Litter size

My foster cat Alice is about 6 weeks pregnant, according to the vet. We found her two weeks ago, with nipples and belly showing (apparently this was 4 weeks). I've never had a pregnant cat, so I may not be the best judge, but she looks HUGE! Most of her is skinny, but her belly just looks massive. Every day she looks like she could not possibly get any bigger, and then she does. Here is a picture on the day we found her, at only 4 weeks:



The reason for the vet's estimate was because he couldn't feel individual fetuses, which he said becomes possible around 6 weeks.

So I am just wondering...is it possible to guess the size of the litter by the size of the cat's belly? Maybe that's a no-brainer, but I thought that maybe with more kits, each one is smaller and the belly looks the same as with fewer.

Is it true that cats have more kittens with each successive litter? Because she's been a stray, the vet told me this is probably her third or fourth litter.

Is there any way, aside from ultrasound, to tell the size of the litter? Even old wives' tales would be welcome here. I'm intensely curious; I feel like I'm 5 years old!

No you can't tell from the size of the belly. My rex queen (last litter) only had one and it really looked like 2 in there.

Seems first or 2nd litters have the most - after that it declines. My first rex breeding queen had 6 kittens, then 5, then 2 litters of four - then she was spayed. So most times it decreases the more they have.

She does look like about 5-6 kittens

It's not really possible to tell just based on the size of her tummy. In general they get bigger, sooner with second and subsequent litters. With the first litter they often don't really show at all until close to 6 weeks.

I had a foster cat a few years back who was HUGE at 4 weeks and only ended up delivering three kittens - three large-ish, robust kittens, but still, only three. So you really never know.

The way to tell for sure is an x-ray in the third trimester but it's not necessary unless there's a problem and IMO it's a lot more fun to guess anyway.

Yeah, I figured there was no real way to tell except for an x-ray, and there's no real reason to do that. It's ridiculous how excited I am. I'll definitely update everyone as soon as Alice goes into labor/the babies are born.

My first pregnant foster was massive. They hadn't taken her to the vet to figure out how far along she was approx. But the shelter people figured that she was ready to burst any day.
Well she must have only been 4 weeks along because I had her for a month before she finally gave birth to 9 babies.
I palpated her myself a few weeks later and felt 5... but There were 4 more than that

Those mommas are sneaky too! Checkers tricked me several times. Made me think that she was going into labor, silly fart.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

She does look like about 5-6 kittens

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This would be a great opportunity to take bets on how many she has

first I thought on3-4 then I thought 4-5 but I'll place my bet on 3-4

Seriously though,I think try not to worry too much,I know thats hard to do when your expecting

Sending healthy {{{{vibes}}}} for mum and babies

Ooh! My boyfriend and I have already made bets.


He says: 4 babies. 2 orange tabby boys, one black girl, one tortie girl.
I say: 6 babies. 3 tortie girls, 3 orange tabby boys.


We have no idea what the daddy looks like, so we're just going by what Momma looks like

Originally Posted by KatiesCats

Ooh! My boyfriend and I have already made bets.


He says: 4 babies. 2 orange tabby boys, one black girl, one tortie girl.
I say: 6 babies. 3 tortie girls, 3 orange tabby boys.


We have no idea what the daddy looks like, so we're just going by what Momma looks like

Click to expand...

Katie...is Homeward Trails going to help with the spaying of the mom cat once the kittens are old enough to be placed?

Katie

Originally Posted by furryferals

This would be a great opportunity to take bets on how many she has

Click to expand...

Oh dear, another Skittles saga in the making

She is ABSOLUTELY being spayed as soon as the kits are weaned. If I'd found her earlier, I would've done a spay/abort. There are FAR too many cats needing homes for Alice to be producing any more. I'm excited about having kittens for the first time ever, but part of me feels so bad that there are cats in shelters who might never go home because Alice wasn't spayed.

Alice will be spayed asap, and her babies will all be altered before or soon after arriving in their forever homes. Homeward Trails requires that pets be altered, and I would never adopt an intact animal to anyone.

Don't feel bad about not having Alice spayed... so late, it might have made her hormones go crazy anyway, and she wouldn't have been a very happy kitty. Just enjoy your kittens

the smaller the litter...except when that's NOT true...hehehe. In other words...as everyone else has said, you can't ever tell. Dulcinea (our calico) was 8 months old when she was thrown out of her home and we took her in and adopted her. She was in 'a family way'...and HUGE...and daily she got HUGER and then HUGEST So we were expecting like, 6 - 10 kittens---wrong. She had three...all beautiful and all healthy...(although she had to deliver at the Vet Clinic because the 1st kitten was breach and she could open the sack). She was a WONDERFUL mother and if anything, a little obsessive...but still a great little mommy. Enjoy the kittens...they grow up fast...and are gone in no time.

Fr. Gregg

Trust me you dont want a large litter like Skittles had. It was so hard on her. I did get her and the kittens all spayed and they still nursed on her at least 3 more weeks. I will say I am glad I did. She would of had another big litter or her kittens would of and the male kitten Taffy has never sprayed or humped anything.

We are just hoping she is healthy and that all the babies are ok, at this point. I'd rather she have fewer babies, to be honest, because we already have our own two cats running around, along with a 30-pound, 4-month-old foster pup (Shepherd mix).

I finally felt the babies moving the other night...it was an incredible feeling! Made me very excited She's carrying one sort of high up, near her ribs (maybe that's normal, I don't know). When she sits up, that part sticks out. Looks kinda funny. Now all I want to do is feel her belly, but she wants me to pet her head instead.

At the vet visit, he said she'd have 4 weeks to go, and that was on Monday, January 15 (Meaning she'd be due on February 11). I'm predicting her due date a little earlier, though (I didn't like the vet, he wasn't very nice), so I'm saying February 5. We'll see!




KATIE

Hope its the begining of February - DH's birthday is the 1st, mine's the 4th - so her having them on our birthdays would be fine with us

My son my baby will be 6 on Feb 5th. Would be a good day If so name one Chandler LOL.

Alice has been nesting a bit recently. She is bigger than I ever thought she could be! We've had her box set up for weeks and it has some blankets neatly folded inside. She keeps messing them all up! We go into her little room and everything is in a crazy pile! So funny.

So...it looks like she's getting closer! The vet said she should be due between this Monday and the following Monday. I can't even wait! There will be plenty of pictures

Question: I read somewhere on the forums about knowing when a cat is close to giving birth because her nipples fill up with milk...is this true? Hers look dry and not at all full. There are black speckles around the bases of them. Is that OK? I can get pictures if necessary.

im not sure what the black speckles are but when my lilly was pregnant and her nipples started filling up and hair loss you could see these little black spot things. i wouldnt worry to much about that unless she hasnt been fleed for a while , as i heard somewhere that flees like the milk and it could be flee dirt. but not sure if that is true.

Take a bit of vegetable oil and rub on her nipple - will make her lick them clean - the black is probably the "seal" and you need to have the nipples open.

Usually if I gently squeezed the back ones (they are the fullest) and could get a drop of liquid out, my queens would have kittens in 24 hrs

I tried the oil earlier today. Now she just has a greasy belly The spots are still there...I'm hoping they're nothing.

I squeezed one of her back nipples and a little tiny bit of liquid came out. She's been messing up her blankets again, and after I scooped the litter box today, she threw HALF of the litter (Yesterday's News) on the floor. Her little room was quite a sight with blankets and litter everywhere.

So...we're on kitten watch! I'll keep everyone posted with updates and pictures!