A few simple questions

A friend of mine, cat newbie, ended up with a pregnant cat. They were about to go in to get her spayed, but the cat was faster with her plans. They'll keep the kittens, so that part is not that big a deal. This will be the cat's first litter; she's pretty young.

However, they wonder about a few things, as they've never had any sort of a cat before, let alone a pregnant one.

Is there anything special they need/should prepare?
Does the cat need any special bed or a box, or a crate of some sort, or will she be happy with her regular bed? Okay, I understand that all cats are different, but they might be some trend, after all! Will she choose her own spot somewhere else in the house, anyway?
They expect the cat to be able to breastfeed, but should they still have some formula ready for just-in-case purposes?
Is there anything they need to do with the kittens, or will the cat take care of it?

I guess this is a bunch of questions...

Thanks, everyone!

Encourage your friends to take 15 minutes to google cat pregnancy- it will help to answer alot of questions. Anyway, I'll answer them my best

1. A few ideas- start her on kitten food, and change her litter to non-clumping litter if it isn't already.

2.. Yes, it's best to find a crate or box, and put some old towels or rags in the bottom. Her own bed wouldn't work too well because the birth is messy, so it would probably have to be thrown out after. Put the bed somewhere private, since they try to find somewhere where they won't be distracted. She may not use the bed you made for her, but it's best to have one ready.

3. My advice is to put her in one room in the last couple weeks of her pregnancy. Have all food, water, litter, toys, bed, etc. in the room. This will narrow her choices of places to have them. Also make sure she does NOT go outside. She could try to have them outside, and that would not be good.

4. The mother will breastfeed them for the first 4-6 weeks until she weans them onto hard food. It could be a good idea to have kitten milk replacment there incase (found at petstores and vets), especially since she is young and is more likely to have problems with the birth etc.

5. She will feed and clean the kittens for the first few weeks, but it is up to your friend to handle them as they get bigger, make sure they are healthy and gaining weight, and make sure they are safe.

Once again, really encourage her to look it up and learn some more.
Good luck!

Thank you so much, I will forward the response.


(The friends's English is not really her strongest quality, so I had to ask this way.)

Thanks! I'll forward the link (and I hope I won't need to translate the whole thing.. )

They finally came out this last weekend. Five of them. Four are big, strong and looking perfectly fine, the fifth came out a bit later, is smaller and the other four seem to be pushing him away from the teets. Either way, he's gaining weight and eats hopefully enough with some help (my friend's been taking care of him).

We do have some concerns regarding weight. Is 10 grams (0.35 ounces) a day good weight gain? They're just a few days old now.

what weigh had the smallest?

A tip in these situations is to lay him to the tit when the others are asleep. It works sometimes.


Good luck!