Young cat rescue, probably pregnant, how to proceed

[david68]

I got a call from an elderly woman in a rural area I've helped with cat rescue before, and what I have is a small female cat, under 1 year old, who's living outdoors under her deck. The cat just showed up. I went by to assess the situation yesterday. The cat was initially skittish, but warmed up to me in a couple of minutes. She became very friendly, even rolling over on her back. When touching her, I realized she is probably pregnant. It wasn't immediately obvious when looking at her, but I could feel her belly is too rounded. The problem is that the spay/neuter clinic I usually use is booked until the second week of December. I'm not good at judging how far along a cat's pregnancy is, but I'm afraid that by that point, she may already have given birth.

The elderly woman in question is not poor, just in her mid-80s and not able to get around that well. Should I just try to book a spay appointment at my regular vet and ask her to cover the cost? I've had a lot of big veterinary expenses with my own cats this year, and my funds are a bit depleted.

 

[Flybynight]

I would ask the lady how she feels about the question. If she is receptive then yes, go ahead and book.

 

[fionasmom]

Definitely you are not out of line asking for help. If I were you, I would skew this in the direction of all the leg work that you are doing so that she is not inundated with kittens down the road. Say it nicely, but you are really stepping up to the plate for both of them.

 

[Flybynight]

D david68
Let us know how you get on

 

[david68]

Update:

Well, this one turned strange. The spay/neuter clinic I usually use turned out to have a cancellation today, so I grabbed the cat yesterday and brought it in for surgery early this morning.

The strange part: It turned out to be a MALE cat. In 15 years of rescue, I've never made that mistake before. I think it was because the lady feeding him called him "this little girl cat." But then, he's small for a male cat, with shorter legs than most males have, and was acting like a female cat, if that makes sense. Most of the time, I can look at a cat and tell if it's male or female, but I got totally fooled this time. He's about 7 months old.

And feeling pregnant? The people feeding him had lots of food out. Maybe he'd just stuffed himself???

In any event, he was easy to handle, and he's FIV/FeLV negative, so he should be easy to adopt out.

 

[david68]

And less than 24 hours after being brought back from neuter surgery, he's already been sitting in my lap and rubbing his chin on mine.

It's always interesting how stray cats react when you bring them indoors. Some just shut down, and others act like they've hit the jackpot. Of course, you never know what their history has been. He may have been an owned cat very early and was abandoned or dumped for some reason. Or just got lost. But my luck in reuniting cats with previous owners in the rural area where he showed up has been zero.

 

[fionasmom]

I am so glad that this is working out. He is lucky to have run into you and been helped. I have made mistakes on gender, like the previously TNRed cat I called Ginger for years until I finally learned that as a huge orange tabby he was probably a boy.