First time pregnant cat: Help please!

Hello,

I have a cat who is about a year old and has displayed all signs of being pregnant. She was in heat over thanksgiving when I took her home and I caught her with another cat one night. After that I kept her in the house and took her back to school with me. I wasnt sure if the two cats had enough time to even do anything but she has gotten rounder in her stomach and is very affectionate and is always hungry. It has been around 70 days since thanksgiving so I would assume that she is due any day now but she isnt acting like she is going into labor. Should I take her to the vet or just wait it out and see how things go?

Any help would be appreciated

Had you at any time felt the babies move?  You usually feel them clearly the last two weeks.

Had her tits reddened?  The redden typically in the third week, remain...

Does she clean herself down there? licks off down there and the tits?

Is she dewormed?  If there are several no´s, it is entirely possible she is full of worms, probably tapeworm, and very friendly...

Anyhow, 70 days which you are entirely sure of, is about the maximum for normal pregnancies, so a visit to vet is good.    If for nothing else, if she isnt pregnant, so for a vet check up and deworming.

Dont let them x-ray if not absolutely necessary, better to ultrasound. Or palpitate with hands for seeing if there are kittens at all.

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

ps.  The old question, wait or go to the vet, also known as the waiting game... It recurs often here.

Usually the best to do is to wait...  There were cases with "emergency delivery because it was so late" and the kittens were premature...  Ie it was NOT their time yet.

But if not sure, contact always a vet.

If she is pregnant, and everything seems OK, you can take your decision to wait anyway.

If she isnt pregnant, she must have deworming, or it may be even something worse.

She is almost certainly pregnant.  It takes very little time for a mating, and cats can come into call / heat as young as 4 months, hence the advice to spay a female kitten as soon as your vet will.

When she has had her kittens you MUST keep her in.  Firstly you can't risk her having an accident and having to hand-rear the kittens, secondly cats can get pregnant again very soon after giving birth - nursing does NOT stop cats becoming pregnant.  Ask your vet how soon after birth he will spay her.

And she should be wormed anyway.  Panacur is safe for pregnant cats and effective against roundworm.  You also need to worm the kittens.  There are quite a few different preparations of Panacur and you need to know how much the cat or kitten weighs so you can give the right amount.

This is a picture of her. She is normally a pretty skinny cat but she has been getting bigger

This is another picture of her. Her stomach is hard and sticking out on the sides

StefanZ, there are times when i think i feel movement when i feel her stomach but there has been nothing prominent. Her nipples are bigger and pinker. And she has not been dewormed so that is a worry but i will keep an eye on her especially this week

Please sort out getting her wormed - or dewormed as you call it.  If you want to know why, read the section on roundworms in this page:

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/worming/info.html

I read that it is not recommended to treat worms on a pregnant cat, this is, if she is pregnant. 

DesiRayJ said:

I read that it is not recommended to treat worms on a pregnant cat, this is, if she is pregnant. 

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Yeah, that is why it is important to do it together with a cat vet, who tell what preparate and dosage the cat shall get.  Or at the very least, using safe preparates recommended by knowleable people.

DesiRayJ said:

I read that it is not recommended to treat worms on a pregnant cat, this is, if she is pregnant. 

Click to expand...

Not true.  Read the datasheet for Panacur (easy to find with Google) and it clearly states it is safe for pregnant cats.  You can also treat for fleas.

But, do NOT use pet shop products such as Hartz or Bob Martins on any cat or kittens.  Some of the products have a very bad safety record, some are simply not effective and a waste of money.

Taking her to the vets to get a safe wormer is prudent advice - they will weigh her and give her a general health check as well - and you can ask how soon after delivery she can be neutered.