thats what i assumed that placenta would be absorbed to but when reading up on a website it has been known for cats to give birth to placenta or (and i quote) "mummified kittens" i have found no evidence of it or the placenta but vet yesterday said she had given birth wondered if he would have thought this if it had been the case she had just delivered a placenta??
and is it possible she ate placenta? and if so are there signs i could have seen change in faeces for example???

cute and pasted as I don't know enough about reabsorbation so late:

The distressing signs of reabsorption and abortion are not always as clear-cut as we may think. Sometimes, partial pieces of reabsorbed placenta or fetus may pass along with the rest of a healthy litter of kittens at normal birthing time. Especially in the cases of large litters, a certain amount of this sort of reabsorption/abortion is actually considered normal, part of the natural way of preventing "over-crowding" and increasing the survival chances of the healthiest kittens. As with all living creatures, a certain amount of natural reabsorption/abortion occurs when there is something wrong with the fetus or placenta -- again, Nature's way of natural selection. These types of loss of the fetus are not considered to be the result of reproductive problems. Usually, after calcification of the fetus is well established, it is not possible to have reabsorption take place. While this cannot currently be confirmed by medical studies except with the mouse at this time (it is called the 'Bruce effect'), there is a phenomena which can cause a queen to reabsorb her litter if she is exposed to the pheromones of another whole male tom cat other than the one to whom she is currently bred.

So is a possibility i should consider? there are no kittens in house literally took house aprt last night whilst my children were in bed, she only bred with one male, as she does not go out so will only have been my tom she went with.

And if this is a possibility could be harmful to her?!?! and after a proper examination could a vet tell me if this was/is case?

You really need to discuss all possibilities with your vet. If she has given birth there will be some sign of it somewhere I would have thought. Blood or discharge at the very least whether she only delivered a placenta or kittens.
I don't think eating kittens or re-absorbtion would do her any harm but I am not a vet nor have I personally had any experience of this sort of problem

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How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
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Going to vets for 4.50pm so hopefully he can give her proper examination and some answers

Good luck and I hope the mystery is solved

__________________

How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. - Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.lambchopsiamese.webs.com

thank you and i really hope so xx

I have certainly experienced mummfied kittens (very small, and you only get one in a litter, at least I've only ever had one) It's not feasible, I'm sure, for the whole litter to be like this. I'm sure your cat has given birth - sorry. Whether the kittens are still alive is another matter of course. See if the vet today can tell you whether or not the cat is actually feeding kittens. If she is, then there is at least one kitten still alive somewhere. Where do those heating ducts go?

Liz

hi i just wanted to say good luck at the vets today and i hope u get some definite answers xx

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