TNRing Again--Pregnant? Cat

I take care of a stray/feral cat colony and was able to TNR seven cats in November 2010. Of the seven, six were males. The colony unfortunately has expanded recently due I think because more and more cats are getting dumped when the owners move out. I live in a condo complex, but some of the cats come from up the hill where there are single dwelling houses and an apartment complex.
I hope to trap up to four cats this Wednesday/Thursday (March 2nd/3rd) and have them s/n and vaccinated on Thursday the 3rd through Alley Cat Rescue ("ARC"). Two of the cats are very new; one ("Calico") has been around since early January 2011.
It is Calico I am concerned about--she looks pregnant. She is also very skittish; she barely tolerates my presence when I feed them. I've never trapped a pregnant cat before. Is there anything I should know beforehand? Being pregnant, will she react differently when trapped? Will the recuperation be longer, different? I plan on keeping her in the trap post-surgery in the (heated) basement of my condo through Thursday night and release Friday.
ARC is aware of the potential pregnancy. IF Calico is pregnant, they will abort the fetuses and spay her.
Thanks.

We always keep females for 36 - 48 hours before releasing, but that's us - we TNR at our vet, and they let us board for free. I think your plan to keep her overnight Thursday is fine. I would release her late Friday though (depending upon weather). This time of year we like to release them mid- to late afternoon at or near the peak heat of the day so the temp change isn't a shock.

But I'm not aware of any special needs she'd have, other than a little more complicated to spay and a little extra recovery time for it is a good idea.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spayed a very late term cat. She was friendly thing was it was her first litter and I had just taken 3 cats from one lady(and I had ENOUGH cats).

Far are recovery-nothing special I noticed. She was in a cage to adjust to my other cats for about a week then let her in with the rest of the cats. Only thing I would do is put the trap on a towel so if she pees not a puddle.
Good luck

Thanks for your insight and advice. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Bless you for caring for all of these cats. I would keep her a couple of days if you could, since she is pregnant and the spay will be more involved, she will need more recovery time. It would be great to leave her at the vet's but most will charge boarding.. LDG has a very nice vet . If your vet won't keep over night for you, bring a fairly large carrier so the vet can place her in that carrier after her surgery, not the trap. You can bring her home in that and simply slide in a very small litter box (tidy cats makes a throw away litter box you can buy at the grocery store for about $3.00) food and water for 48 hours. Then just carry that larger carrier outside and open it up and out she goes. Now, If your trap opens at both ends, then you can keep her in the trap for 48 hours. The tidy cats throwaway litter box fits perfectly in a trap. You just open one end of the trap just slightly and slide in the litter pan. Go to the other side of the trap and slide in a nice comfy towel, water and some food.

Good luck and I sure hope you can trap her to avoid more kittens being born outside.....

"Calico", the pregnant cat, has not been at my Restaurant for more than two days. I'm afraid she has had her kittens. If she comes back, I will try to see where she escapes to, in hopes of ultimately finding and rescuing her kittens. But the area is somewhat inaccessible.
If I were to trap her on Wednesday/Thursday, I will make sure she is STILL pregnant. I know her kittens cannot survive without her and would release her were she to appear markedly thinner.

!!!!!

We had a female in heat show up for a few days, then disappear before we could trap her.

I trapped four cats: two male, two females, zero future kittens.
"Quill" eluded the trap. But one the females that I trapped WAS pregnant--I'd only seen her two times, always waiting to eat until the others ate.
I plan to do more trapping the end of March; perhaps then I'll get Quill and other hanger-ons.

GREAT JOB!

Sorry Quill wasn't around - but that's great work!!!! she'll be back next time you're trapping!

Super news and great job Don't worry, Quill will come around and soon. She knows where the food source is! I am so thankful to you for trapping these cats, you have saved many kittens by doing so.

I did trap Quill around March 2011. She's still around along with her kitten. Hungry as ever, feral, but waits for me at the door step. She still has a skin condition around her face, but doesn't seem to bother her. I'm hoping it goes away with the colder weather.
Got another situation for which I need advice: "Precious" was recently abandoned by her in-humane male owner around two or three weeks ago. Very friendly; within a few days I could pet her. And this morning at feeding time she rubbed against me, tail high, rolled on her back, head butts, loud yeows: she is in heat. I experimented with picking her up, she didn't fight too much. FWIW, I think she also has worms. I can feel her spine, but not her ribs. Can't guess her age but definitely not a kitten, but youngish face.
Two questions: I have an appointment to get her spade/spayed tomorrow. I'll try to pick her up to put her into a cat carrier but am very inexperienced with picking up cats. Anything special I should know given that she is in heat. Also, do female spray? I've noticed the smell of spray, not sure if it's a male or her. Of the 20 or so cats I've TNRd since November 2010, about 15 to 18 are male. And while I know those cats can't do the deed, I'm concerned that a male is in the area too. Thanks.

I was able to scruff "Precious Girl" easily and put her into the cat carrier and then in my car.
I was able to re-scruff PG with a little more effort when I went out to my car, saw the emergency flashers had turned themselves on, and PG looking at me from the back seat of the car. Yeah, the smart little girl had escaped from the cc. And for her it was an emergency....
Note to self: make sure all FOUR latches are secure.

Are you kidding !!! Did you get PG back in the crate? Hopefully the car windows were closed..... I guess she turned on the hazards because she was signaling for help Hope all is going well today and the cats were able to get to the vet alright yesterday

Yeah, PG is one smart cookie. There are four latches (two, top; two side), and one of the top latches was ajar a little. She squeezed her little heat in that opening and got out. I never used a trap, only a cat carrier, because she was so friendly.
First she was on top of the back seat, then she was in the front seat. I got in the back seat. She looked at me, I looked at her. She was meowing words that needed no translation (NSFW), and I frankly couldn't blame. First, her in-humane owner dumped her after three or four years of easy living. Then she acts all cute and cuddly, head butts, tail held up high, and what do I do? Stuff her into a cat carrier, not once, but three times! She fought a little, but relatively speaking, not bad. And she loses her most prize possessions in the end.
And, Precious Girl has been renamed Precious BOY. Yup, she's a he. I've TNRd around 20 cats in one year, and all but two or three are male.
I want to see if he is just as friendly after he gets over the shock of no-hormones. If I thought Ritz (and me) could tolerate another cat, I'd adopt PB/PG. Assuming he still respects me in the morning.