Pregnant Stray

Dav96

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Hi!
my girlfriend and I were recently adopted by a small black female stray cat who we think is no older than a year old.

When she first started visiting, we started feeding her outside and gradually moving her food closer to us to the point that she let us pet her, a few weeks after that we ended up feeding her inside, letting her come and go as she pleased (she actively chose to sleep inside during the night and go about her business during the day)

Around two-three weeks ago, we took her to the vets to see if she was chipped, which she wasn’t and we were told that we can take her on or take her to a charity, so we decided to take her on.

During the vet trip, they gave her a general checkup to make sure she’s okay and they said there’s a 97% chance she’s pregnant.

Come to now, we can 100% tell that she is pregnant and can occasionally see/feel the little kittens moving around. Because of how pregnant she looks we’ve been keeping her shut inside so she doesn’t give birth outside, but she actively tries to get outside at around midnight to 2am and between 8am to 9am. We feel terrible that she’s being so restless.

We have a birthing box set up underneath a desk with a blanket covering it so it’s in the dark, we keep dry food out for her 24/7 and feed her wet kitten food mixed with water three times a day (she doesn’t seem to eat the dry food and doesn’t seem to drink water, that’s why we’ve been adding it to her wet food.)

We’re completely unsure about what to do/expect due to either of us never having a female cat, let alone a pregnant one. Any tips and advice will be greatly appreciated!

We plan on getting her spayed after she’s given birth and weened the kittens.
 
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Dav96

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64D4BA68-6D94-49C8-B5C7-73D43631B4F5.jpeg
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This is her, we’ve named her Violet as it’s the colour of the flower in our garden that she was first laying by when she first visited us!
 

fionasmom

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Welcome to The Cat Site! You are very kind to have taken on this little girl. She looks so comfortable and happy in your home....not to mention that she is one of the lucky ones to have a home. She may not be feral at all, but a stray who for so many reasons does not have or lost her home, accidentally or intentionally.

Let her eat as much as she wants. Wet food is better in the long run for her health, but having the dry out is certainly okay. As for letting her out......how far along is she? The vet told you 97% certainty that she was pregnant, which as you say now has become 100%, but did he say how many weeks? Would it be in his notes if you called?

I would not let her out. All you need is for those kittens to be born under some bush someplace where you have to find and care for them. Outdoor mother cats will move litters if they see fit, so it can get even more complicated. As I said, she is probably not feral, but I have had many experiences with kittens born out of doors and you don't want to go there if you can help it.
 
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Dav96

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Hi, an update to this,

The kittens are moving around inside of her a lot now, more or less all the time. She’s hardly eating now too. She’s still being very affectionate for a few minutes then wanting to be by herself afterwards.

She’s been trying to get behind the bed and has gotten stuck down there a few times due to there being a small gap at the headboard and the wall, we have two nesting areas set up for her but she still isn’t using either yet.

She’s started grooming herself quite frequently but not consistently, it’ll be for 20-30 minutes at a time.

She still seems to be carrying the kittens on her sides, do all cats stomachs drop before labour? We haven’t noticed any discharge yet either but with her being black, it’s quite hard to see. She’s been making semi-frequent litter box trips, sometimes not even going but just digging in it. She’s also done a rather soft poop today (i read that this is a sign of starting pre-labour?)

She’s slept for the entirety of the day, I woke up at 6am and fed her, she didn’t really eat anything other than the gravy from it and then went and slept till around midday, wandered around a bit and then slept again, she’s still borderline asleep now at 21:24.

She hasn’t been very vocal so far today, maybe one or two meows, that’s it. No purring either. Pretty much just sleeping.

We’re super anxious about when she’ll be giving birth and because we’re not sure when she was mated it makes it very awkward to know what week she’s in, we’re predicting tail end of week 8 maybe week 9.

again, any help and advice is great, thank you!!
 

Sarthur2

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Most cats do drop at the end of pregnancy, and she sounds very near the end.

Most cats also do not go to their nests until they are ready to give birth.

Everything sounds very normal so far, so continue to watch and wait!
 
