Cat 63 days pregnant, a few questions

[EeveeOnix899]

Hi everyone! My cat, Eevee, is roughly 63 days pregnant (the beginning of her last heat cycle was June 11th). We have a male cat, Onix, and we assumed we still had a few weeks left before needing to spay/neuter them as he is younger than her, but here we are. Before getting into anything else, my most important question would be how soon after birth am I able to book her in to be spayed? And, will the kittens need to be transported with her? Vets are all still curbside due to lockdown restrictions. Onix will be neutered as well. They're fully indoor cats, and they will be separated during and after the birth until she's spayed.

So, now to the other things: I am getting very nervous and excited about the possibility of kittens coming! Eevee has been on royal canin kitten food since we found out, and has only eaten wet food (Wellness brand) since I got her. Nesting box set up, yesterday we started giving her small amounts of goat's milk at morning feed and night feed. She has been loving belly rubs. I have been able to feel kicks for 3 weeks and 2 days, and there have been no signs of impending labor. She still has a big appetite, no pacing, no panting, no discharge. I feel so impatient! I thought I'd share her progress here, and post a few photos of them. I'm curious to see any guesses for what their kittens will look like, and I'll share my own!

Since they're both colour point I know that the kittens will be too. However, Onix is such a strange cat. He has lynx-point markings, but I've never seen one as dark as him? Eevee is pedigree without papers, but Onix is not. He was a rescue at 4 weeks old (came with whiskers either cut off, or nibbled off by litter mates, hence why they're short in the photo, they only recently started growing back in). I'm going to guess they'll be 50/50 seal point solid and lynx-point?

 

[Apparel]

Hello!
don't get Eevee fixed till the kittens are done nursing off her and have moved on to kitten food! your best bet would be to get Onix fixed so you don't have to rush her to get fixed.

 

[Sarthur2]

Agree, go ahead and get your male neutered now. Nursing moms are not spayed until the kittens are at least 8 weeks old and weaned to soft foods. Your mom cat will likely have a heat cycle before then (yes, they can go into heat while still nursing), but if your male is neutered and mom stays inside, there will be no mating.

StefanZ can answer your color questions about the genetics of the kittens.

 

[EeveeOnix899]

Apparel Sarthur2

Thanks so much, I'm so happy to hear that! I'll try to get him booked for later this week, there is an SPCA near me that does low(er) cost neutering, I believe. Should I keep them apart for 4 weeks after, then? They're a very bonded pair- she took on the mother role after we rescued him and they hate being apart. They spend nearly every waking second together, and sleep together too! Happy to have them separated for a while to avoid any mating, though. Will they still recognize each other after being apart for so long?

StefanZ

I'd love to hear your thoughts! I believe Eevee's brothers and sisters were seal point, blue point and one chocolate point (litter of 8, she was one of two girls). I think Onix's mom was a blue point, not sure about the father or littermates. Not sure if that makes a difference!

 

[StefanZ]

I think they are seal points them too. I dint see clearly the tabby / lynx marks. So my guess what you see is ghost markings. Quite common to see on solid colored cats.

 

[Apparel]

Apparel Sarthur2

Thanks so much, I'm so happy to hear that! I'll try to get him booked for later this week, there is an SPCA near me that does low(er) cost neutering, I believe. Should I keep them apart for 4 weeks after, then? They're a very bonded pair- she took on the mother role after we rescued him and they hate being apart. They spend nearly every waking second together, and sleep together too! Happy to have them separated for a while to avoid any mating, though. Will they still recognize each other after being apart for so long?

StefanZ

I'd love to hear your thoughts! I believe Eevee's brothers and sisters were seal point, blue point and one chocolate point (litter of 8, she was one of two girls). I think Onix's mom was a blue point, not sure about the father or littermates. Not sure if that makes a difference!

I was told to keep my male away from other cats for 10 days I believe. They are also a pretty bonded group. Due to the situation I was in and the fact that he hated being in the bathroom alone, I just let him out on day two with the other two females and watched him closely, I tried to make sure he wasn't being overgroomed by the girls, all they did was check it out and didn't really care for it anymore, I checked on him a lot. The incision they make for male cats to remove the testicles doesn't need stitches and will heal on its own pretty fast. one more thing, do not forget to stop feeding your cat at 9 pm the night before surgery, make sure he has no water or food to eat all night and all morning till after surgery.

 

[EeveeOnix899]

StefanZ

Oh, that's interesting! Sometimes they seem pretty prominent, but normally just in good natural lighting. So, likely they'll all be solid seal point then?

Apparel

Thanks so much for your thorough responses. I'll make sure to stop feeding and I'll listen to any instructions from the vet!

An update on Eevee's pregnancy:

She dropped yesterday, and lost her appetite last night- she's only eating about half of what she has been. She's also started grooming herself more, but not her genital region. It's more like her upper back? Maybe she can't reach? She has also been laying in her nesting box more than usual. However, she's still sleeping a lot and not restless at all. I'm hopeful these are some signs she'll go into labor soon. They'll come when they're ready.. but I hope that they're ready sooner than later!! Waiting sucks.

 

[StefanZ]

Yes, its nearing now. Her licking of the backside MAY be she has some pre contractions... You can try to help her with massaging her with your fingertops?
both this backside and belly if she wish.


And yeah, they are solid black. No true tabby gene.
Because if its a real tabby, you wont hesitate, it would be visible loud and clear.

 

[StefanZ]

StefanZ

Oh, that's interesting! Sometimes they seem pretty prominent, but normally just in good natural lighting. So, likely they'll all be solid seal point then?

Apparel

Thanks so much for your thorough responses. I'll make sure to stop feeding and I'll listen to any instructions from the vet!

