How can I tell if a stray cat is nursing or pregnant?

ekw50

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I recently moved and found this stray cat hanging around the house. We want to bring her inside but can’t tell if she already had her kittens or if she’s only pregnant. Unfortunately the vet can’t get her in for another week, but we’d like to bring her in sooner if we can confirm that she isn’t nursing kittens somewhere. She’s pretty skinny but has a definite belly bump, which makes us think pregnant, but her nipples are enlarged (some moreso than others), which makes us question if she’s currently nursing. She also spends a couple hours a day on our porch but is quite shy and only tolerates a few pets while she’s eating before shying away. Does anyone have an opinion of if she’s pregnant or nursing? Pictures below, thank you!
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Sarthur2

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It looks like she may be both nursing and pregnant, which may be why she’s so skinny. She is definitely pregnant - and it looks like her middle nipples may be in use.

She needs as much nutrition as she can get right now - as in several cans of wet food a day. You can mix some high quality dry food in with the wet, and a dish of kitten formula would give her the extra calcium she needs. Poor thing looks very young.

Can you follow her to see where she goes? If she has kittens hidden somewhere - that’s where she goes. Otherwise, she’ll bring her kittens with her soon if there are any because they’ll need to begin to eat cat food.

If she brings kittens to you, that’s when you need to bring mom and kittens inside. If no kittens show up with her as she gets further along in her pregnancy, then do try to bring her in before she delivers. I definitely think you need to wait a couple of weeks to see if she brings kittens.

If she does not bring kittens, her middle nipples may be the ones she is able to reach and lick the fur away from herself. The pregnant stray I took in a few years ago did that. Time will tell.

Keep us posted and continue to take pictures of her belly every few days and maybe we can figure this out sooner rather than later.

Thank you for caring for her and wanting to adopt her as soon as you can! 😊
E ekw50
 
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ekw50

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Keep us posted and continue to take pictures of her belly every few days and maybe we can figure this out sooner rather than later.
Here’s some more pictures of her from today, strangely enough it looks like her back nipples are bigger this time. We’ve tried following her a few times but she’s really good at disappearing behind houses :rolleyes: Trying again today, she tends to spend a lot of time just hanging out around our house though. But she’s definitely pretty pregnant
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Heart For Cats

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Queens are able to get pregnant whenever they mate tomcats. She probably abandoned her kittens after getting pregnant again.
 

Sarthur2

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Her belly looks pretty big in the first picture, and is she leaking milk from her nipples? I see white on the tips. She’s either nursing or soon to give birth if she’s leaking milk.
 
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ekw50

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I see white on the tips
I agree that they look white in the picture but we checked before and after the picture was taken and didn't see anything, so maybe the camera was being weird? Not sure.

We followed her for ~3 hours today and she mostly just lazed around the house but she did lead us to an abandoned shed, we didn't hear any kittens though.
 
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