Pregnant Strays -sigh-

I recently moved into a new house and with the new house, came a cat.

Miss Twiggy, as I call her because she is VERY skinny, was a stray. I asked all my neighbours and none of them know of where she belongs. She has decided she belongs on my doorstep where she can scream at the top of her lungs for food and water (she looks and sounds to be part Siamese).

We live in Cebu, Philippines. The overpopulation of cats and dogs is amazing so this has not come to a surprise to me. But this lovely female is pregnant.

I assume that she is pregnant because she has very swollen pink nipples and a growing tummy, not from food.

How far along she is I am not sure. But I am not allowed to have her in the house. The parents and landlord scream NO and she is not a quiet cat so it's not like I can hide her in my room. She would let everyone know she was there pretty much.

So, what can I do to help her along? I am going grocery shopping today to look for some cat food ( I hear kitten food is good.). I have inspected her for fleas and she doesn't seem to have any. She gets a few scratches on her face from fights I assume but otherwise she is very friendly to me, very vocal, and seems to be very nice.

When can I put a flea collar or flea drops on her? I understand flea things and kittens are a big no-no, but how far along does she have to be? Until they are weaned?

Anything else that can help me with a pregnant stray would be SOOOOO helpful. She is staying in my enclosed enterance for now. She can come and go as she pleases and she is safe from rain and storm in there. I just don't know what else I can do for her since I can't bring her inside.

Please help!

You can perhaps have her as your outside cat? Like it is quite common with dogs.
Thus, try to make some sort of shelter for her, ie a small hut or something.
If you want to be inside there, it should be a hut. But if you are contend with her and her kittens - a "dog house" is more then enough.


ps. Is there any danger of stray dogs? In that case, it may be good to have possibility to close off the cat hut. Either have the hut build around a big dog cage. Or having a net door in the hut. The door opened while you can watch for her safety. Otherwise she is safely closed inside, as long as she has small kittens she must protect. - Im not sure, this is an idea.

Kitten food is best yes.

Does she allows you to handle her? You write she doesnt seems to have fleas.
Taking the fleas by hand is useful if you can handle her freely several times a week.

Do you have a vet or an apothecary nearby, to get anti-worms drugs?
(Precisely as you say, over the counter drugs are no no unless made by wellknown big medical firms, and made for cats. Drugs for dogs may be dangerous for cats.)


Good luck!


ps. Welcome to the Forums!

Currently, there is very little danger to her from dogs. We live in a gated community so there are very few dogs. There are some but they are quite a ways away. And she tends to stick around our property.

She does allow me to handle her. It took me a little while to convince her of it. But she is very friendly with me now. She comes right to me, knows my voice, will let me pick her up, sit on my lap, etc. She has become quite used to me.
I inspected her for fleas and I found no visible eggs or fleas on her. She is partially black but I checked around her neck and chin and underbelly which are white and she was free of any signs or bite marks.
The only thing that worried me was a bare patch about the size of a quarter on her side. There was no rash, no redness, nothing. She just seemed to lick there A LOT. Now it has cleared up so I think she just had a nervous twitch and licked herself, ya know? But I will soon have her at the vet so she can get a full over vet check.

I do plan on taking her into the vet to get spayed, dewormed, rabies vaccine, etc once she has the kittens. I fear that the stress from getting in a car and going into the city to go to the vet will upset her too much while she is still pregnant. I am going to wait until the kittens are a bit older before I stress her out with that.


She is eating a lot of meat right now and I have put her on kitten food as well. She seems to LOVE wet food and of course is going for that before anything else, especially the ones that taste like fish. She seems to enjoy those the most but I think she just enjoys getting food in general. Tuna is her favourite!

Thank you so much for responding. And thank you for the welcome! I am happy to be here!
When she has the kittens (and If, because there is always an if as to if they will be alive. Especially with how skinny she is and her being young. She doesn't seem to be more than 6 months, she may reject the litter and if she doesn't have them in my enterance, I cannot guarentee I will find them in order to do handfeeding), I will post pictures of her and her little ones.



And do not worry, SHE WILL BE SPAYED! I hate the idea she is having these ones but there is little I can do right now since they do not seem to do abort/spay here. She will be spayed, if I have kittens that do not have homes for her kittens, I will at least be getting them neutered as well.

Yes - continue to feed her a high calorie, high fat, nutritious diet. She needs all of that energy for the kittens. Don't deny her any food. Actually, a good quality dry will help to put pounds on her... wet is for quality protein and water for hydration. Keep doing that even after the kittens are born b/c they will take a lot of out her while they are nursing.

Kitten replacement milk is also good for that - high in cals, nutrition and fat.

I would still take her to the vet. He or she may be able to give you an idea of how many kits are in her womb, how far along she is and how best to treat her for worms as she is pregnant.

Are you American? Maybe stationed over there with family? Maybe someone in the states or if you know anyone in Australia/ NZ who can send you the things you need.

Human tuna is not the best for her. Use it as a treat only or perhaps to give her pills if need be.