An update on Eevee's pregnancy:

She dropped yesterday, and lost her appetite last night- she's only eating about half of what she has been. She's also started grooming herself more, but not her genital region. It's more like her upper back? Maybe she can't reach? She has also been laying in her nesting box more than usual. However, she's still sleeping a lot and not restless at all. I'm hopeful these are some signs she'll go into labor soon. They'll come when they're ready.. but I hope that they're ready sooner than later!! Waiting sucks.

Ps. To be clear, Im not meaning they will be literally solid black. Im just saying the black they do carry, is a solid black, not a brown tabby.
Being points they are seal points. Of course they will be darker and darker with time on the body, but they wont never be totally pitch black.

The ghost tabby markings will prob be less visible with age, but may remain.

 

[EeveeOnix899]

StefanZ

Gotcha! Cat genetics are so interesting.

No kittens yet. Eevee is still just sleeping a lot, her appetite has decreased but she's still eating her regular pre-pregnancy amount, so I guess about half of what it was last week. Onix has started spraying this morning. He's never done that before. Is it because of Eevee's hormones?

A sad update though: I've called every clinic that's open (it's 8:45 am here) within ~45-minute driving distance, and they're all charging about $500 to neuter and booking into November or December. So, at this point, they're going to be separated for months. I'm really at a loss with what to do. They're going to be miserable, and having Eevee confined to my room just doesn't seem fair. I wanted to neuter/spay the kittens before they go to their forever homes at 12 weeks too, depending on how many there are (we plan to keep one). I still have to call the SPCA ($85) as they open at 9, but I've heard their waitlist is even longer. I'd really appreciate some advice around this.

 

[Sarthur2]

Get on the SPCA wait-list no matter what. Book appointments if they let you, even if they are far off. Book your male first, then call the day after mom gives birth and book mom for a spay 8 weeks down the road, and book the kittens for 12 weeks down the road.

With my local SPCA, they allow us to call in the mornings when they first open and ask about cancellations. I got one of my cats in weeks early due to calling about cancellations.

What is your city and state? I’ll look around for other low-cost options.

 

[Apparel]

Yikes, that price is honestly not right. I called around when I was getting my male neutered and there were some crazy expensive ones but we went to one we got my dog put down at when it was her time and they do it for $100 and we only had to wait a week or two. Keep searching & I hope you find a better cost.

 

[EeveeOnix899]

Sarthur2 , I'm in Ontario, Canada. I can send a message with my exact town- it's small, so for privacy reasons I'd rather not say publically!

Apparel , I was shocked! But everywhere was quoting around that price. A vet we've been to in town said that most clinics were closed during lockdown (we've been locked down for months) and only a few were curbside, so there are huge delays everywhere, and most clinics are at capacity/not accepting new patients. Maybe there's an uptick in pricing right now because of it. I'm able to afford it, I have a solid vet expense savings account, but I'd prefer not to pay that much.

Still no signs of labor! She's just lazing around on the chair next to me.

 

[EeveeOnix899]

Sarthur2 , actually I'm sorry but I can't figure out how to send you a private message? If its not possible to, I'm in between Toronto and Niagara Falls- they're both about an hour drive from me.

 

[Apparel]

Sarthur2 , actually I'm sorry but I can't figure out how to send you a private message? If its not possible to, I'm in between Toronto and Niagara Falls- they're both about an hour drive from me.

Hover over sarthur2's name in your last post and press start a conversation.

 

[Sarthur2]

So you are in Ontario, Canada. I’ll look around. In the meantime, what did the SPCA say today?

 

[EeveeOnix899]

Sarthur2

Sorry for the late response! The spay and neuter waitlist is closed, so I'm not able to book either of them. They are also only doing surgeries two days a week, and with the SPCA you can only book within your own region so I couldn't travel to one further away. Thanks Apparel for the help with sending a message, I'll do that now with my location.

Eevee had her kittens last night - five of them! Delivery wasn't the smoothest, had to call the emergency vet at one point. She was so scared! Only woke me up about 10 minutes before the first one came out, she jumped, tossed it out of the nesting box and we thought she was going to eat it. Thankfully she didn't, and they all seem healthy! I wasn't even that anxious about having my son! After that, she yanked the blanket off of my bed and had them on the floor inside of it. Certainly not ideal, but we checked in on her every ~30 minutes as per the vets' advice and she was doing great. It took her about 4 hours to have the five of them! I've only been able to weigh one, the middle-sized one, and it was 114.5g. She's not a fan of us handling them yet.

She has eaten a bit, but I can't tell if she's using the litterbox. The kittens also seem to be nursing pretty constantly. They're all white, but one of them is a bit concerning. It has more of a yellow coat than white and is missing some fur on its face around its cheeks and nose. I'm hoping that's not cause for concern?

I'll post photos of them soon!

 

[EeveeOnix899]

I forgot to ask, is twitching normal in kittens? The yellowish one was twitching a bit, but it was falling asleep I think.

Is there a way to tell if she's helping them go to the bathroom? They seem to be nursing a lot so when I check on her, I haven't seen her licking them much.

 

[EeveeOnix899]

Sorry to post so many times in a row! I just weighed the yellowish one, the smallest of the 5, and s/he is 108g.

 

[Sarthur2]

Their weights are good and all sound healthy for now. Just make sure all 5 kittens are nursing regularly.

Let her nest where she pleases the first few days. She’ll relax more in 2-3 days and you may be able to get them into a proper nesting box or area.

If mom ate all the placentas she may not eat her food right away, but usually within 12-24 hours she will use the litter and begin eating again.

Weigh the babies daily and congrats!