Cat Placenta
Cat owners sometimes become alarmed when their cat eats the placenta, or afterbirth, but this is a normal action. There are various theories as to why animals eat the placenta. One of them is that the animal does so to remove traces of the birth. This is important’ to wild animals, which must guard against other predatory animals lurking nearby, many of which will eat the young. Another theory is that the mother eats the placenta to provide a temporary source of nourishment, since she will be unable to leave the newborn animals for sometime.
Try to keep a count of the placentas as each one is expelled. Aplacenta should follow the birth of each kitten. Sometimes a placenta isretained when the cord between the foetal membrane and the placentabreaks. If the cat does not expel the placenta, it must be removed inanother way. Grasp the broken cord hanging out of the vagina with aclean towel and gently and slowly pull out the placenta. A retainedplacenta may interfere with the birth of the next kitten, and, if re-tained after the last kitten is born, will decompose and cause infection.