is she or isn't she?

hi all,

I have 2 cats both girls, one is a year old and the other is 7 months.
We took the 7 month old to the vets to get her health check and front lined.
the vet thinks she may be pregnant, we dont mind as we intended to let her have kittens but i cant see any real signs that she is pregnant.
her nipples are slightly bigger and a tiny bit pinker than my other cat but apart from that she is still running around and play fighting with our other cat.

she is a beautiful long haired brown, black and white tabby with the biggest fluffy tail i have ever seen!

if she is pregnant she is about 3 and a half weeks as the vets said that she was possibly about 2 weeks gone when we took her and that was 10 days ago.

I worked it out that she will be due in the begining of december.
im still not sure if she is pregnant and olny time will tell.
we have homes for her kittens if she is.

oddly enough our 1 year old has yet to fall pregnant so we are going to get her done if she doesnt fall pregnant next spring.

when do you think we will know if she is pregnant?
she is so fluffy she is already big lol

Originally Posted by babybrowneyes10

hi all,

I have 2 cats both girls, one is a year old and the other is 7 months.
We took the 7 month old to the vets to get her health check and front lined.
the vet thinks she may be pregnant, we dont mind as we intended to let her have kittens but i cant see any real signs that she is pregnant.
her nipples are slightly bigger and a tiny bit pinker than my other cat but apart from that she is still running around and play fighting with our other cat.

she is a beautiful long haired brown, black and white tabby with the biggest fluffy tail i have ever seen!

if she is pregnant she is about 3 and a half weeks as the vets said that she was possibly about 2 weeks gone when we took her and that was 10 days ago.

I worked it out that she will be due in the begining of december.
im still not sure if she is pregnant and olny time will tell.
we have homes for her kittens if she is.

oddly enough our 1 year old has yet to fall pregnant so we are going to get her done if she doesnt fall pregnant next spring.

when do you think we will know if she is pregnant?
she is so fluffy she is already big lol

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babybrowneyes....welcome to TCS. Frankly, early in her pregnancy there will be few difinitive signs that she is pregnant:

Is my cat pregnant?
If you think your cat might be pregnant, the first check her nipples. These become more prominent and pinker by three weeks of gestation. By four to five weeks after conception, your vet will be able to feel golf-ball sized swellings in her abdomen. At this time the developing fetuses are usually quite easy to count. Shortly afterward, her belly becomes a visibly enlarged.

I would recommend that you visit this page for further information if you do in fact find that she is pregnant.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80724

For now...if you have allowed her to be indoors/outdoors...you need to restrict her to indoors only. There are diseases that cats can pick up outdoors and it is in your cat's best interest to treat her as if she is definately pregnant and restrict her to indoors only until she has delivered her kittens and has been safely spayed.

I have read that you are trying to intentially have both of your cats become pregnant. While TCS is here to assist those who have found themselves with a pregnant cat...we do not advocate purposely breeding cats unless they are part of a registered breeding program.

I do hope that if your 7 month old is indeed pregnant..that you have intentions to have her spayed once the kittens are weaned and will follow up with the adoptive parents to ensure that her kittens are also spayed/neutered.

Katie

thanks for the quick reply,

after she has her kittens we will spay her as i know she can get pregnant once the kittens are weened.

how do you think our other cat will be with the kittens? they are so close and play and sleep together.

Most cat mothers are very protective of hteir kittens, even with cats they know well. However, sometimes they allow other cats close. It depends.

Do you know what males are likely to father any kittens for your cats? Sometimes an unknown father can pass disease on to the mother and/or kittens. It is a big risk. May I ask, for the record, why you want your cats to become pregnant?

there is only one possible male cat that got to her as she does not leave the garden and we have a dog that keeps cats away.

he is a neighbours cat that for some reason my dog likes and lets in the garden and that plays with our cats.

we heard them playing one day but it sounded a bit vocal, he is only young himself and is due to be castrated.

no other cats can get near the garden.

we had intended to wait until next year to let her have kittens and had planned a nice match, but the male that got to her is also fluffy and is stunning.

the cats are kept in at night and are only aloud out in the garden when im home.

i dont see anything wrong with wanting my cats to have kittens as we have some lovely caring homes waiting for them and plan to keep one, also if she is pregnant we will spay our other cat too.

its strange how our one year old didnt fall too!

