Hi all,
I have been reading through all the posts and finally just joined because I am not sure what to do.
About 5 weeks ago a stray cat showed up during terrible snowstorms and took up residence in a cat shelter under our sun porch. About 3 weeks ago we decided she was definitely pregnant (after wondering, her appetite and growing belly seemed proof enough) so I brought her inside because I didn't want her going off to have the kittens somewhere else.
She's in our guest room. A vet came to the house about 2 weeks ago and confirmed she's pregnant, didn't know how far along she was, gave her a dose of deworming meds (when they got back to the lab, the stool sample didn't show any worms).
Anyway, she's showing all the signs of getting ready to have the kittens...she's lost all the hair around her nipples, I see white flakes on them, the kittens have been really moving for about a week, she's been more affectionate, her appetite has gone down dramatically since yesterday. She's just sleeping mostly. Around midnight last night she had a small amount of fairly runny poop. Early this morning she had another bout, a little bit more. Then about an hour ago (early evening) I went to check on her and she'd eaten a little food, peed, and had a really watery/runny poop that got out of the box and dripped onto the carpet.
She's not in any distress, she purrs when I pet her & I can feel the kittens moving around.
I'm just not sure when I should start being concerned about the diarrhea...I have read on here that sometimes cats have diarrhea before giving birth. I had hoped last night would've been it for the runs, or even this morning, but now that she's had it again I'm not sure what to think. Another thing...it was so runny that I wonder if maybe her water broke while she was in the litter. ??
Our regular vet's office said they wouldn't be too concerned about the runny poops (that was earlier this afternoon). I really don't want to do an emergency vet visit.
Thoughts???
I have been reading through all the posts and finally just joined because I am not sure what to do.
About 5 weeks ago a stray cat showed up during terrible snowstorms and took up residence in a cat shelter under our sun porch. About 3 weeks ago we decided she was definitely pregnant (after wondering, her appetite and growing belly seemed proof enough) so I brought her inside because I didn't want her going off to have the kittens somewhere else.
She's in our guest room. A vet came to the house about 2 weeks ago and confirmed she's pregnant, didn't know how far along she was, gave her a dose of deworming meds (when they got back to the lab, the stool sample didn't show any worms).
Anyway, she's showing all the signs of getting ready to have the kittens...she's lost all the hair around her nipples, I see white flakes on them, the kittens have been really moving for about a week, she's been more affectionate, her appetite has gone down dramatically since yesterday. She's just sleeping mostly. Around midnight last night she had a small amount of fairly runny poop. Early this morning she had another bout, a little bit more. Then about an hour ago (early evening) I went to check on her and she'd eaten a little food, peed, and had a really watery/runny poop that got out of the box and dripped onto the carpet.
She's not in any distress, she purrs when I pet her & I can feel the kittens moving around.
I'm just not sure when I should start being concerned about the diarrhea...I have read on here that sometimes cats have diarrhea before giving birth. I had hoped last night would've been it for the runs, or even this morning, but now that she's had it again I'm not sure what to think. Another thing...it was so runny that I wonder if maybe her water broke while she was in the litter. ??
Our regular vet's office said they wouldn't be too concerned about the runny poops (that was earlier this afternoon). I really don't want to do an emergency vet visit.
Thoughts???