Is My Cat Pinking Up?

[alexaleveque]

above are pictures of my cats nipples. some seem slightly more pigmented than others, but they all are definitely much pinker and bigger than they were. this concerns me a little because i did some reading and most sites say that queens only begin to pink up after about two weeks of being pregnant. the only time my cat possibly could’ve mated were the past two nights. we think it happened about 8pm last night (when she went missing) and it is now 5:30 the next day where i am. she came home after about an hour or two of being gone, and we saw a tom cat in our yard shortly before she took off. when she came home, she was just slightly bleeding from her vagina, which has never happened before. is it possible for signs of her being pregnant to show up so soon? sorry if i’m unclear, i’m not too educated on cat pregnancy. all of the cats i’ve ever had have been fixed, we thought we had more time to fix my girl (cosette) even though she is about 10 months old because she is so so small, but now this has happened. thanks in advanced, just wondering if she’s pregnant, something’s wrong, or i’m just being paranoid.

 

[Willowy]

You can have her spayed right now, before the sperm meets the eggs and they implant. If she only got out yesterday it will be just as safe as a normal spay. If she's very small the chances of a bad birthing are increased, so I'd definitely recommend taking care of that quickly.

Her nipples do seem a bit large, but if she never got out before yesterday then it's not from pregnancy. Sometimes being in heat can cause that too.

 

[duckpond]

A good chance she is pregnant, a vet should be able to tell you for sure. Cats can, and do get pregnant very young. One of my females had her first heat at barley 6 months of age. The same week we had her set for a vet appointment to get spayed.
Luckily she never got out, so that was not an issue.

 

[alexaleveque]

thank you both for the info / advice! i’ll try to get her spayed asap, but in the meantime i have another question. since she went into heat this time she has been peeing everywhere. on me, on my mom, on the furniture. i know this must be to mark her territory because of hormones. once she stops going into heat, will this behavior stop? or is this a forever thing now? is there a way to train her out of this new behavior? we absolutely can’t make her an outside cat. she rips at the screen on our windows and the weather stripping on the doors, and she is also just too small for me to be comfortable doing that. and i mean like, really small. i have had countless cats throughout my life and i have never seen a cat as small as her for her age. what do i do about this?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Definitely do not let this cat go through with a pregnancy if she is so small. Where are you located? We can help you to find a clinic.

 

[alexaleveque]

well, we were planning to get her fixed when our tax return came in (it comes in a week or two). that’s the absolute soonest we can do it. will it be too late to get her spayed by then if she really is in the early stages of pregnancy? and we know where we can get her spayed, we have two other girls and a boy (all fixed). we had the means to fix her months ago (obviously we should’ve) but had reservations because she was still so small.

 

[talkingpeanut]

You can do it in a week or two. The sooner the better, obviously. I really would not allow her to have a litter though.

 

[Willowy]

Try not to wait longer than 3 weeks if possible. Before that it's just as safe as a normal spay, after that the risk is slightly increased (but still safer than pregnancy/birthing). But, yeah, 1 or 2 weeks is just fine.

Yep the peeing is because she's in heat, it should stop after she's spayed. I don't think it's gone on long enough to make it a habit. Make sure you clean it thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner to get the odor out entirely.

 

[alexaleveque]

i really don’t want to let it get to that point either. we really have never been irresponsible like this with our pets. we wanted to wait just a month or two more because of her size, and then didn’t have the means to because stuff happens, and now we’re kinda having to play a waiting game. if worse come to worse though, what are the potential risks if she were to end up having a litter?

 

[alexaleveque]

thanks so much! i was really worried. out of my family cosette has definitely become “my cat”. my mom has been threatening to get rid of her (which i understand, she had a cat the peed everywhere for 20 years and doesn’t want to go through it again) and the thought actually makes me sick to my stomach. hoping i can get her fixed in the next few weeks and the behavior stops so this is no longer a possibility in my moms mind.

 

[Willowy]

As for risks, If she's very small she may need a c-section, or get a baby stuck in the birth canal. Of course that's not cheap! It would definitely cost more than a spay.

 

[alexaleveque]

alright, thanks everyone so much for the info, i will get her fixed as soon as possible!

 

[Sarthur2]

If she has a urinary tract infection (UTI), that can cause cats to pee everywhere. She would need antibiotics to cure it if so.

 

[Mommameow]

I see a kitten next to a tabby momma so I am assuming you didnt spay her and let her continue her pregnancy? What a cute baby!