Should I be able to feel the kittens move?

GoldyCat

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I acquired a stray about three weeks ago. Nobody answered the "lost and found" ad I put in the paper, so I took her to the vet to be checked out. He told me she is healthy--and pregnant. He thought about 5 weeks at the time. That was 10 days ago. Her belly is beginning to show and I can sometimes feels the individual kittens, but I never feel them move. My two girls have never been pregnant, so this is all new to me. Should I be able to feel the kittens moving at this point? Anything you can tell me about taking care of a pregnant kitty would be appreciated.
 

cc12

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I did not feel a lot of movement but all of my kittens are healthy so far. I am not sure if you will feel a lot of movement if there is a large litter.
Make sure to feed Mommy a diet of high quality wet food. Kitten food is best.
Feed her as often as she wants.
She will want an area to nest to prepare for the birth. I confined my cat to my large bathroom away from noise and my other cats. She was content in there.
This article has some good information:
http://cats.about.com/od/reproductio...onlne_four.htm
 
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GoldyCat

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Originally Posted by CC12

I did not feel a lot of movement but all of my kittens are healthy so far. I am not sure if you will feel a lot of movement if there is a large litter.
Make sure to feed Mommy a diet of high quality wet food. Kitten food is best.
Feed her as often as she wants.
She will want an area to nest to prepare for the birth. I confined my cat to my large bathroom away from noise and my other cats. She was content in there.
This article has some good information:
http://cats.about.com/od/reproductio...onlne_four.htm
Thanks. I guess I just like to worry. I work with pregnant humans, and the movement is much more obvious. Also, I'm not at all sure about her dates. The vet was mostly going by the size of the kittens I think.

Unfortunately, my bathroom is very small and dark. No windows and the lights are either all on or all off. I did fix up a cat cave for her--AKA carrier with the door off--which she seems to like. I put it in my bedroom closet instead leaving it out in the room. If I'm lucky, she'll choose the cat cave instead of my bed to have her kittens.
 

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For me, you could feel the kittens move starting around 2 weeks before birth. Since I knew her date of mating, I knew when to start checking. As long as the kitty is healthy otherwise, things should work out fine. Lily had 8 kittens and they are doing great. If your vet thinks she is about 5 weeks along, you probably won't feel them moving about for a couple weeks.

Hope this helps somewhat.
 

cc12

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Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Thanks. I guess I just like to worry. I work with pregnant humans, and the movement is much more obvious. Also, I'm not at all sure about her dates. The vet was mostly going by the size of the kittens I think.

Unfortunately, my bathroom is very small and dark. No windows and the lights are either all on or all off. I did fix up a cat cave for her--AKA carrier with the door off--which she seems to like. I put it in my bedroom closet instead leaving it out in the room. If I'm lucky, she'll choose the cat cave instead of my bed to have her kittens.
I fixed up a nest and Lucia went right to it. A lot of people use closets. That would have been my second choice.
I worried a lot too. I still worry about the kittens welfare.
 
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GoldyCat

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Originally Posted by CC12

I fixed up a nest and Lucia went right to it. A lot of people use closets. That would have been my second choice.
I worried a lot too. I still worry about the kittens welfare.
I left the cat carrier--minus the door--in the living room when we got back from the vet's. Goldy was sleeping in it a lot, and sometimes making a nest of the soft cloths I had in there. So I thought I might make it more attractive for her as a birthing place by putting it in the bedroom closet. I don't think she went into the carrier once while it was there. At least the padding in the bottom was never disturbed. I put the carrier back in the living room, under the piano, and I'm hoping for the best.

Goldy also tries to make a nest with the sheets under my feet when I'm in bed. I hope that doesn't mean she's going to choose the bed to have her kittens.
 

cc12

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Originally Posted by GoldyCat

I left the cat carrier--minus the door--in the living room when we got back from the vet's. Goldy was sleeping in it a lot, and sometimes making a nest of the soft cloths I had in there. So I thought I might make it more attractive for her as a birthing place by putting it in the bedroom closet. I don't think she went into the carrier once while it was there. At least the padding in the bottom was never disturbed. I put the carrier back in the living room, under the piano, and I'm hoping for the best.

Goldy also tries to make a nest with the sheets under my feet when I'm in bed. I hope that doesn't mean she's going to choose the bed to have her kittens.
Could be. I have heard that many cats love under beds. It must feel safe like a bunker or something.
 

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one of my girls gave birth on my bed in the middle of the night, I didn't move her but did end up being a new duvet, sheets etc
After the birth I managed to take the duvet and pop it in the cupbaord (So I didn't have to touch and upset her or the kittens) and all was well.
Another one of my girls decided to give birth in my daughters old play stroller?! That was ruined after but as always and more important mum and kittens were fine

Cats really can give birth anywhere, its usually somewhere they find safe and are happy. All mine seem to prefer to do it near where I am, so I'm always close by at birth but not too close as to upset,
Melissa x
 
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GoldyCat

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I'm guessing Goldy is going to have her kittens some time in the next week. I just hope she doesn't do it while I'm at work Friday night.

The kittens have gotten a lot bigger over the last week and I can actually feel some movement once in a while. I've never felt more than three of them, but as the vet said, there could be more hiding in there.

Goldy's behavior hasn't changed drastically, but there are some signs. She's been finding her way into some really tight little spaces. Under the loveseat, inside the dust cover. Don't know what it's called. There's a piece of material tacked onto the bottom of the loveseat to keep the dust out. I had retacked it several months ago because my other two cats were getting up inside the frame for their wrestling matches. Of course, that didn't last long, they just pulled it loose again. Now Goldy has found the way in. Instead of retacking the material, I took it off completely.

Another place I found her was under the piano lid (baby grand) lying on the strings. Now I'm keeping the piano completely closed except when I'm actually playing it.

She's also figured out how to get into the packing box from my new printer. She crawls inside and pulls the flaps closed behind her, then starts shredding the styrofoam blocks that are in the box.

If I catch her when she first goes into labor, is it possible to move her to the birthing box I've prepared for her? She's not totally ignoring it, sometimes sleeps there.
 
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