Stray Lurking Possibly pregnant?

[ParkourJuno]

Hello and thank you for having me!

This little girl has been hanging around my yard for the last few months. I've only ever seen one other cat around my yard as I have 2 Great Danes and not much ever comes around in terms of wildlife.
She's taken to my dogs and they've taken to her so I've taken her in cautiously. Tonight I noticed she's wider in the rib cage area than she had been just within the last month or two. She doesn't like to be held but I have picked her up a few times over the months and she's always been very dainty and petite but now her abdomen feels harder underneath. I took a look at her nipples as well, I'll post pictures. I felt a could of them upon first picking her up where as I never felt that before but they're still so tiny and mostly flesh colored.
I do intend on taking her to the vet. I've put a flea and tick treatment on her (topical) and she was given dewormer. I intend to keep her! She's such a sweet girl. So I will be having her altered as soon as it's confirmed pregnant or not. Based on photos, any thoughts? I have fostered many, but never had a pregnant queen! (She is a young girl, I've watched her grow since she's been hanging around so much, I'm betting on almost a year or less)

Thanks in advance!!

 

[StefanZ]

My guess is she is preg.
So you have the choice;
if you want kitten, just proceed... Prepare as best you can.

if you DONT want kittens, you can make a spay-abort... Its not that pleasant, but doable... The cost will be just somewhat highter than a common abort - which you want to do anyway.

Whichever you choose - we will support your decision and continue with advicing.

 

[StefanZ]

ps. Kittens will prob tend to be black with white, as momma.... But its not sure they will be mediumhaired as momma. Probably not. It depends also on the father.

 

[ParkourJuno]

My guess is she is preg.
So you have the choice;
if you want kitten, just proceed... Prepare as best you can.

if you DONT want kittens, you can make a spay-abort... Its not that pleasant, but doable... The cost will be just somewhat highter than a common abort - which you want to do anyway.

Whichever you choose - we will support your decision and continue with advicing.

Thank you for your input! I'm watching her carefully as she isn't bulking up and hasn't had an intense appetite. It's only a few of her nipples that seem to be more prominent than they were previously.
There is a wait list for spay at my veterinarian office and I have a hard time trusting our low cost clinics due to many poorly done spay and neuter. I did plan on getting her in right away for tests and vaccines but if she's pregnant I don't want them to do vaccines for the health of both her and the kittens. If I can her spayed/abort and she's guaranteed to have no issues as a result , I definitely will! But if I cannot and I can just keep her healthy as well as any potential kittens I will in all these months. She never leaves it beyond t
do that. Thank you for that advice!

 

[ParkourJuno]

Low and behold, I do not think she's pregnant! There has been no change in her nipples since the day I posted. No change in appetite, no sickness. It's hard to tell when or if she was in heat because from observing her for so long I had never seen her do any of the typical heat behaviors. No yowling or excessive meowing, no hind end tale to the side, nothing as always described. So perhaps this little girl silently heats and therefore avoided any possible Tom's!

 

[StefanZ]

Low and behold, I do not think she's pregnant! There has been no change in her nipples since the day I posted. No change in appetite, no sickness. It's hard to tell when or if she was in heat because from observing her for so long I had never seen her do any of the typical heat behaviors. No yowling or excessive meowing, no hind end tale to the side, nothing as always described. So perhaps this little girl silently heats and therefore avoided any possible Tom's!

Toms do usually recognize a silent heat... That is even a standard way to discover silent heat, with cats or with horse mares... Having a friendly tom or a lte cut friendly tom, whom cant impregnate but is still good in recognizing signs... In horse circles its called for a probier "stud" ie a try out stud

 

[StefanZ]

Any way, if she isnt preg, perhaps you can plan for a spaying...

 

[ParkourJuno]

Toms do usually recognize a silent heat... That is even a standard way to discover silent heat, with cats or with horse mares... Having a friendly tom or a lte cut friendly tom, whom cant impregnate but is still good in recognizing signs... In horse circles its called for a probier "stud" ie a try out stud

Thanks for the info! She definitely doesn't go into any kind of heat that I've seen every other cat go into. She's extremely relaxed though so it may be part of her personality, I have no idea. I have not seen any other cat around for a good month or more.

 

[ParkourJuno]

Any way, if she isnt preg, perhaps you can plan for a spaying...

Oh yes, I made an appointment for the soonest available which is in 2 months! She got her tests and vaccines done yesterday!