Pinking and pregnancy.

firsttime

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Greetings, I'm living with my friend now and we have what is essentially my first cat. She was a stray our neighbors found in the forest a while ago. They said a bit over a month ago that she's pregnant and I've done a bit of looking around and she had the pinking nipples etc. In the past few days though, her nipples have gotten much bigger and I've read in a few places different things. One says that happens 3 weeks after conception, another says a week before delivery. I would post some pictures but don't have a camera. She seems to cling to me a bit, and I've been told pregnant cats for some reason hang more around guys but no idea about that. Any insights about correlations between nipple size and pregnancy stages would be appreciated. Still checking posts here in the mean time. Thanks in advance.
 

StefanZ

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3 weeks after conception is about the pinkeing.   :)   Often the first decently safe sign the mating resultet.

When the delivery is very near, there are a lot of possible signals, but none is very exact... So the exact day and hour is often pure guess even for experienced rescuers. Why, even for breeders who do know exactly when the mating was...

Keep us updated, and follow up with questions too!

Welcome to the TCS site and our Forums!

Good luck!   *vibes*
 
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firsttime

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Thanks. :) Well I mostly wrote because I realized she still had food in her bowl, unusual for this time of day, usually she's eaten it all by now. That with the nipple thing, wondering what other signs might be visible to show she might soon be giving birth. From the best we can gather, conception was around 2 months ago, but that's far from certain.

Thanks again.
 

StefanZ

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they are pregnant 63-65 days on average, sometimes somewhat longer, somewhat some day shorter.

So it is nearing now.

Good luck!
 

blueorchid

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You may want to start preparing yourself for the kittens. Maybe you can set up a box for her and the kittens. Keep clean blankets and towels around. Keep us posted :)
 
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firsttime

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Thanks for the tips/info. Well, no happy news yet, she's still chubby and hogging the kittens or herself (I don't think she likes sharing).

Have all the stuff prepared, at least for after she's chosen her spot, towels, blankets, boxes etc. I seriously think she's too greedy to have the kittens because that would mean we also have kittens. Not a nice kitty.
 

orientalslave

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Cats vary a lot in signs they are about to deliver - some have lots of milk for several days before, some have no milk until after delivery.  Some nest, others do not.  You get the picture - cats are contrary.

However as StefanZ says, pinking up happens about 3 weeks after mating, and they are pregnant for about 9 weeks.  So, if she had pinked up about a month ago she should have just over a week to go.

Feed her as much kitten food as she wants to eat, and make sure you have your vet details just in case she needs help delivering - most cats don't but it's far better to know and not need than be frantically trying to find out in the middle of the night.  Also check where you would go out of hours - in the UK quite a few vets use an emergency service in a different place to the normal surgery.

Otherwise, kitten care in my view is mostly about looking after mum.  Feed her as much as she wants to eat, spend some time with her, and so on.  The one thing that's really useful to do is to weigh the kittens every day at about the same time.  You need electronic scales that weigh to 1g or 1/10 oz, and you need to record the weights rather than try to remember them.  Hopefully you will be able to tell all the kittens apart by sight!  The first sign of a problem is often the kitten isn't gaining weight.  A normal gain is 10g (about 1/2 oz) or more per day, though they often lose a little in the first couple of days, just like human babies.

I would also take the vet's advice about worming mum, and flea control.
 
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