asked, was it possible just to manouvre the kitten out, answer, not without causing a great deal of pain to the cat. Vet gave me a dire warning about the dangers of doing a caesar on a cat with pyometra without spaying her at the same time, told me I was taking a risk with her life. No idea why she didn't tell me that when I saw her five hours previously, it was the same vet. I opted for the caesar only, not spaying, desperately hoping I won't be regretting it.

Just about everything that can go wrong has.

The vet thinks it's most unlikely the infection came from the stud cat, says it is because the cervix has been open for too long with no labour. I am desperately regretting not having taken the cat back into the vet on Saturday when no kittens arrived on Friday after mucus came away and we thought everything was under way. The vet on Friday said the cervix wasn't open. The cat seemed entirely normal and happy up to and including this morning, with no signs of going into labour at all.

I am now waiting for a call from the vet and feeling sick. This poor cat has not had much of a life so far, she has lived in a pen all her life as far as I can tell, and because we had no idea when the kittens were due, she has been living in a kitten pen since we got her six weeks ago. I thought once the kittens arrived that she would be able to have a happy life and now it looks as if she might die. I feel dreadful.

Liz