Long story short: Our mama cat Ernie is a tamed stray who normally lives strictly outdoors. Because of the recent heat (near or over 100 degrees every day), we've moved her and our other adopted stray Ash into a part of the house (a couple of offices) where they can be kept separated from our very territorial mainecoon who HAAAAAATES both the girls.
Ernie is so close to giving birth, I've spent the past hour or two trying to figure out if I can tell for certain whether she's actually started labor yet. I'm not really sure still, I'm thinking she may be in the very earliest stages.
When we brought her and Ash inside several days ago, we prepared several nest boxes for Ernie to choose from, and laid out newspaper and some old teeshirts in a couple of sheltered corner spots she was showing interest in, but she hasn't chosen a nest yet. Or rather.... she SORT of has, it's just... "as close to the feet of any human in the room." She has explored our boxes and spent a little time in (or on top of) each, but the only two things she seems to be certain she wants to be near are any people in that part of the house, and an old wallet she dug out from under a desk and seems to have decided to be married to for some reason... she lays on it and cuddles with it.
Should I be trying to encourage her to pick a box or sheltered space and stick with it? Would it upset her if I tried putting her... "pet" wallet in one of our boxes and it's not the one she really ultimately wants to be in? (Why in the world has my cat adopted an old wallet anyway??)
The other odd thing she's doing... she keeps trying to climb up on top of things, apparently with the intention of rubbing her scent all over... every object in the room. She keeps knocking things over and upsetting stacks of papers and whatnot. What on earth is she doing and how can I discourage her from trying to climb all over everything?
The last thing, which is just something I'm curious about and can't find mention of anywhere, is that she keeps flicking her tail. Not like an annoyed CAT tail flick, more like an annoyed SQUIRREL tail flick (only she's not annoyed, she's being SUPER SUPER affectionate right now). Does that signify anything?
Ernie is so close to giving birth, I've spent the past hour or two trying to figure out if I can tell for certain whether she's actually started labor yet. I'm not really sure still, I'm thinking she may be in the very earliest stages.
When we brought her and Ash inside several days ago, we prepared several nest boxes for Ernie to choose from, and laid out newspaper and some old teeshirts in a couple of sheltered corner spots she was showing interest in, but she hasn't chosen a nest yet. Or rather.... she SORT of has, it's just... "as close to the feet of any human in the room." She has explored our boxes and spent a little time in (or on top of) each, but the only two things she seems to be certain she wants to be near are any people in that part of the house, and an old wallet she dug out from under a desk and seems to have decided to be married to for some reason... she lays on it and cuddles with it.
Should I be trying to encourage her to pick a box or sheltered space and stick with it? Would it upset her if I tried putting her... "pet" wallet in one of our boxes and it's not the one she really ultimately wants to be in? (Why in the world has my cat adopted an old wallet anyway??)
The other odd thing she's doing... she keeps trying to climb up on top of things, apparently with the intention of rubbing her scent all over... every object in the room. She keeps knocking things over and upsetting stacks of papers and whatnot. What on earth is she doing and how can I discourage her from trying to climb all over everything?
The last thing, which is just something I'm curious about and can't find mention of anywhere, is that she keeps flicking her tail. Not like an annoyed CAT tail flick, more like an annoyed SQUIRREL tail flick (only she's not annoyed, she's being SUPER SUPER affectionate right now). Does that signify anything?
