My cat wants to lie on me while giving birth
Somebody asked, “My cat wants to lie on me while giving birth. What do I do?”.
Cat wants to give birth on her owner. Photo in public domain.
To be absolutely clear, the question means that her cat wants to give birth to her kittens while she lies on top of her human companion. When I first read the question I thought for a second that her cat wanted to lie on her while she, the woman, gave birth to her baby.
It is interesting question and the response should be that the woman does all she can to accommodate her cat’s desires. I can’t see anything wrong with the cat’s request. There are some practical points about making sure that the woman is covered, say with a towel, and that the cat is protected from falling off if she wants to lie on the woman’s stomach or whatever.
It is an interesting sign of trust in the cat for her human companion. And it might be a very nice experience for the person. I don’t know, but looking at it practically there may be a tricky moment at the end of the birth of the kittens when the person has to get up and move off.
It takes about seven hours for a cat to give birth to her litter of kittens which also presents a little bit of a problem because the cat’s human guardian will have to keep still for about several hours.
Barring some practical issues I would have thought that most people reading the question will agree that this person should allow her cat to give birth to her kittens while lying on top of her.
There may be a silver lining in all this. If the woman keeps at her side a smart phone with a video facility she can film the whole thing and upload it to YouTube. My gut feeling is that the video will do very well so she should be able to make a little bit of money as a bonus.
What do you think? Do you foresee any problems?
What a lovely compliment from the cat. She seems to totally rely on and trust her owner. A very unique way to welcome her family into this world.
If it were me, I’d sit on the floor. My legs would be spread to make a sort of u-shaped fencing for the cat to lie against. I would them cover my “lap” with a large enough blanket, towel, etc. that would allow me to roll it up around the cat in the event I had to get up. If I did get up, I’d come back and sit beside the nest.
The human will need good bladder control for a start, a vet phone number on speed dial, a large carrier to hand in case of complications, a guarantee of peace and quiet, low lighting and last but not least, some first hand experience of cats giving birth, so she knows if something is going wrong that needs veterinary help.
If she is well prepared, confident, then I think she should go ahead.
Not so sure that a YouTube production would not interrupt the trust of the cat and distract the human too much. Distraction can really mess up a birth for a cat.
Maybe she should just concentrate on the cat giving birth, be in the moment.
Income from a You Tube video might help pay to spay the mother cat!