Originally Posted by babybrowneyes10

there is only one possible male cat that got to her as she does not leave the garden and we have a dog that keeps cats away.

he is a neighbours cat that for some reason my dog likes and lets in the garden and that plays with our cats.

we heard them playing one day but it sounded a bit vocal, he is only young himself and is due to be castrated.

no other cats can get near the garden.

we had intended to wait until next year to let her have kittens and had planned a nice match, but the male that got to her is also fluffy and is stunning.

the cats are kept in at night and are only aloud out in the garden when im home.

its strange how our one year old didnt fall too!

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It's good that you are planning to have her fixed once she has had this litter. Do keep an eye on her pregnancy and I still do recommend confining her indoors now. Some diseases can be transmitted via being outdoors and I'd rather not risk your cat's possible unborn kittens at this stage. I would certainly recommend that you have your 1 year old fixed...perhaps she has avoided having an interaction with the neighbor's cat...perhaps it is a health issue. Only your vet would know. The neighbor's male will still carry active sperm for a month after his neuter so your neighbors should be made aware of this.


Katie

ok, this is my story lol,

last year i lost my beautiful female spayed rescued cat, she had to be put down due to old age.

after a few months i could not handle not having a cat around and started looking for another cat. i wanted a kitten as we have a dog and felt it would be easier to get it used to him, but no rescue centers in our area had kittens.

we found a kitten for sale in a farm, she was tiny and very shy and was the last of the litter, we called her smirnoff.

she is still small and shy but loves her family, even the dog!
in june of this year we were offered a kitten and decided that it would be good for smirnoff to have a mate, we called her willow and all who saw her fell in love with her.

ive had cats all my life, all but these two have been rescued.
one litter is all we want, one for ourselves and the rest will be going to kind loving homes. one lady has had to put her elderly cat down and is wanting another cat.

if willow is not pregnant we will still get her together with the right male next year, for now either way she is house bound along with our other cat!

we want her to have a litter so we cat have another cat.
we cannot adopt as our local shelters will not let us as we have a young child.
children have to be 12 or older and the cat would have to be used to dogs.

the lady who lost her elderly cat is not old but is in the same situation as us.
there are not many kittens around to adopt and when they are they go quickly.

I feel i have explained myself enough, now please give me a break!

I feel i have explained myself enough, now please give me a break!

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I agree. The original poster has come to us asking specific questions. Let's stay on topic and help her with those questions please.

If anyone has a problem with this, then I strongly suggest that you read this thread for my feelings about it.

Just want to make sure you are aware that your cats being kept unspayed and your cat having a litter will both increase their chances of getting mammary cancer later in life...
Just wanted to let you know about this because my wonderful cat passed away a few years ago of mammary cancer, she had not been spayed by her previous owner and was allowed to have litters both of which increased the risk of cancer. We had her spayed as soon as we adopted her but she already had an increased risk, and after fighting a battle with kidney disease and thriving for several years with minimal problems from that, she developed mammary cancer. She had surgery to remove several glands which we hoped would get all of it, but it did not--she developed more tumors and inoperable cancer. I just wanted to let you know about this risk because I had a heartbreak from mammary cancer with my beloved kitty Sylvia...


As for whether or not your cat is pregnant now, it's probably too early to know for sure, but pretty soon you will be able to tell! The stomach and nipples will swell and there's a good chance you will see behavior/personality changes due to the hormones-- she might become moody and strike out at your and/or the other cat, want to be left alone and not petted-- or alternately she may become more affectionate while pregnant and beg for attention.