It would also be good to have a safe birthing box set up for her in the enclosure... a large box with high sides put in blankets or towels, etc. She will need a safe and secure place to have her babies.

I called to make an appointment at the vet, and they cannot get me in for another 2 weeks.

However, Twiggy is becoming quite swollen and big. She seems to be getting closer to her due date because she is quite interested in lying down and she is getting pretty stiff. I told the vet and he gave me and the other vets cell numbers so we can call if we notice any problems when the clinic is not open which was soooo nice.

We are Canadians actually haha. The only thing is is anything sent in the mail cannot be guarenteed to get here. From what I was told, there is always a risk that someone may 'lose it' in the mail. I have been to the pet stores here and there are a lot of things that we have back in Canada.
I am planning on getting my dewormer and flea drops from the vet though.

Her birthing box is a big plastic container with a part cut out for her to get inside. Blankets and newspaper are in there because I read that birthing mothers like paper more. I have more blankets set aside for her for once she has birthed and I can clean it out. Am I allowed to touch the babies? I once heard that the mother's will kill or abandon the kittens if humans touch them?

Touching the babies will not make the mother kill or abandon them. Mostly it depends on how much she trusts you. When Goldy had her kittens she let me pick them up right away. Just don't take them out of her sight and as soon as they start squeaking, put them back in with her. I would hold them for only a few seconds at a time to begin with.

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Touching the babies will not make the mother kill or abandon them. Mostly it depends on how much she trusts you. When Goldy had her kittens she let me pick them up right away. Just don't take them out of her sight and as soon as they start squeaking, put them back in with her. I would hold them for only a few seconds at a time to begin with.

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Ahh, okay, thank you! I will test and see what she thinks about it when the time comes.

She is currently eating and being her big ol pregnant self. She has the funny waddle too which is adorable all the same.

Update:
Twiggy decided to bring me a gift today. A dead bird.
Although she is very big and she tends to be quite lazy lately, we know she is still healthy enough to bring back a bird as a present to me.
She looked rather insulted when I threw it in the trash

Originally Posted by Zuma-xo

Am I allowed to touch the babies? I once heard that the mother's will kill or abandon the kittens if humans touch them?

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It may perhaps be thrue for feral, free living cats.

But surely not thrue for semiferal - or even feral cats - who are helped by humans they recognize. The helper has access and is accepted.

This learns the cat moms are like human moms - the most important is not "freedom" but welfare of her children.

There are many examples where a rescuer takes in a pregnant feral mom. After a couple of days, when she has settled down and realizes nobody is threating her - she does copy with the situation.
She usually even allows the kittens are handled and fostered, while she perhaps remains very shy.


The only exception is if she is highely stressed - thus situations immediately at the capture.
Or if something is threating them at their room - for example an hostile dog comes into the room...
Yes, in such situations she may be dangerous to her own kittens.

Update:

So my neighbour at the begining of the month decided he'd help me and take her in. So I said AMAZING! Because I thought she'd have a place to live to raise her kittens until I got her spayed.

Incorrect, he would leave Twiggy outside for 8-10 hours a day and her kittens were inside. No matter how often I told him he had to keep her inside or let her inside when he left for work so she wasn't locked out, he'd say he would, and then wouldn't do it again.
And technically, I cannot break into his house and steal kittens.

Well 36 hours ago we found Twiggy, she'd been hit by a car. We left a note in his mail box to tell him and told him to come tell me if he couldn't take care of them because I would.

He came home and didn't respond so I thought he was.

6am this morning I found the kittens in his backyard. I know there was 3 at one point but we could only find 2. They are EXTREMELY tiny but I know she gave birth about 3 weeks ago. They are about the same size as newborn kittens but they have the development of 3-4 week olds.

I have been feeding them, making them poop, and cuddling them but they are not taking to eating from an eyedropper at all. I pretty much have to force them to eat. I've tried everything! Dishes, straws (hold the one end closed hoping the liquid that is stuck inside the one end, they would try to lick at), syringes, bottles, soft eyedroppers, etc. They will not take to any of it! I have been using my smallest, softest eye dropper to feed them but I have to open their mouths and pretty much make them do it. They keep coming back to eat because they are hungry, but they won't take to the eyedropper at all, they just seem like they wait for me to open their mouths and do it. Any suggestions or warnings here? Any advice, PLEASE

As well, when making them poop, do I wipe them until they start pooping, or until they are finished? How much poop should I be looking for?

Any advice would be a bonus here, I am worried about them. They seem a lot more calm in the last 7 hours but I still feel like I'm doing horrible and I miss Twiggy so much.

I'm so sorry to hear about Twiggy. I'm amazes any of the kittens are still alive after the treatment they've had.

Will they lick anything off your finger? If so, you might try some wet food mixed with the KMR so it will stick to your finger. Otherwise you'll probably just have to keep force feeding them for a while.

You can get some good information from http://www.kitten-rescue.com about how much to feed, how often they should be peeing and pooping, etc.

for the little ones.

The kittens seem to be getting better. I just finished feeding them again and the littlest one, once you put the eye dropper in his mouth, if you put it on his tongue, he will swallow instead of before where he would spit everything up. The bigger one is starting to get the idea but is a little slower.

