A very young soon to be mom...

So our new foster mommy arrived today from the shelter. Her name is Lily and she is such a sweet darling! But sadly this little girl is a kitten herself- probably only 6 months old or so  Honestly, she's probably the tiniest foster cat I've had, and I've had alot! When I first saw her, it was hard to tell she was pregnant at all! Her belly is hardly larger than normal so I figured we'd have a while to wait...but, after watching her for a couple of minutes I could easily see her belly wriggling occasionally. So, it can't be too long now! My guess is only one or two kittens though since she's so small but who knows! I'm just hoping the delivery goes alright since she's so small. Anyways, here are some pics of the mommy to be!

Here's a top view





Lying down



On her side

Hmm, usually if you can feel the kittens moving, her nipples would be bare by that point. They sure look furry to me! :lol3: Have you palpated her abdomen to try to feel their little skulls? Sometimes you can get a fair count if she's skinny, if she's far enough along.

Poor little girl, to be a teenage mother .

In nature it is quite common they get pregnant while teenagers. And pysically, it most often goes well.

The biggest danger is she being young, will not be sure what to do, or at least, how to do it.  The instinctive knowledge dont always kicks in with these young first timers.  (it may not kick in with olders too, but more common with the young ones).

So you must be prepared to help her with the caretaking of the newborn.  The physical delivery should go OK with any luck. The dangers only slightly higher, esp as she doesnt looks malnourished.

Good luck!

Willowy said:

Hmm, usually if you can feel the kittens moving, her nipples would be bare by that point. They sure look furry to me!

Click to expand...

You are right, the nipples can't be seen in that last photo and should be visible.

Poor baby girl, hope all goes well.

Willowy said:

Hmm, usually if you can feel the kittens moving, her nipples would be bare by that point. They sure look furry to me!

Have you palpated her abdomen to try to feel their little skulls? Sometimes you can get a fair count if she's skinny, if she's far enough along.
Poor little girl, to be a teenage mother

.

Click to expand...

Yeah I was a little surprised about that too! Her nipples are definatly pinked up, but there's still alot of fur around them. I took a picture where you can see them better. The mouvment is very easy to both feel and see. Surprisingly I can feel at least 2 littles ones wriggling around in there! She must have been just skin and bones before she got pregnant! I can feel and even see the exact oval body shape of a kitten at times bulging out of her belly. As for palpating her abdomen, I haven't but is there a way to safely do so without a vet?

Here are some new pics:

Being a cutie:



Here you can see her nipples:



Thanks everyone for your advice! I'll keep you all updated on her!

Size doesn't really have anything to do with age in cats, just like people sometimes.  King Arthur and Morgan La Fays sister, Ann, is very small and petite... Her people are always asked if she's a kitten still and she's nearly 2 years old!!  But, she only "looks" about 5 months old or so if you go by size.  She is just small.  So do you know for certain that she is only about 6 months old?

Just gently laying your hands on the belly you can usually make out different kittens. But kittens also get tucked in up high or behind others so it's not really that accurate.

P3 and The King said:

 So do you know for certain that she is only about 6 months old?

Click to expand...

Oh no, we really don't have any real proof of her age since she was just a stray but the shelter thought she was very young and she does have that sort of a "kittenish" look to her. Again the guess is just judging by her size but like you said, there's no real way for us to tell without having her examined by a vet.

Wow, she's a really beautiful cat. Her coloring reminds me a little of a snow leopard.

We were in a similar position with our cat Ernie, who we took in as a stray and believed she was a kitten and too young to get pregnant. We STILL don't know how old she really was when she showed up or had her first litter. But I still believe she was less than a year old. Regardless, we've had her for about 8 or 9 months now and I guess she's grown a LITTLE bigger than she was when we first got her, but not by very much. She's still a very, very small cat. Three of the kittens from her first litter looked to be at least half her size BEFORE she started showing she was pregnant again. And even now we think she's likely to give birth within the next 24 hours, as pregnant as she is, she's still smaller than our other adopted stray Ash, who we believe is anywhere between 5-10 years old but could be even older than that.

Still, as tiny as Ernie is, she didn't have any trouble at all delivering 4 kittens, all of whom were strong and healthy.

I hope the same will be true for this pretty girl!

Here's an unpdate on Lily:

Still no kittens yet, but she must be getting close! She's still not huge but I think she's grown in the week since we got her. I've been able to see them moving since we got her last week and now they look like they're beating her up from the inside! Every time I look at her belly I can see them kicking. She also started nesting a few days ago- I've only seen her in the nest a couple of times but all the bedding is pulled up so I know she's been working on it! The only thing I'm curious about is the fact that she still hasn't lost much fur from around her nipples- they're definatly pinked up but all my other fosters have had alot more fur missing around them. Any thoughts?

And of course, here are some new pics!

Here's a belly shot:



Here's her nest all pulled up



This girl eats a TON!



And one last tummy pic