cat pregnant ?

hi i was just wondering if anyone could help . my cat ruby is 1year , house cat due to living on a busy road . she got out about 3-4 weeks ago was missing for 3days. not sure if she was in season at the time but was acting very strange . i have noticed her nipples are getting bigger ? i have never had a pregnant cat so any advice would be great. please no judging me i took her n her sister on at 6months as they was un wanted , and didnt think she would sneak out :/ . x

About 4-5 weeks into pregnancy is when you can feel lumps in her belly. But nipples getting bigger is a sign as well. She will increase her eating quite a bit too. I would be safe an assume she's pregnant. Don't let her out, especially at the end of pregnancy because male cats can harm her and babies. I know u mentioned having another female in the house... There is no male right? If so, keep him away from babies when born.

I am with my first litter too... Dora is almost 11 months old and is in her 9th week. Somewhere around 62-67 days. She is starting pre-labor, possibly stage 1 labor the past couple days. Just waiting for contractions to start on our end.

Good luck your Lil mommie

Hi thanks for replying . Yes there anoutha cat her sister but no male cat. I can see her belly is getting bigger but when i touch her belly she seems abit unhappy about it . N aww how cute . Is there anything I should do or do I just leave her and carry on as normal lol

Sounds horribly like she was in call, and you could have had her spayed as soon as she came back - at that point in time conception might just have happened. 

It is very much in her best interests to be spayed as soon as her kittens are weaned, unless you have no objection to a spay-abort. 

Spaying is much more than a method of contraception.  It will stop her risk of breast cancer continuing to increase (it goes up with each call) and will almost remove the risk of pyometra. 

Since you live on a busy road, it might also prevent her having an accident - cats in call are often very determined to get out, as you've already found.

Hopefully her sister is already spayed - if not please get her done ASAP.  And it's by far best to get all cats (male and female) neutered by the time they are 6 months old.

Cats have their kittens an average of 65 days after first mating.  If you know or can work out the dates she went out there are plenty of on-line cat pregnancy calculators which will give you her due date.

She was ment to be getting done this month as they have a free month at the vets . As I can not afford to get both girls done . Her sister will still be getting done this month n her asoon as she can . I didn't think she would get out as I'm always really carefull about the doors being opened/windows .

Have you thought about how you will manage if she needs vetinary help when kittening?  Mostly cats are fine, but it does happen and usually in the middle of the night.  I also worked out how much my last foster litter cost, and it was several times the prices of a normal spay at my reasonably priced UK vets.  That was without the vet care (checking, chipping, vaccinating, neutering voucher) the kittens got from the rescue I was fostering for.

I have rang around vets in my area and found a rspca vets who have gave me prices ect and they do a payment thing . I understand what your saying but I don't agree with killing her kittens .

Unfortunately cats and kittens get killed every day in some rescues as a home can't be found fast enough.  Her kittens might be taking homes some of those could have.

Spay-abort is very distatestful, but in my view euthanasing older cats & kittens is even more distasteful.

And please, in the future make sure any kittens you get are neutered by the time they are 6 months old.

Ok well next time I won't take two kittens who was unwanted . Thanks for the advice :-)

OrientalSlave said:

And please, in the future make sure any kittens you get are neutered by the time they are 6 months old.

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In many places vets are willing and skilled in neutering them earlier, at about 9-10 weeks. But at latest 6 months yes.

Ok sumner make sure she has plenty of food and water. Threwout her pregnancy and make sure she has it also while she is feeding the babies. I understand that you didn't expect her to get pregnant and that you was going to get her spayed sometime this month. I didn't worry about my girl getting pregnant since I had no plans on letting her be around other cats unless they was one of my familys cats (my grandma has a girl named Abby and my girl is named Tabby didn't think about the names lol) I had plans on getting my girl spayed as soon as I went back to work at a job that is seasonal but so far they havnt called me back and when we get money (which is like every couple weeks or so from helping my bfs mom or asking my grandma for alil to get Tabby something to eat) I get as much food as I can with the money so that she will be good to go for a while. With how much she eats I have enough to last her and her kitten till about next month and by then my bf should have had his first check and we should be able to get her spayed. Back to my point sorry. I ain't judging you the point on me telling you that was to show I'm in the exact same boat you are in financially. I just wanted you to know you ain't alone and that you can get her spayed after the kittens are weened off. Hope you and the mama and kittens are doing fine.

sumner1991 said:

Ok well next time I won't take two kittens who was unwanted . Thanks for the advice :-)

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And how come there was an unwanted kitten?  Because her mother hadn't been spayed soon enough.  It's a cycle, the only sure way of breaking it is spaying before a female cat can get pregnant.  By 6 months at the latest.

Look up information about nesting spots. Set her up one and see how she likes it, it will be needed in a couple weeks

On nesting spots they need to be out of the hussle and bussle of the house somewhere she is comfertable and can raise her kittens make multyple spots so she can choose from them.

Don't be soured on taking in your kittens. Most of us have observed so many cats and kittens euthenized because of a lack of owner responsibility it's hard not to 'preach' a little on the subject. Go into any shelter, it's absolutely heartbreaking to see all the cats and kittens that have no homes, and most are likely to be killed, if not by the shelter then by predators at the farms they probably will end up at. If every owner would spay/neuter by six months it would help tremendously. Also when a cat is in heat it is so distressing for the owner! The constant meowing, the sudden bad habits such as peeing all over the house, the escaping (or trying). Good luck on your new additions, thank you so much for being compassionate to these babies. They will bring you many years of happiness! 

Hi I just wana do the best I can for her know . There is always food and water left out for them but I seen somewhere to feed her kitten food ? . Ruby's doing fine just sleeping a lot . Her nipples have gone bigger since I last looked and the hair round them is going is that normal ? N i really didn't expect her to get out but she just shot out that day :-( never seen her move so fast x

No-one expects their cat to get out, but I've lost count of how many times people her say it has happened to them.

Yes, bigger nipples and hair lose round them is normal.

Well my ruby starting to show and has what looks like dried milk on her nipples :/ cud that mean I have dates wrong

Are you sure what date she shot out? If you are add 65 days though of course they can be a few days either side. If not they will arrive when they do.

Yes, she needs as much dry kitten food as she wants and also timed wet food. As a general rule once you can see/feel the babies moving you are about two weeks away from delivery. In the meantime, look through past threads to get an idea of what is to come and check out these links as well: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/249018/...regnant-cats-kitten-care-articles-and-threads . 

You do need to get her nesting box ready and also your birthing kit. At a minimum your kit should have plenty of extra bedding, a scale that weighs in grams, dental floss or very blunt scissors (in case you need to tie off any of the cords and don't want to use your hands), and a notebook with your vet and after hours vets number written inside. Usually things go off smoothy and Mom knows what to do but if there is an emergency every second counts and you need to be prepared to rush her to the vet, regardless of the time of day. 

Keep doing your research and preparing your home and ask more specific questions if they come up.