A normal litter is 4 to 6 kittens, born 10 to 60 minutes apart, with the whole second stage done in 3 to 6 hours. The number that should make you pick up the phone is 120: a gap of more than 2 hours between kittens, with or without straining, is an emergency. The other number to hold on to is 5 to 10, the share of kittens in an average litter that are born dead, because that baseline explains why 1 stillborn in a litter of 6 is not a verdict on the queen.
Stage two, timed
Stage one is the quiet part: 6 to 12 hours of nesting, restlessness, panting and refusing food, with rectal temperature dropping about 1 C in the last 12 to 24 hours before the first kitten. Stage two starts with visible abdominal contractions and ends with the last kitten. For a litter of 5, expect 3 to 6 hours from first kitten to last, and expect the intervals to be uneven: 10 to 20 minutes between the first 2 or 3, then a rest of 30 to 120 minutes, then the rest of the litter in a burst.
Time each kitten from the birth of the previous one, not from the start of labour. A queen that has been pushing for 90 minutes and produced nothing is a different case from a queen that delivered 40 minutes ago and is resting. Write the clock time of each birth on the box with a marker, because at hour 4 nobody remembers whether the third kitten came at 2:10 or 2:40.
Litter size by age and parity
| Queen's age | Typical litter | Stage two duration | Interval range |
|---|---|---|---|
| First litter, 1-2 years | 3-4 kittens | 2-4 hours | 10-45 minutes |
| 2-4 years, second or third litter | 4-6 kittens | 3-6 hours | 10-60 minutes |
| 3-5 years, peak | 5-6 kittens | 4-7 hours | 15-60 minutes |
| 6-7 years | 3-4 kittens | 3-5 hours | 15-60 minutes |
| Over 8 years | 1-3 kittens | 1-4 hours | 20-90 minutes |
| Any age, single kitten | 1 kitten | 1-3 hours | not applicable |
Large litters are slower per kitten, not faster. A litter of 7 or 8 often runs 8 to 12 hours, and the later kittens arrive after longer rests, which is normal as long as each one is born within 2 hours of the previous one and the queen is not straining between them. A single-kitten litter is the opposite trap: 1 kitten, a short labour, and a queen who may not deliver the placenta or may retain a second kitten nobody expected.
When 2 hours is the line
Call the vet, and be ready to drive, if any of these happen during stage two:
- More than 2 hours since the last kitten with no new birth.
- Strong straining for 30 minutes with nothing produced.
- A kitten visible in the vulva for 10 minutes without progress.
- Green or black discharge before the first kitten is born.
- Fresh red bleeding that keeps going for more than 5 minutes.
- Queen's temperature over 39.5 C, or under 37 C with weakness.
- More than 4 hours of stage one without a kitten in a queen that has had litters before.
Two of these are easy to miss. Green discharge is normal after a kitten is born and abnormal before, because it means a placenta has separated while the kitten is still inside. A 10 minute stall at the vulva matters because the head is the widest part and a kitten that is not out in 10 minutes of active pushing usually needs help.
Reading a 5 to 10% stillbirth rate
Across normal litters, roughly 5 to 10 of every 100 kittens are born dead. In a litter of 6 that is 0.3 to 0.6 expected stillbirths, which is why 1 stillborn kitten in a first litter is a sad event and not a diagnosis. The rate climbs in litters over 7, in first litters, in queens over 7 years, and in any litter where an interval ran past 2 hours or the queen ran a fever.
What changes the reading is the pattern: 2 or more stillborn in the same litter, stillbirths in 2 consecutive litters from the same queen, or a litter where the dead kittens are visibly malformed or mummified. Those are the cases worth a workup, and the screening route is laid out in birth defect screening. Record the birth weight of every kitten, live or dead, because a dead kitten at 60 g against littermates at 105 g tells a different story from one at 110 g.
The first 2 hours of each kitten's life
A newborn should weigh 90 to 120 g, and should be licking, righting and looking for a teat within 10 to 15 minutes of birth. Suckling usually starts within 1 to 2 hours, and colostrum has to be in the gut within 12 to 16 hours before the gut closes. Weigh every kitten within the first hour, then at 12 and 24 hours. A drop of more than 10% of birth weight in the first 24 hours is a kitten to supplement, not a kitten to watch.
Warmth comes before milk. A newborn sits at 35.5 to 37.5 C in week 1 and cannot shiver until about day 7; below 35 C it will not suck, and a kitten that will not suck loses the colostrum window. The full curve of expected weights is in birth weight targets, which is the table to keep next to the whelping box on night one.
What a long labour costs you
Plan on 4 to 8 hours of supervision for a litter of 5, plus a 24 hour watch at 2 to 3 hour intervals afterwards. That is 1 night of broken sleep minimum, and it is not optional: most deaths in the first 48 hours happen in kittens that were never seen to suckle. If you cannot be present, the queen should be at a clinic for the delivery rather than alone.
Budget the litter, not the kitten: 5 kittens means 5 birth weights, 5 first-week weigh-ins per day, and 3 to 4 vet trips in the first 8 weeks. Per-kitten figures are on the cost page; add a caesarean at 1 in 10 litters if you want a number you can defend.
On the night: 5 things to do
- Write the clock time and weight of every birth on the box, including stillborns.
- Count intervals against the 2 hour line, not against how the queen looks.
- Check each kitten for a heartbeat, then dry it and put it on a teat within 15 minutes.
- Keep the box at 28 to 30 C and change the bedding after every 2 kittens.
- Call the vet for any green discharge before the first birth, any 10 minute stall at the vulva, or any 2 hour gap.
Frequently asked
My queen delivered 4 kittens in 2 hours and has been resting for 90 minutes. Is she done?
Possibly, and this is the hardest call in whelping. A 90 minute rest after 4 kittens is inside the normal range, so the useful move is to feel her abdomen for a firm lump and check whether she is still having visible contractions. If she is calm, not straining and her temperature is normal, wait up to 2 hours from the last birth. If she strains at all, or the 2 hour mark passes, go in.
How do I know if a kitten is stillborn or just slow to start?
Dry it hard with a towel and clear the mouth and nose, then listen for a heartbeat with your ear against the chest and look for movement in the first 60 seconds. A kitten that is pale, limp and making no effort after 60 seconds of drying and rubbing needs chest compressions and a clinic, not more rubbing. Do not cut the cord or swing the kitten; both do harm.
The litter was 8 kittens and 2 were dead. Should I retire the queen?
Not on one litter. A litter of 8 already sits above the normal 5 to 10% stillbirth band because of crowding and shorter gestation per kitten, and 2 deaths in 8 is at the top of that range rather than outside it. Retire or work up the queen if the same thing happens in the next litter, or if the dead kittens were malformed, mummified or clearly smaller than their littermates.