Just make sure to have the male you want her to mate with completely health tested and blood tested for disease or genetic problems (not just a general check up from the vet). He could already have a various number of ailments that you cannot see just by looking at him. He could also be carrying something hereditary that will be passed on down to the litter you want your cat to have. For that matter so could your own female.

hehe, we aren't crazy, this is why we get a little freaked out when people just want to let their cat have a litter because almost all the time the cats involved are not properly tested to make sure they don't have a medical reason to not be bred. It could be a huge risk on your cats (and her babies) lives if it is not done right.

I wish you lives here, I have so so many cats that I work hard rescuing that need homes when people throw them out including a sweet little pure white kitten.

Have you just looked in the local classifieds for kittens? There are free kittens all the time.

Only time will tell if she is going to have kittens.
I'm glad that you are responsible enough to already have homes lined up for the babies!!So many kittens aren't that lucky and find themselves in Humane Societies.So, I applaud you for already having them homes picked out.
I too wish you lived around here.We have soooooooooo many kits needing homes.Often they are over looked because of color or the wrong time of the year.
Good luck with the babies and the momma/s.

As we live in the uk i cant adopt an american cat

a strange thing happened today. a cat that went missing when we had to have our elderly cat put down has turned up after 12 months!

he is the son of the cat we had put down and we rescued both of them, the mum cat had a nasty collar injury and had 3 opps to close the injury.

the only problem is he is attacking all of us!
he looks fat and well fed but will not let us near him, even the dog is scared!
He has attacked my 18 month old and cut his face, and hisses every time we go near.

im not sure what to do, we searched high and low for him when he went missing, we checked rescue centres, advertised but there was no trace of him.

i have not shut him in as im sure he is living somewhere as he is clean and looks well.

im scared for my kids, cats, dog and me, HELP!

the only problem is he is attacking all of us!
he looks fat and well fed but will not let us near him, even the dog is scared!
He has attacked my 18 month old and cut his face, and hisses every time we go near.

im not sure what to do, we searched high and low for him when he went missing, we checked rescue centres, advertised but there was no trace of him.

i have not shut him in as im sure he is living somewhere as he is clean and looks well.

im scared for my kids, cats, dog and me, HELP!

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I don't know how he is attacking you unless you are letting him inside or trying to interact with him when he doesn't want it. I would simply keep your family away from him. Hopefully once you have spayed both your girls...he will not visit again. Intact males are usually drawn to locations where there are intact females. I hope you are keeping your cats indoors now.

Katie

No, I know, but TCS members live all over the world and unfortunately we have most of us seen so many homeless kittens that it is something members get very upset about. My cats were all rescued by me as kittens off the streets of Sarajevo.

Anyway, the problem of your returnee! I can sympathise as I was attacked six weeks ago by a cat who was attacking my cats and I am still having treatment for the resulting infection. I would suggest that you start a new thread about this in the behaviour forum where the right people who can advise will be looking. Is there any way you can get a collar on the cat with a message for his 'new home' asking them to contact you so you can discuss the problem? It must be hard for him, coming 'home' to find new cats in residence. I hope you find a solution that is good for the family and the poor cat.

If he scratched your 18 month old son,I would keep him away from your baby.You don't know what kind of possible diseases he may have or come into contact with.Also,cat scratch fever is a concern from what I've HEARD.
I wouldn't let him any where near your other cats,or dogs either to be on the safe side.I know you love him and looked all over for him.......but he's been gone for a long time.

He got in when i popped out to put the rubbush in the bin, i dont know where he was hiding. anyway i managed to get him outside and he dissapeared and i have not seen him today.

he is castrated so he could not mate with my 2 girls.
i have kept them both in, they are very nervy today.
willow seems a bit bigger, she wont let me touch her tummy today to check her nipples and is sleeping loads so it looks like she could be pregnant.

im taking smirnoff to the vets at the weekend to get her checked over and to book her in to be spayed, that way i will only have one litter of kittens.

i will take willow back to the vets in 2 weeks to get the vet to check her over.

thanks for all your help

That all sounds like a good idea. Willow is very young to be having kittens and you should keep her regularly checked out. It is like a 14 year old girl having a baby - physically she can do it but her body and mind are not really ready. You may have to help her quite a bit when the time comes. Another reason to be glad that you will only have one litter to deal with! Good luck.