Has anyone had a pregnant cat before?

[Maleficent]

My cousin's cat got out about a month ago while she was in heat. My cousin didn't bother trying to keep her inside during this time and I'm pretty sure she mated with several Tom cats that had been hanging out during that time.

I was just wondering if anyone knows some telltale signs? She has been showing some nesting behavior, her appetite has decreased to a degree while at the same time this normally pretty lean cat has gained weight. Her sides obviously bulge and when I feel her stomach it's actually pretty firm when normally it had a little give. Her teets are actually more pronounced as well.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Cats have 60 day pregnancy and their weight will flex depending on if they have morning sickness (trust me THEY can have morning sickness ) best things to offer the cat is several suitable places made "extra enticing" by putting an old shirt or towel or blanket from "their" favorite human in a nice box in a quiet dark place closets or placing a blanket over the top leaving a "curtain" I like the ones from Alidis that the chips come in that have a nice bottom ledge to keep the kittens in while easily allowing the mother to come and go. Also unlike dogs kittens are scent marked to a certain "tit" which only they will drink from. This causes a big problems when you have a weaker one on the bottom so I always picked up KRM when my friends cat was getting ready to kitten so that I could sub feed the runt. Also its the norm on cats to have a stillborn or two, and you will no doubt see ALL of the Toms she mated with in her kittens as she will keep releasing eggs at each mating. Some cats always want their human there and in fact will NOT deliver their kittens if they aren't others don't care. Just depends on if your cat is codependent or not.

 

[Homer]

:yeahthat:

We like Shout detergent case boxes for a "nest". The kind you get at Wally World or Sams. The front and sides are cut lower and makes it easy for mom to get in and out yet keeps the babies in...but not for long.

 

[Maleficent]

She had one instance of morning sickness but it was more dry heaving compared to actually vomiting. And crude she was bred around the 12th-15th of last month. She has like 3 weeks left. We are hoping for a small litter.

 

[Shea]

Things usually go smoothly will cats. Just make sure she has a nesting spot she will use and that is prepped for her and that YOU can access. Maybe give her treats/ and loving in the spot you pick. I've had queens give birth in a drop down ceiling, in a foundation wall and 1 who tried to have them inside a sleeper sofa. Be glad she is a pet and not a stray you just couldn't say no too.

 

[akane]

Usually they show up obviously pregnant and/or we find a litter somewhere random. We never really paid attention except to spay them so we wouldn't get overrun and then rehome the kittens when old enough. My one indoor pet cat that didn't get spayed before her first heat cycle and my stepdad thought he'd reduce the annoyance by throwing her outside (he was great at long term thinking) was horrible giving birth. She kept trying to shove her butt against the side of the box to keep the kittens in and then leapt out of the box as the first kitten was born. I caught cat and kitten midair and stuck them back in where we started to get the first one dry. We ended up having the small town vet give her something mildly sedating and some oxytocin so she'd have the rest with hopefully less freaking out and trying to run away from them across the house. I think it was the 3rd I pulled out as it was tail first and with her resistance to having the kittens it was not coming out easily. Finally she settled with them in my bedroom closet and instinct must have kicked in because anyone sticking their hand in the corner but me would end up with it bleeding. When they actually started crawling around we had more issues and it's the only cats afraid of heights I've known of. She'd get upset they climbed or got lifted onto something, drag them to the edge, and just drop them off it until she had them all and could take them back to the closet. Weird cat..... When I got married she peed on my husband's stuff and chose to move in with the elderly neighbor. As much as I usually liked the cat I was not upset that little diva found someone else to fulfill her demands or suffer the damages she'd inflict on whatever object best represented her current frustration.

 

[Prisma]

None of my cats ever had morning sickness but as already said various... Being on a farm, drop offs a plenty, and growing up mom "didn't have the money to waste" on getting a cat fixed..so we always had kittens growing up. Most time no issues, very few have problems. I had 1 cat that I can remember that was soo smitten with me though that she didn't clean or do ANY THING with her kittens except push them out and let them nurse. I never want to do that again. I had to sit with her while she birthed, clamp and cut each cord, and unwrap/dry each baby. Others we've had like to hide them in not so great places. If you have ANY crawl space or space under house or building where she can get into insolation, block her out of it ASAP. For some reason, cats love to have kittens there.

Usually the day before they'd not eat, good sign coming soon. ALL of them wanted us to stay with them and hold them the closer they got, the needier they got.

 

[akane]

It costs more to take care of the overrun masses and illnesses that result if you don't alter cats here. They will turn into dozens in years and you can't rehome them fast enough. I've seen farms like that and eventually you reach the point you just need to call in the humane services to put down the various wild-half wild sick cats by dart. One of the neighbors was buying 5 of the largest bags of the cheapest cat food every couple weeks to keep the populations from around the nearby farms alive and her daughter would send home money for cat food after graduating college but that doesn't cover the fleas, lice, worms... that periodically needed treated and would infest everyone if left alone. That's why anyone who doesn't want to spay/neuter frequently trains dogs to kill cats on purpose or shoots them as pests and all the low cost programs for farm cats went broke. A few programs do exist by city humane societies and places big enough to have an animal control but they only cover either city limits or county borders at most. Iowa Humane Alliance for the 2 counties that cover the most populated portion of Iowa besides the city limits of des moines costs $40/cat, $50/rabbit, and $65-$105/dog depending on size and spay versus neuter plus only at the time of surgery and not in other appointments they will do rabies $10, other vaccines another $10, microchip $25, and topical flea or dewormer pills $5. Since we moved into those counties we've used them even for routine spay/neuter of purposely acquired pets but on the farm we lucked out with a male cat that remained territorial past neutering and would not let others move onto the property except occasional pregnant females and lost kittens from nearby farms.