How can you tell how far along she is?

Just yesterday I picked up a pregnant cat from the SPCA to foster. I am trying to figure out how far along she is and was wondering if anyone here has some good ways to tell. She is not huge, but she is a tiny cat, I think maybe not even a year old, so will likely have a small litter. She is "nesting" in the sense that she's hiding out in dark places, but I don't know if this is because she is ready to give birth or because she is scared of her new environment! She has two nipples that seem quite large, and one seems a bit crusty, maybe dried milk? Anyways, I've been trying to search on google and read a bunch but still can't really find anything clear answers. Does anyone know how to tell how far along she may be? Thanks!

Here are a couple pics of her. Can anyone tell how far along she is?




Thanks!

I'd guess maybe 2 more weeks at the most. Be sure to confine her to one room with a kittening box. Supervise her when let out, but confine her when you cannot watch her. You don't want her to be having kittens where you can't get to them.

Very pretty girl, love the brown ticking in the coat

Thanks for the reply Goldenkitty! One more thing I should add is that her nipples are very swollen and have what seems to be a little bit of dried milk crusted around them. Does this mean she could be even sooner than 2 weeks?

Thanks again!

Yes, that's why I said within 2 weeks since you don't know the exact date of mating. Its frustrating with strays and unplanned litters. I'm used to pedigree and controlled breeding and know within a few days of delivery - not a few weeks

Put a little vegetable oil on the nipples to soften them up - she will lick them cleaner.

What a pretty girl. She looks like Lucia who the vet said had 10-14 more days from the Xrays and that was 3 days ago. So perhaps somewhere in the same ballpark.

Thanks for the replies! CC12 did you find out how many you were having? It is frustrating Goldenkitty, I wish I knew more about her background! She seems so young too, she is really very small. She makes my other small 8lb cat look like a giant! I hope her delivery goes well. Thanks again for the estimates!

BTW Goldenkitty those are gorgeous cats in your profile pic, are they Bengals? Really pretty!

She looks alot like my Meeko. My Meeko didnt even show when she was Preg and had one. She had the red Nipples. Here is what my Meeko looks like now.
Maybe she will only have one kitten like Meeko did. She is fatter now then when she was Preg.

Wow, they alook so similar! Here is another pic of my momma cat:



They could be twins!

I really hope she has at least two kittens though, wouldn't just one get lonely?

They sure do. It was ok because Coco had had her only litter Aug 1 and the Yoshi was born Sept 23 2002. Yoshi had Stormy to play with. Coco even nursed him. I do not have either of them now. I lost Stormy to Kidney Failure on Dec 5th and Yoshi Jan 11. Would you want to see what they looked like? Meeko just turned 8 last week and was 2 when Yoshi was born. Coco turned 16 in Feb or March.

Yes they did an Xray and they saw 4. At least. There could be a few more hidden in there but it looks like 4.
I have to say your kitty is so darn adorable. She has such a sweet face. She is tiny like my Mary.
Are you going to keep your kittens?

Can you feel any movement when you feel her sides/belly? That is probably the most reliable indicator with a stray.

3 years ago I brought a pregnant stray home and the vet said she would have at least 2 kittens (from the xray) in "10 days at the most".

So Elsa had EIGHT kittens 21 days later, LOL!

Movement will probably be felt about 14 days before birth. I didn't know that then, so I never felt her tummy.

From the age of this Queen I am guessing her first litter? She may know what to do pretty well. She should clean all of the hair away from her nipples just before birth. She will want the kittens to find nipple not hair, once they latch on that's where they will stay for the first hours.
She looks to be a week or 2 away, but if her litter is small, well hard to say.
The mamma cat to my litter was good size the last few days, and she was on her back pulling hair off her tummy for 2 days. We had 4 kittens. She would not use the box I gave her until the night she gave birth, I did not think she would go in it at all. But in the room she was locked in I gave her no hiding places. So after they were born, I kept away so she would not try to move them to a funny place like on the window ledge or something like that. She got in the book case once just before they were born and cleared a shelf, but figured it was not going to work. (thank gosh)
Anyway, good luck!
K.

My Coco had in laundry in the bathtub. Meeko had in her box. Do you know how much she weighs? I was told Coco was having 3 and it would be around July 25. She had 5 on Aug 1. When Coco had the Ultrasound they said she was a month. When I was 12 Whiskers had 4 Kittens and she was just about 1. I dint know alot about Cats then. I cant belive how close your Cat and Meeko look. of couse the faces are differant. Let us know when she has.

She looks about as far along as my Lily who is due in 15 days. I felt kicks today and you'd think it was my own child moving LOL.

Lily has been showing for a month already, and is huge. She still has 2 weeks to go yet, which is when the babies do their most growing.

I am in the process of moving, so I have no idea what she will do when we do move and she's not delivered yet. New house and all will cause stress, but she will have her own room...I have dubbed it the birthing room LOL She is due 2 days after we move.

Thanks for all the info guys! I have been trying to feel her belly and thought I felt something move once but she doesn't stay still when I touch her, she rolls over on her back and purrs and purrs so it's really hard to tell! Her nipples don't have hair on them, they are quite prominent too. Mews2much I'd love to see what your kitty's looked like! I am curious as to what Sienna's will look like (this is the name I'm trying out with her right now to see if it fits).

I won't be keeping mommy or any of the kittens. I already have 2 cats and two dogs and am at the age where I will be having children within the next few years. I don't want to make anymore 15 year pet commitments because I don't want to have to neglect anyone when I start having my own kids! But for now I have the extra time and I just love cats and kittens, so I've decided to be a short-term foster mom instead. Luckily I live in a small town and the SPCA here is very good. Instead of individual cages the cats are allowed outside in a big communal area (if they are cat-friendly). It's not like big city SPCA's where they are piled in and have little chance of being adopted out! I also have a few family members potentially interested in the kittens, so that would be great if they stayed in the family

I'm not sure how much she weighs, but my guess is 6-8lbs. I will weigh her a bit later when she's awake again. I'm not sure if this is her first litter either, but to me she looks like she's only a year old herself, if that, so I don't think she's had a litter before! She was brought in as a stray so unfortunately we don't have much info on her Mews2much Meeko looks really small too, how much does she weigh? Maybe Sienna is just naturally a very small cat!

Ok I just weighed her, she is only 6.5lbs. That seems really tiny, especially when you take into account the fact that she's pregnant! Eeeek, babies having babies