hi everyone new to this forum, after some advice my ragdoll cat who is on the active register went into labour on tuesday morning first kitten was born easily with no problems this is my cats first litter i was well prepared for everything and have had kittens in the past so confident about the birthing process and everything involved, anyway kitten was fine about 20 minutes later she gave birth to another kitten who was born dead i could see straight away, but still tried to resuitate it, it looked healthy and was a good size put it down to just one of those things 2o minutes later same thing happened another stillborn one, i was upset but again just thought this probably just happens, mum was happy with her first kitten and concentrated on him, could tell that mum was still very big and was due more kittens, all afternoon i sat with her but nothing happend but mum was eating and acting as though it was all over, looked on the internet and decided that she has something called interupted labour, where the cat has a long rest and the rest of the kittens can be born 24 to 36 hours later and as long as the cat is happy not to worry , all night nothing but mum is purring and quite happy with her firstborn kitten, in the morning at about 8.00 a fourth kitten was born, no problem having it and very healthy, so was pleased about this then 20 minutes later i could see she was having another one unfortunately just one foot was showing and the sac had broken she was quite a while delivering this one again he was dead but i think this was due to being large and being stuck for a while, mum went back to her two kittens started eating and acting that it was all over again, i felt her tummy and could see she was still having another one, wasent sure what to do left it a couple of hours and then phoned the vet, she had heard of this before if she didnt have it in another hour to bring her down, luckily she had the sixth one half hour later again stillborn. mum is now happily looking after two kittens and everything is fine. just after some advice if any of you breeders have experienced a similar thing or why you think so many kittens died any advice appreciated

Congratulations on your kittens, so sorry about the ones you lost. Sorry I cant help you with this, dont know much about it but welcome to the forum and good luck with the 2 surviving babies

I'm sorry to hear of your sleeping kittens - but congratulations on the 2 remaining babies. I also breed Raggies.

There could be many reasons for stillborn kittens. Have your girl and the stud you used been tested prior to mating for FIV/FeLV?, are their pedigrees compatible? Did your girl deliver earlier or later than expected? Have there been any signs of infection or illness through the pregnancy?

Sometimes these things just "happen". As the kittens were born Tuesday/Wednesday, it's probably a little late to take them to the vet for testing. I'd pop your girl and the babies to the vet for a quick postnatal check up just to make sure they're all doing well.

Jo

congratulations on your two kitties. R.I.P sleeping ones x

thank you both for your kind comments, yes both parents were tested and pedigrees were compatible, she was on day 62 of pregnancy and been very healthy through her pregnancy, i did read that it could be through stress that a cat can delay her delivery, and she is odd in her behaviour that she always has to be near me and doesnt like me going out of the room and when she was in labour i had to go out of the room at times, get something to eat, toilet etc she did get very upset until i came back so i could put that down to the delay, but the stillborns not sure why that happened as they looked so perfect could it be because its a first litter ?

just an update on kittens, the two babies are now a week old and doing really well and daisy is proving to be a good mum, the question is, do i let her have another litter of kittens or could there be lots of stillborns in the next litter or was i just unlucky this time what do you lot think has anbody had a similar experience any advice appreciated thanks

I haven't had any experience with this but I would leave her for a good while after this litter, have her checked over by the vet before thinking of mating her and then try again. I don't think I would have her spayed if she is breeding girl, it may just have been bad luck.