Pregnant Cat

lazerbootz

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Hi all,

I've been reading a lot of the threads in here for about a week and decided to make an account just to share.

My cat is currently 64 days pregnant based on what my vet said. Her name is Ryoko and she's a little over a year old. We took her in on the 26th of February to confirm pregnancy and were told she should give birth in a week. We did call them yesterday to tell them there were no signs of labor and they said to come in on Saturday if she doesn't have them by then. She's a domestic short hair (her mom is a calico and her dad is an orange tabby) and was given to me by my sister. We have one other cat named Gizmo (he's been neutered) and a shiba inu. Both of our cats are indoor cats so I didn't see the need to get her spayed right away.

Backstory of what happened:
Last year my husbands parents dropped both of their 2 cats (Cali and Jackson who are both fixed) and their dog Olive on us because they were in the process of selling their house and didn't want the animals there during the process. We were only supposed to watch them up until December, but they have since told us that they no longer want them and to either keep them or find them new homes which has been extremely stressful because now we have 6 animals and we also have 2 children.

Two of the cats got out sometime in January late at night (one of them being Ryoko and she's never been outside). I noticed she started to look bigger in February and her nipples were more visible then I felt movement in her stomach while I was petting her so we ended up taking her to the vet. I read that cats can be pregnant from 58-67 days and my vet also said the same thing.

I have a few nesting spots set up that she has no interest in whatsoever and have bought the some items that I've seen people post about in here and on other websites such as (gloves, dental floss, a scale, powdered kmr, nursing bottle just in case etc).

And yes, we will be getting her spayed after she gives birth, we've already talked about it with our vet.

So yeah that's it. Just wanted to share.
I've attached photos of all the cats as well
Ryoko (Orange and black)
Gizmo (White)
Jackson (White and black)
Cali (Grey and white)
 

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Sarthur2

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The cats are gorgeous! So sorry your in-laws felt it was okay to dump their pets on you, then abdicate responsibility for them altogether.

Regardless, thank you for giving them a good home, and for preparing for kittens. Do be advised that if you need to supplement, that not all kittens will take a bottle, so pick up a 1-2mL syringe at a pharmacy to have on hand.

I don’t think you need to see the vet again on Saturday if she’s not in labor yet, especially as some cats will go to 70 days, and your vet is just estimating the days anyway. It’s only an emergency if she goes into labor and cannot deliver the kittens. Most cats go into labor when their bodies are ready and deliver just fine without intervention. Cats will choose a nest at the last minute as well!

Keep us posted!
 
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lazerbootz

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Thank you! And yes, we really don't want to give them away because they've been in the family for years so were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Thanks for the advice on the syringe, I'll pick one up today to have on hand. I have never had a pregnant animal in my life so this is very new for me so I hope things go well over here. I appreciate your response to my post and will update if anything happens!
 
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lazerbootz

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So all 5 kittens are here! Ryoko woke me up around 5:45 am crying and wouldn't stop. Ended up in my sons closet, but I moved her to the spot in my closet that I had set up. Contractions started a little before 8am and she had the last kitty at almost 10am. She was a trooper for sure!
 

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lazerbootz

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Congrats and a nice little mixture. They're beautiful 😍
Yes they're all adorable! Their mommy did such a good job. I am surprised at how different they all are lol, but I don't know who the dad is so 🤷‍♀️
 
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lazerbootz

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Well, I have some scary news.

Ryoko has been in and out of her nesting box for the past 30 minutes or so and meowing. She laid on my bathroom floor so I started to pet her and felt a hard lump in her belly. I'm thinking it might be an unborn kitten. I've already called the emergency vet and am waiting for my husband to get home (we only have one working car atm) so we can take her in. Our regular vet told us there were only 5 kittens during the ultrasound so maybe he might have missed this one. I'm sure she ate all the placentas too.

I'm praying she's ok and everything is fine.
 

Sarthur2

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Hopefully a shot of oxytocin will help her deliver a final kitten and no C-section will be necessary. A cat can deliver another kitten that may have been conceived later a day or days later. Mother Nature usually takes care of things.
 
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lazerbootz

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A little update:

She had diarrhea and threw up before we went to the emergency vet on Thursday night. When we got there the Dr said he didn't think the lump was another kitten based on what our vet said, since she already had an x-ray to confirm the amount of kittens in there. He said he thought the lump was most likely her mammary glands swelling and that it would go away on its own (which didn't make sense to me because mammary glands are on the stomach and not on the side). He gave her anti-nausea medicine and sent us home with pills to put on her food for the diarrhea.

We took her to our regular vet the next morning and he did some blood work and didn't want to do an x-ray because he too didn't think the lump could be a kitten since he already confirmed how many she was supposed to have. We told him she ate all the placentas from each birth and he said we shouldn't have let her do that and could be why she threw up and was having diarrhea. He gave her an antibiotic injection and fluids because she hadn't drank anything that morning or the night that she threw up etc.

When we got home she ate a good amount of food and started drinking water. This morning when she got out of her box I pet her and didn't feel the lump that I had when we took her to the vet so I'm still uncertain of what it was. She's eating and drinking, but seems very sluggish when she walks around. She stays with her kittens nonstop unless she needs to use the bathroom or eat/drink.

I'm going to keep an eye on her and if I still think something isn't right I will take her to a different vet.

Sorry about the long posts, I know it's a lot.
 
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lazerbootz

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Just wanted to update ya'll with photos of the kitties. They'll be 8 weeks tomorrow.
 

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HeyKat

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They really are beautiful! Such a nice variety!

Are you going to adopt them all out? Do you still have all 6 adult cats and dogs with you?
 
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lazerbootz

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They really are beautiful! Such a nice variety!

Are you going to adopt them all out? Do you still have all 6 adult cats and dogs with you?
Our black kitty (Kisa) was rehomed yesterday to a wonderful family. I would keep them all if my husband allowed it lol. We might be keeping one, but that's up for debate.
We still have all 4 adult cats and the dog that my husbands parents brought over was given to a nice family last month.
 
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