The black one will go poop a little bit everytime, the tabby one went once today but doesn't go everytime it seems but it says not to worry about that so much. I was just worried really about how much he/she is supposed to be going. The bigger one is for sure a boy, I am almost sure, but the little one I am still on the fence about because it is so small.

Everytime they see me they meow all the time and then I feed them, wipe their bottoms, and they usually suckle the ground some more and fall asleep. I am not sure exactly how much to feed them because I do not have a scale yet but I don't want to overfeed them since they may have not eaten in awhile and it might make their tummies really sore to be overeating. Everytime they wake up, I try to feed them a little bit so it's usually every 3 hours give or take.Their poop is a kind of yellow colour and is kind of like... well it's jelly, is that normal for you guys?

I have a rug lining the box they are in, a couple blankets, and a stuffed cat with a ticking clock in there. Anything I should remove or add?

I am so worried right now just because they are so tiny. But they've made it this far so they are fighters and I am hoping they will put up with this new formula for a little bit longer until I can try them on wet food. Its strange because I read somewhere they can start as early as next week, I do not see them eating wet food in a week and I far from see them doing half of the things they are supposed to. But they really are 3 weeks. They have all the mental traits, but they are far from physically developed it seems. I feel so bad.

Do you have pictures of them?

Good job on the feeding. You could fill a sock with raw rice and warm it in the microwave. That would give them something to cuddle up to since they don't have their mother any more.

It seems to go well!

You are doing everything according to the manual as I can see. You are a natural born talent!


I think they are so tiny because they were somewhat undernourished: Both because their mom was a stray during pregnancy. And later on because she was outside during the day... Thus they missed 1-2 of the days meals.
But they should catch up with time, being perhaps a week late.


Sorry about the mom... Deep sorry. Leaving her outside killed her. She probably get into heat, and become careless. Quite a lot of moms leave orphans this way.
Or simply was troubled abouth her kittens and didnt payed the usual attention to the traffic....
RIP Twiggy.

Good luck!

Thank you all for your replies and I appreciate the effort you take to give me all the information. I will try to rice in sock thing, they are sleeping quite fine now, but I am going to go buy a thing of rice tomorrow and make one for them.

I am going to find my camera and take some pictures of them, I should have them up by tomorrow. That way you guys can see how tiny they are, I am seriously scared about that. But like you said,StefanZ, they are small because they didn't get fed as often. It still surprised me they are alive at all, and even though there is still a high chance they can die, I am hoping they pull through and make it. A friend of the family lost their cat a few months ago from old age and they said they were thinking of getting another, so if these ones make it, they will see about taking one home. So that is amazing!

And thank you for your regards about Twiggy. I feel soooooo bad and I cried a lot today about it. It kills me because if I was allowed to keep her inside then none of this would have happened. But my landlord and parents prevent that. In fact, I am not even supposed to have the kittens in the house haha, but my parents said I could as long as a promised to find a home for them and remind me on an hourly bases I am not keeping them.

Originally Posted by StefanZ

Do you have a vet or an apothecary nearby, to get anti-worms drugs?
(Precisely as you say, over the counter drugs are no no unless made by wellknown big medical firms, and made for cats. Drugs for dogs may be dangerous for cats.)

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Many years ago not knowing any better I bought an OTC wormer for cats made by a very well known firm. He was old enough, and I followed the directions. The kitten was dead when I awoke the next morning. The stuff I get from the vet costs hardly more than the OTC's, and I have never had a problem using it no matter how sickly a stray I've taken in.


Oh no, I'd posted before reading to the end of the thread. I'm so sorry about Twiggy, what was your neighbor thinking? Good luck with the babies, at 3 weeks if they're fighters they'll make it with your help.

Thanks and I am not going to go by age on these guys to do the worming. I am going to go by weight. Even though it says they can be dewormed at 6 weeks or 8 weeks depending on the brand, I probably wont be doing it until 12 weeks because I fear they will get sick.

May be the dumbest question, but the two may have been peeing when I thought they were pooing lol, because I stimulated the black one just a minute ago and he pooped a big brown smelly poop. It was a little wet but it kept it's consistency and I may have thought it was wet because I was using a wet cloth. I stimulated the tabby, he didn't even pee. It worries me that he doesn't go as much but maybe it's because he's bigger? Maybe he holds more/longer? Is it normal for kittens to be having brown poops at 3 weeks? Should they be using the bathroom by themselves yet?

I am going to wait until the weekend is over before going to take them to the vet. Mostly because they are all closed on the weekends here but as well, to see if they even make it through the weekend. I am really hoping they do but I have to prepare myself that they don't.

These are the kittens, they are not good pictures but they will not stay still.

Where's the cuteness warning?

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

Where's the cuteness warning?

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Haha, I'm sorry

I have more pictures to upload now, I am just getting them on photobucket so I can post them. They were playing and attempting to push eachother down, it was funny. Some of the pictures are overtly cute so I will post them up here soon