Young cat pregnant - need advice.

onearmedbandit

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About 6 months ago, a kitten started showing up on our doorstep. She was maybe 4-6 weeks old then, and VERY feral, but she obviously needed food. I swear, I think the neighborhood kitties are talking, "If you need some grub and a warm bed, go to this chick's house...."

...Anyway, she's been around since October or so, and was quite young then. All attempts to establish physical contact with her were denied with a fierceness, but she stuck around. I tried to trap her with a live trap to get her spayed, but every other neighborhood cat but her fell for it. I wasn't sure she was a female, but I didn't want to take that chance as we already have a huge problem with feral kittens in the summer/fall.

Fast forward to now. "That Baby" as we lovingly call her, has finally decided to grace us with her presence. She's in our home and she won't leave. That's fine with us, but she's pregnant. Ugh. That's not fine with us. We're some serious spayers around this house.

On top of that, she's VERY small for her age. Upon looking at her, you'd probably guess her age to be somewhere around 3-4 months, but she's probably at least double that, given the time I've known her to be around.

I do quite a bit of fostering/rescuing of feral and semi-feral kittens, so I'm confident I can, and committed to, caring for the kittens, getting them altered and finding them appropriate homes when they are born, but I am concerned about her birthing given her age and size.

Does anyone have any experience with younger mothers and/or very petite cats?

Our vet can spay now, but she's only got about 3 weeks left to go, and the vet said it would be quite expensive at this time, but couldn't guarantee a healthy or problematic delivery.

Thoughts, experience, or advice much appreciated
 

gaylemg

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I haven't had experience with little momcats, either but I can say, Bless you for helping her. I'm also the one in the neighborhood that all the hungry cats seek out. That's how I ended up with a pregnant stray, Rags, that gave birth today. She's a fair sized adult cat and her delivery went fine. Good for your little mama. If your vet has an emergency number or there is an emergency animal clinic near you, I'd keep the number handy just in case. Now that you have her and are building her up, she has a better chance!
 
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onearmedbandit

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Congratulations on your arrivals


I got close enough to feel her tummy today, and it's already bursting at the seams and she's got a bit to go yet. She's just that little - I'm so worried about her. We're going to have an ultrasound done tomorrow to see how things are going. Hopefully that will shed some light on the situation...
 

gaylemg

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Thank you!
That ultrasound should help a lot! Keep us posted.
 

goldenkitty45

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More then likely she was a product of a young kitten herself (her mom 4-6 months old). Lots of times that produces a smaller then average kitten who does not grow properly.

Hopefully she will be ok with delivery and only have 1-2 kittens to deal with. Try to get her inside to have them and keep her there till she is spayed.
 
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onearmedbandit

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

More then likely she was a product of a young kitten herself (her mom 4-6 months old). Lots of times that produces a smaller then average kitten who does not grow properly.

Hopefully she will be ok with delivery and only have 1-2 kittens to deal with. Try to get her inside to have them and keep her there till she is spayed.
Ah, that makes sense. My Pepper is smaller than average, although not as small as That Baby, and her mother was also a smaller than average feral cat.

She's inside for now, and seems pretty comfortable here. She doesn't let anyone approach her unless she is situated higher than you, but she does initiate contact when we are laying down. She's also bonded pretty strongly with my cocker spaniel. I won't let her out again until it's time for her and the babies to get spayed, that's for sure.
 

gaylemg

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Originally Posted by OneArmedBandit

She's also bonded pretty strongly with my cocker spaniel.
That's great! None of my cats like my dog, although one of them almost tolerates her. I would love to introduce the kittens to my dog when they are old enough (whenever that is) so that they can be socialized with dogs.
 
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onearmedbandit

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Originally Posted by GayleMG

That's great! None of my cats like my dog, although one of them almost tolerates her. I would love to introduce the kittens to my dog when they are old enough (whenever that is) so that they can be socialized with dogs.
We also have another dog, a lab, and 3 other cats [all abandoned/rescues
] and everyone gets along great! We introduced Hershey, the lab, when he was about 10 weeks old, but Kirby, our spaniel is at least 3, and we don't know his prior history with cats since we got him at a shelter. I have a feeling That Baby is going to have her babies all over Kirby, because the moments they are apart are few and far between. Hershey helped "nurse" the last rescue litter we had.

Our house is nuts, I'm tellin' ya
 
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onearmedbandit

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Well, the ultrasound showed "at least" 3 babies, and all seem to be developing well. She's doing fine - I think pregnancy has calmed her a bit. She's wanted very little to do with us since she started visiting us last October, but now she's quite a bit friendlier. We've committed to keeping her, just because we had to [because nobody else would take her], but her new demeanor definitely makes her much more adoptable. [We have 3 cats and 2 dogs, so we're sort of full at the moment, but we'll keep her if we can't find a home for her.]

Her temp tonight has dropped to 98.6. I hadn't taken it before tonight, so I'm not sure that this is a drop, although I'll assume her temp has been normal. If this is the case, I'm expecting kittens in the next 24 hours. We've set up her spot in the closet, and I'll be keeping an eye on her.

We've also decided to give her a name: Maggie, short for Magpie, since we found a storehouse of things she's pilfered from all over the house...candy, marbles, dog's chew toys, among other things - all piled under the bed, where she sleeps.

She won't let me take a picture of her, but here is a little shot of her and Kirby hanging out:

 
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onearmedbandit

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After an 8 hour labor, Maggie has given birth to 4 very tiny black babies. It was incredibly intense - she had no idea what was going on, and wouldn't stay in her box unless I was right there. The last baby was born breech, and with over-the-phone assistance from the vet, I helped deliver him.

All seem to be doing fine now, except she's more interested in following me around the house than staying with her babies.


How much time should she be spending in there with them to ensure they are getting what they need? Should I put a heating pad in there just in case? Stimulate them? Give them supplemental food?
 

lostmary

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I wish I could give you some advice, but I don't know for sure. Just wanted to say Congrats....4 blacks kitties,
 
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