Help with pregnant stray

Hello, I had been asking for advice on how to take care of a feral cat in the feral cat/strat cat forum in this thread http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=162295

Here are some pictures of the cat. I took her to the vet last week and he said that the cat will not be giving birth in the next week. Anyways, she looks pretty pregnant to me now. You guys think she is close?




Thanks!

She does look very big. Can you feel/see the babies moving? If you do that is a sign that she will give birth within the next week or two. She is beautiful she looks exactly like my kitty Salem who died 2 years ago who lived to be 10 years old.

Thanks for answering so quickly. I have put my hands on her sides and belly to feel for baby movement, but so far there isn't any. Should the movement be obvious or will I have to feel for it?

It will be obvious when you feel it. Right now with my kitty olive who is due any minute it feels as though aliens are trying to burst out of her. At first you will just feel a little flutter. Usually when they are laying down and relaxed. Then later on you will feel (and see) big kicks.

Well thats good news. I have at least a week to prepare.

It isn't always the case. One member here never felt kittens kicking and was beginning to doubt that her cat was pregnant but she gave birth to 6 healthy kittens. lol Usually though you can feel and see the kittens kicking. I saw them/felt them kicking in my cat for about 2 weeks.

We are going to buy some cardboard boxes and some towels today. Later, I will be giving her a mild bath just to get rid of some of the dirt she may have accumulated and then she will get to move from my garage to my guest room. So far she has stayed underneath our cars on cement instead of using the towel bed I made for her. Now, she will get to at least lay on a carpeted area and have air conditioning.

If she has fleas you should go ahead and treat her with feline advantage. It is safe for pregnant cats and if kittens get fleas they can die fast. Good luck! She is lucky to have found someone as nice as you.

I gave her the Promeris flea treatment the other day. Pretty sure it worked, because they started jumping off of her and biting my hand as soon as I applied it. Is there anyway to tell if she still has fleas?

Promeris should do the trick. Typically all fleas are gone within 12 hours. I guess you could tell if she is still itchy. Good luck with her!

Ok, I gave her a bath and now she is chilling in my guest bedroom. I only saw 1 dead flea, so I am hoping most of them died when I put on the promeris. I will upload pictures later of her after the bath. She didn't really struggle too much except when I accidentally dunked her head under water a bit.

I am getting a cardboard box later today and will probably just put a bunch of newspaper in there for when she has the birth.

I think she may have intestinal worms or something because the stool in her litter box looks all deformed like crinkled wrapping paper. Or perhaps its just that she is pregnant, I don't know.

Anyways, I will have to get her retested for feline leukemia and fiv next week just to make sure. From what I have read, it seems unlikely that my other 2 cats could get diseases from her so long as I keep them completely separated - even put a towel under the door crack so they cannot swat paws. Thanks again to whoever posts in this thread. I need all the advice I can get...

Are there any other diseases she may have that I should worry about?

I took "pregnant kitty" to the vet today. He took her temperature and it was 98.8. He said its likely that she will be having her babies very soon, although he did say her belly felt "turgid" whatever that means. He checked for fluid and there wasn't any and then he said he was pretty sure she is pregnant.

Hopefully everything is ok. She weighed 8.5 pounds 2 weeks ago and now she weighs 12 pounds. She seems to eat more food than my other two cats combined, and they are REALLY fat.

Anyways, I set up a box with towels in my guest room and I am really hoping she chooses that location to give birth instead of my carpet. I have to work a good deal this week, so she might be on her own during the birth.

I will let you guys know what happens.

good luck. Don't you hate when vets can't give you answers you want?

Pregnant kitty is still pregnant, although she is acting a little weird. Its pretty funny watching her waddle around. I keep putting her in the card board box with towels I made for her, and she immediately jumps out (grunting as she lands). I am really hoping she doesn't choose my carpet to have the kittens.

Also, she definitely has tape worms, but the vet said he won't give tapeworm medicine to a pregnant cat until after she is done weening and that the worms themselves do not harm the cat as long as she has an adequate amount of food, which she does.

Sorry for the worms but at least it is treatable!

I can't wait to hear news of babies!!

Whenever she is ready to go into labor, she might take more kindly to the bed, until then just let her roam around.

Good luck!

Just to let you know Olive my kitty had no intrest in any nest boxes until right before giving birth. lol She just picked one and had them that morning.

She might not like the box because she is a stray. Feral cats like to have an entrance and an exit to their quarters. I know she's not exactly feral, but this might be why she prefers the floor. You might want to just lay a pile of old sheets in a corner or something.

Although... I admit, some of my fosters dont seem to show interest in their box until it's time.

Who knows? Just an idea...

I think stray pregnant kitty must have been someone else's abandoned cat because she is the most friendly cat I have ever seen. Anyways, she is STILL pregnant. Here are some pictures:

After the bath 2 weeks ago:


Doing what she does best:


More of what she does best:


Getting up to go eat: (her second favorite activity)


Eating:


More eating:


Hand for scale:


Giving me the "take one more picture, and I will destroy your soul" look:


She seems like a very happy cat. She spends all her time sleeping by that window or eating. Her eyes still water a little, but the vet said not to worry about it. Hopefully she has these kittens soon. She is very fat now and I am wondering if its possible for a pregnant cat to eat too much food because she sure does eat a lot.

My other cat Charlie bolted into her room the other day and ran right up to her. She hissed and I grabbed him immediately. He is a very large cat and always picks fights with our other female cat (and always loses because Callie is even bigger), so its best if he isn't anywhere near pregnant kitty, who is much smaller. Hopefully if I choose to adopt her, she and my other cats will get along well. And since these are cats, by get along I mean not kill each other.

She is a pretty kitty! How lucky of her to have found you!

And I thought black was supposed to be sliming

Wow, she's quite large! She's a pretty cat.