How Many Kittens Are Born In A Litter
In one large study of pedigree cats around 7 of kittens were still born dead at birth and a further 9 died during the first eight weeks of life most in the first 1 3 weeks.
How many kittens are born in a litter. The average mother cat will have a litter of three to five kittens with the extended range being one to eight kittens. Healthy females can have litters so large they cannot feed them all. If you had an x ray or thorough exam done and know how many kittens are in the litter you may be able to estimate her labor. In addition with age the regular size of a cat litter decreases.
While average litter size is three to five kittens double digit litters aren t unheard of. A feline litter usually consists of two to five kittens. Even though the moderate size of a cat litter is 3 to 5 kitties though a caretaker is young or whether it is her first time giving birth then she ll have not quite 2 3 kittens. Young cat mother or a first time mother can expect to have around 2 to 3 kittens.
So what kinds of factors can affect the size of a litter. Most cats or queens unspayed female cats have a litter of three to five kittens but feline litters can vary in size from one to more than 10. Factors that influence litter size. On august 7th 1970 a litter of 19 kittens were born to a 4 year old burmese siamese queen called tarawood antigone which belonged to valerie gane in kingham oxfordshire the u k as recorded in the guinness world records making this the largest litter in history to be recorded as a single birth.
The data available on guinness book of records shows that the largest litter of a domestic cat was 19. At 3 to 4 years old a cat will be more likely to have around 4 to 5 kittens per litter. This was born to a burmese siamese queen in oxfordshire uk. For example if your veterinarian determines that she has approximately four babies from the time the first kitten is born she ll be in labor for another 45 to 90 minutes.
These kittens were born in 1970 but four of them were stillborn. Although the average size of a cat litter is 3 to 5 kitties if the mother is young or if it is her first time giving birth she will have nearly 2 to 3 kittens. Eventually as the cat becomes old er her average litter size will naturally decrease. On the other hand a cat that is 3 or 4 years old will most probably have nearly 4 or 5 kittens in one litter.
Generally cats can have a maximum of 3 litters in a year. Additionally with age the regular size of a cat litter decreases.