After 6 litters I know a wee bit 

I had to give the kiss of life to one of her 1st litter. My best advice is to let her get on with it. Don't move her bed and keep her in. Also keep at least one kitten until her milk is gone. If not it goes like a brick and is VERY uncomfortable for the cat. 

I did that with the second one, but the third, coming while I had 40 winks, was fine and she has been a stirling mum ever since. I have homes for them, but I'm definitely keeping the tortoiseshell (sp) in memory of a young cat I had about 25 years ago. She had her kittens in the middle of the night under my Welsh dresser and within hours my young tom killed them out of jealousy. I put him in the car and drove to my best friend's house and told her if she didn't take him there and then I'd probably swing for him. Needless to say, she did. My cat never recovered and left us after about a months. I knew where she went, but I had to give up eventually, because she just didn't want to be with us anymore. I couldn;t blame her.

PS. I fished out the old litter tray because she kept going behind one of my antique travelling boxes, but she still didn't want to know, so I put it where she has been going and it's fine now. She went out yesterday and I did panic a wee bit, but she was back in less than 2 minutes. I really think she needed to stretch her legs properly.

Thanks for keeping us up to date with the cat news cologne.

So pleased that all seems to be going well. 

Thanks brisket . I'm starting to feel that I'm going on too much.