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Dav96

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Oh okay! That’s great!! I’ve managed to encourage her to eat her soupy wet food with a Lik-e-lick on top because she hadn’t really eaten all day. She’s now starting her night time yowling routine to get out of the room haha.

if you could give a rough estimate, how long do you think it’ll be until she gives birth from this?

Thank you!!
 

Sarthur2

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It’s difficult to say, but a vet x-ray can tell you how many kittens she is carrying and an approximate gestational age of the kittens.

I had an x-ray done on a pregnant stray I took in, and the vet said 4 kittens and she had 4 healthy kittens. He said she should have them in 7-10 days and they came 12 days later.
 
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Dav96

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We don’t really want to stress her out with a visit to the vets with her being this pregnant, it’s about a 30 minute walk away and she’s usually very restless in her carrier.

We think she’s just being extremely picky with her food at the moment, we had to order a quick delivery of some and she doesn’t seem too keen on it. We have some Lily’s Kitchen kitten food on the way today, hopefully she’ll be happy with that!

Last night she was a lot calmer than usual, we put some cat tv on for her when we went to sleep hoping that it’ll keep her occupied instead of attempting to scratch her way out of the door and it seemed to have worked, she likes the mouse videos!

She pooped again in the night and this one was back to being a normal one so i feel like it was a one off soft poop. She’s doing extremely well!

We also noticed one of her nipples is very flat and long, the rest are quite thick and long. Is this a cause for concern? Considering we think she’s a maiden she shouldn’t have more than 8 kittens right?
 
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Dav96

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Another update regarding her poop, she did a solid, normal poop during the night but she went again about an hour ago and it was super soft again. Being the anxious first time pregnant cat owners we’re just wanting to make sure everything is okay. Will update on her poop situation again when she goes next
 

Sarthur2

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When there is a food change a poop change follows. It’s usually nothing to be concerned about.

At this point you’re just waiting now. 😊
 
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Dav96

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She still hasn’t pooped again yet but she ate at around 10am and hasn’t eaten since, we put some wet food down for her at around 6pm and she hasn’t touched it. Just laying around a lot and snoozing. She watched some cat tv for a bit and semi-pounced at the screen so she’s still being slightly active.

The kittens are still moving around like crazy and it’s starting to look like her weight is shifting from her sides to her belly, is this normally a slow progress or does it happen quickly?
 
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Dav96

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Okay, that’s good to know! She’s being quite active now, pacing around and meowing, it looks like she’s looking for a nest too.

She’s sniffed her food a few times but won’t eat it which is very unlike her, even recently she’s either gone straight for it or completely ignored it for hours, never a ‘i’m hungry, no i’m not’
 
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Dav96

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Still not eaten at 22:30, hopefully she’ll eat during the night.

Also she’s started laying differently recently, maybe the past 4, maybe 5 days. It’s like she’s laying down properly but keeping her bum off of the floor? I’ll add pictures of what I mean.

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Is this normal behaviour?
 
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Dav96

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a quick update, she’s decided to eat but she’s gone for her dry food instead of her wet food. I might try mixing some into her wet food soon.
 

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Yes, babies are pushing downward, making her uncomfortable. She’s lying in a way that feels best for her.

Do you see any contractions? They will look like ripples down her sides.
 
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Dav96

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Not that either of us have noticed, we’ve been suspecting that she’s in pre-labour but everywhere we’ve read says that lasts up to 36 hours, she’s been acting like she’s in pre-labour for the past two days now.

She’ll occasionally jump and move to another spot, but this isn’t very often at all, maybe once or twice a day. The kittens look like they’re moving around non-stop too.

Also it probably doesn’t help that we’re not exactly sure what the ripples look like haha
 

Sarthur2

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Ripples look like waves down her sides. You’ll recognize them when you see them. It sounds like she’s not there yet.
 
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Dav96

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oh okay! Will keep you posted on those!

a lovely 3:40am update, she managed to get into her dry food bag, which is strange as she was refusing any form of food that i gave her before we went to sleep. I got out of bed and offered her some wet food and some of the standard dry food and she didn’t want to eat either. it’s almost like she’s hungry, but not for what we’re offering…

Starting to worry again because of the eating situation now :(
 
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