Is She Pg?

Hi all. I am new here. I have 2 Norwegian forest cats who are both 1 yrs old and I wanted to breed them once before getting them both altered. I do know about responsible breeding and overpopulation and all. However...chances are pretty good that we will be keeping all of her kittens as I love kitties. We have 3 currently, including mommy and daddy, if mommy is pg, but how do I tell? Her nipples do seem quite bigger but since she is long haired they do not stand out. Her belly is bigger, much bigger then the males and the other kitty we have(who is fixed). She went into heat once right before thanksgiving but didn't conceive and I thought that might be it for the winter but maybe I missed a heat and she did conceive? If she is pg I imagine it's only 4-5 weeks. We do plan on spaying and nuetering them as well as the kittens but we did want one litter. Thanks for any help you can give.

It's harder on longhairs, but my concern is that do you have breeding rights? Did the breeder you got your cats from, ok the breeding? And are the male and female related? If they are brother/sister they should not be breeding.

Since you don't know exactly when the cats have bred or how much, then you'll have a very hard time figuring out WHEN she will deliver.

Maybe take her to the vet and have her checked.

yes I do have breeding rights. I just didn't know when she went into heat. The male and female have free reign of my household. No they are not related. I do not believe in inline breeding either, if that's what you mean. Thanks.

Letting males and females run free and not monitoring their activities is not the wisest thing to be doing. If you are breeding cats, you should be watching them.

Usually the first signs of being pregnant are the nipples are a more pinker and a little bigger at about 3 weeks from being bred. Your biggest problem is the fact that by not monitoring the male, he could continue to breed her on and off for a few weeks - which messes up her systems as cats are induced breeding - they release the eggs when bred.

Its like having a stray cat being bred by multiple males over a period of days, etc. and each kitten COULD be in a different devlopment stage. This causes problems in delivery as the first kittens born are the last ones that were fertilized and they would be premature - while the last kittens born would be older and possibly dead or have problems.

I don't know who you got your cats from, but it doesn't sound like they were the best because they gave you 2 unaltered cats and you don't seem to know a lot about breeding. IMO unless your cats are show quality and you show them to champion or grand champion status, they should be neutered and spayed. Not every purebred cat should be bred.

BTW if every thing does turn out ok, the male should be neutered now because he can still get her pregnant after she has the kittens and it takes up to 2 months for him to get all the sperm and hormones out of his system. So please take him in now to be neutered so you don't have to worry about that part.

I don't really have any advice partly because I don't agree with what you are doing, but at least you are keeping all of the kittens. Just a couple pointers:

-I agree to neuter the male right now and separate him from the female from now until after her babies are born. He can continue to mate with her, pregnant or not, kittens will be in different developmental stages which can cause problems. Neuter him now, the breeding is done so there is no reason to keep him intact.

-Make sure all the kittens get spayed no later then 4-5 months because at that point they CAN be capable of inbreeding. Doesn't always start this early but the possibility is there.

-Supervise the male around the female and her kittens and I would not EVER leave them together unsupervised. Male tom cat habits can kick in and he can harm the babies to get to the mother cat.

-Again remember that it takes 1-2 months for the males hormones and capability of mating to leave his system. Another reason to neuter him now.

Thank you all. I will be calling the vet first thing in the am to set up an appt to have him nuetered. I didn't realize he could impregnate her more then once if she were already pregnant. I imagine this is not safe for her. What do I do now before he gets fixed. Also, does anyone know a SUREFIRE way to remove the awful smell of male cat urine. TIA.

I have a Cat that could not be so the first thing I did with my Male was had him fixed. He was a little less then 3 Months when it was done. Its hard to get the smell out. I washed stuff that my Brothers Male peed on and it still stunk.

Not an expert with breeding... But, I can rec. a good cleaner. I use Nature's miracle odor/stain eliminator for cats. You thuroughly soak the area/s and let dry then repeat as needed. It is an enzyme cleaner, so the enzymes "consume" the ammonia and urine smell so the cat does not go back to the same spot.

You probably should confine the male to one room until he is altered to keep him away from the female.

Art

Right now you should confine him away from your female in a room that is washable. Am assuming he's spraying???? And he should stay there for a good 2 months after being neutered.

If he's spraying on wood or carpet it will be very tough to get it out - especially on any wood flooring. I wish you had read up on breeding and studs, etc. before you had gotten these two cats - you would have had a lot less problems.