pregnant cat?

Hi,

How do you know that a cat is pregnant or not?

I am fostering a cat who is fostering 4 kitties. We introduced these 4 orphan kitties as soon as the mamma cat weaned her own babies.

I don't have ANY experience with pregnant cats, but this cat looks pregnant to me. She looks bloated on both sides of her belly. Yet I am not sure whether this is due to nursing or not. And she is really heavy (she is not fat or does not have a big structure).

The mamma cat and her babies were taken care of by a family who had a broken window screen. As far as I know, it is possible for a female cat to have sexual relations while she is still nursing her own babies. SO there is a chance that she might be pregnant.

If she is pregnant, is it OK for her to nurse these babies? They are 6 weeks old, and as far as I can see, they don't nurse that much (they started eating dry food when they were 4 weeks old!). Should I wean the kitties in case??

Hmm, well the only REAL way to tell, is to get an ultra-sound done. There are other signs you can look for, but sometimes they can still be false.

I had a "pregnant" cat last year, brought her to the vet 2 times, said she was probably pregnant, and a month later she hadn't gained in size and she was in heat.
I brought her back to the vet and they said "Yup, I guess she's not pregnant after all!"

As far as everything else, I can not give you any insite, as I just don't have that much experience in this department.
Good luck to you, if you can afford it, bring the cat to the vet for an ultra-sound, find out for sure, so you can know what you should and shouldn't be doing.

Good luck!

Cats can concieve right after they have their litter. As for nursing the kittens, she will wean them when she is ready. It will not hurt the kittens inside her. I would have her spayed as soon as the next litter comes. She can still nurse the kittens after the surgery. The only way to know for sure is a sonogram or xray. I would do everything I could to make sure she stays inside, and other cats can't come in so she won't contract any illness from an outside cat that may not have it's shots. She could also bring it back to her kittens and have them die as well.

On a more somber note a female who is bloated can be showing signs of FIP. When a female cat is pregnant her immune system dips and she becomes open to contracting illness. As for FIP it can be in a cats system from a younger age or previuos exposure. And when that immune system is low it can become apparent. the belly will feel less firm then a pregnancy and will be squishy at later stages. I would take the cat to the vet immediatly.
Denise

We found this mamma cat from the internet; we had an orphan kitty before and we were looking for a mother who would accept this orphan kitty along her own kitties. And she did. After weaning her babies, we had these current orphans and she accepted them, too.

We always test the mother cats for FIV and FLV; she tested (-) for both of them. It doesn't look like FIP though; her belly is definitely not soft/squishy. It is hard on both sides, enlarged (??) outwards, and she feels heavy as I said before.

She will definitely be spayed; we had an appointment for her for next friday, but since she is still nursing and since we are not sure whether she is pregnant or not, we decided to wait some more time.

I am fostering this mamma and the 4 kitties along with another mamma (who unfortunately tested FIV (+)), and her 5 kitties. We tested these kitties for FIV when they were around 3 months old, and the results were (+) for all of them I will be fostering them until they get 5-6 months old, so that we can have a more accurate test result.

Anyway, all the cats are living indoors in separete rooms along with my 3 cats (Actually 4 cats; we decided to adopt one of these little ones )

As for the ultrasound, do you think it is very necessary? With the money given to ultrasound, we can spay/neuter at least 3 females/4 males. Would it be OK to just wait? (I am feeding her with Eukanuba kitten food incase she is pregnant, and she had all her shots)

Thank you everyone.