Is it normal for a cat to lose most of her kittens with her first litter?

Question

I've had 2 cats now that have had a litter but both have had trouble. My first cat had a litter of 4 but lost one kitten, the intestines was on the outside, but the other 3 kittens were fine. My second cat had only 2 kittens, but the first one was big and both of its back legs were broken, but the other kitten is o.k.
Just wondering if that's normal for a first litter and any other litters they have will all be o.k Don't think I or my cats can go through this sort of thing every time. It's very sad.

I am a pedigree cat breeder, so no worries about interbreeding. They are from my own stock so I know where they have come from. And you don't have to worry about too many unwanted cats, all my cats are reserved before they are even born. They are all loved and have all their inoculation done every year, and are very well taken care of. It's just a trend I have started noticing in first time mothers. And they are sexually mature, 14 months old females, I do know what I'm doing, I'm not running a kitten farm. Even in the human world a lot of mothers will lose their first, maybe it has something to do with the womb not prepared for such an event, and the second time is better. Thanks for all your answers, just needed a bit of reasurance.

To The Old Cat Lady.
For your information I have been rescuing cat for many years, and know all there is to know about cats but had never bred them as my mission was to rescue them. The only reason I got into breeding was that I rescued 2 cats which were going to be killed by their owner. Not competent, how dare you? I bought the cattery to save these 2 cats, that's how dedicated I am.
And no, I am not making this up, how sick of anyone to think such a thing.
What may have happened with the one that broke its legs. I found blood on the floor under a bench that is in the mothers pen, and blood on the bench. I think she may have given birth on the bench and the kitten fell some 4 feet onto a slab floor and dislocated it legs causing its death. As part of my doctrine into breeding there are certain rules I have to abide by and sign documents agreeing to regulations by the GCCF, Breeders Association etc. It's just one of those thing that happen in nature, hopefully won't happen again

Answer 1

It may be a mixture of things. Like the breed itself as well as the fact that they're first-time moms.

And it is true that humans tend to have the same problem. In fact, a lot of women are pregnant (sometimes multiple times) without even knowing it. Most early miscarriages are first pregnancies.

I'd still talk to your vet about it.

(And I highly doubt you're making this up. Unlike some people, I have heard of babies being born with their intestines outside of their bodies. Human babies sometimes have this, as well.)

Answer 2

Really not normal for normal cats. But chances are the pedigree lineage is causing problems here. It really is very sad, I am so sorry for the cats and their poor kittens ... and poor you, too. You need to look into your cats' ancestry more.
Controlled breeding is as unnatural as it gets; don't be fooled. If your cats were mating with males of their own choices, perhaps this problem would be avoided. But as you want to be a breeder, you have that responsibility to undertake research.
Personally, I have never heard of such defects and I am wondering if you made it up .... intestines on the outside! Broken legs! The broken legs is a real no-no ... kittens are so soft and supple, it is almost impossible for them to get broken bones unless it was a deliberate attack by a large, aggressive animal.(possibly the mum cat? Don't rule that out, but I think you can quickly eliminate it from your detective work!)
But, if you are genuine, you have to tackle this problem somehow.
Where are the cats and kittens kept? Is there a possibility some other animal has access to them, and is doing this? Even a Homo Sapiens with a grudge?
Think hard, my dear, because it really is NOT NORMAL.

Answer 3

I don't think it is common for first litters to have problems. We have a stray cat that adopted us. We took her to the vet for a check-up and the vet thought she was about 9 months old. We planned to have her spayed, but she got pregnant before we could get her in to have it done. She had 4 kittens and all are perfectly fine. There are so many cats and kittens in our area and it is hard to find homes for them. We had mama cat spayed right after she stopped nursing the babies. Now they are 4 months old and we have not had any luck finding new homes for them yet. My grandparents lived on a farm when I was growing up and had lots of barn cats. I can't remember any of them having trouble with their first litters. I highly suggest having both your cats spayed. The only way to probably tell if either of your cats have a genetic disposition towards having babies with abnormalities is to have expensive testing done or see what happens with their next litters. I don't think I would risk letting them have another litter.

Answer 4

properly, many times while cats have kittens they many times have approximetely 4-5 besides the indisputable fact that they in many cases come out altogether so my opinion is that your cat became the two: a million. risky for the duration of early being pregnant which brought about her purely having one kitten. 2. Had something worng for the period of the delivery and the others didnt come out. If is the two of those, maximum suitable is visit the vet to get her appeared at. it must be something greater extreme! desire this helped!!

Answer 5

i think it would go on how the mum is. my cat gave birth to 6 kittens.(frist time) all were fine. shes looked after them, but i was told that not many would live as cats sometimes lose their litters.
how wrong they were lol. maybe u should have them netured so they dont have to go through it again, not only is it upsetting for ure cat its upsetting for u. i dont think its anything u have done.

Answer 6

personally i suggest getting your cats spayed,there are enough unwanted kittens in the world..

1 more thing isnt 14 months a little young my vet recomended between 3 and 4 years old...

Answer 7

i dont think this is normal my cat recently had her first litter of five and all were perfect i think it is normal to have a runt who may have small problems, but maybe the problem lies with the mother maybe a genetic defalt caused through interbreeding i think you should consult a vet.

Answer 8

I would say it's more normal for a cats first litter to be the healthyist.

Answer 9

If you were truly a competent breeder you wouldn't be asking questions here. I suspect you are just playing around with the breeding and shouldn't be doing it at all.

Answer 10

Yes it is normal to lose most kittens in thier litter eseicialy thier first