he is a she and pregnant! help!

so it turns out our beloved skully is actually a female and pregnant.....this is a shock as we were told she was male by the lady who gave her to us we took her for a check up 3 weeks ago and got the news, im ok about it all but have never had a cat...let alone a pregnant one before.

we think she is due any time now so if anyone could tell me what to expect i would really appreciate it.

at the moment she is like a little stalker and when she isnt doing that she is hiding under my bed she seems quite restless is this normal?

i am worried since she is so young (about16months) she might not know what to do

the vet said he couldnt vaccinate her due to pregnancy and as far as we know thats the first time she has seen a vet as her previous owner was very vague when we asked about all this...will she get sick?

any info would be grand

one rather panicky owner! x

Wow what a surprise!

Here is an article about what to expect.

Is she 16 months or weeks old?  If 16 months, that is not old; if 16 weeks, well, not good.  But if the person you got the cat from didn't know that he was a she, I'd wonder if she really knew how old the cat is.  Did the vet indicate how pregnant she was--how many weeks? 

Pregnancy won't make her sick unless she is in poor health to begin with.

she is 16 months ish....according the lady. the vet said she was about the right size etc for that age. but not having had a cat before i wasnt sure if this is a young age to have kittens or not...

the vet said she was around six weeks pregnant so she is due any time around now ......i think. he seemed happy with her overall health and condition and treated her for fleas. we have also been told to give her kitten food as it has all the extra vitamins she will need.

thank you for the article i have read it....the last bits are scary
 x

16 months is a very good age for having kittens. Both physically and mentally.

The cat pregnancy is 63-67 days, may be plus minus some day, especielly plus...

Hope not earlier as kittens dont manage early deliveries...

Others will fill in,  I myself will surely also do it, perhaps tomorrow.

Welcome to the Forums!

Good luck!

thanks ever so much, i think i have read so much im overfed on information....timeto sit back and just waitxx

ok so another question....

today she keeps trying to cover her food (like she does when she has used the litter tray)

i thought she didnt like it though she normally does and gave her some different food

i washed the bowl and gave her fresh dry foodand replaced her water

still not eating should i be worried?

xx
 

Being a cynical sort I think the woman who said she was a boy lied and knew the cat was probably pregnant...

Covering food is normal.

*if* she is 6 weeks pregnant she has another 3 to go.  However it's hard to tell how far on a cat is by examination so really all that can be said is they will come when they do.  You can usually fell them moving in the last couple of weeks - just lay your hand very gently on her side and wait.

Can she still wash her behind?  She won't be able to near the end.  Also pregnant cats end up only able to eat small amounts at a time,

in all honesty i think the lady did know, she didnt seem surprised when i called to tell her...her opinion is pretty much that skully is my problem now

so i am glad she is with us all the more, i may be inexperienced but at least im trying to do the right thing by her.and she is a beautiful moggy. we are going to have her spayed as soon as she is ready and the kittens are weaned tho.

she was estimated to be around 6 weeksby the vet. that was three weeks ago.we have been able to feel and see them moving for the last 2weeks 

she can just about clean her rear. its difficult since she is still new to us to know what to do for her. at the moment we are just giving her lots of petting and cuddles....she might be a bit spoilt!x 
 

Most of the time you don't need to do anything for a pregnant cat except feed it as much good quality food as she wants, and give her the attention she wants.

You do need to prepare for the delivery.  The obvious things are somewhere for her to have them - a cardboard box lined with newspaper and fleece in a quiet room is idea, and maybe with a puppy pad as well for the actual delivery.  You need to know how to get a vet in an emergency and/or out of hours - what number to ring, where to go - though it's very unlikely you will need this.  You need a mountain of cat food and litter!  And a set of electronic digital scales weighing in grams.  Weigh each kitten once a day, right in front of her, and record the results.  They should each gain 10g or more most days, though a little weight lose in the first day or so is quite common. 

You need a camera as well as we love photos!

You say she has been deflead and wormed which is great, but both she and the kittens need deworming again once they are 2-3 weeks old - in the UK we would use Panacur for this.  The problem is that pregnancy and delivery can trigger dorment roundworm cysts to get active.

There are some very good resources online about when a cat having kittens needs help, this is my favourite:

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/infosheets/breeding_from_your_cat/felineparturition.html

It is rare that a cat needs help, but when she does it's an emergency.

ok so its lucky i have all that stuff prepared the vet was spot on with his estimate first kitten arrived half an hour ago, she knew just what to do. put her in her box and was going to come check on her but she kept calling so i sat with her.i feel so lucky that she let me share this with her. kitten is doing well settled down to feed already, next in line appears to be on the way xx

Don't forget those photos and weights!

number 2 has arrived. i assume i should weigh them later? i have the times written down

first born looks to be white with dark spots possibly makerel markings in the dark areas

secong born is ginger with some white bits....

ill do pictures tomorrow hopefully xx
 

Aww congrats to Skully! Keep us posted on how many, colors, genders.... PICTURES!

I weigh them as soon as I can.  It only takes a moment to pop them on the scales, see the weight and pop them back.  Then I'll weigh them at about the same time the next day, and so on.  But if they are plugged in feeding or she is cleaning them, don't disturb them.

Hopefully each one is clearly different - a litter of black kittens can take some sorting out!

tasha111986 said:

she kept calling so i sat with her.i feel so lucky that she let me share this with her.

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A well earned "luck"!  You playing petting and "spoiling" her was a much good groundwork to get her trust and love.

Now you are just collecting the fruits. There is nothing just pure chancey luck here.

Excellent you were prepared, and it is going well!

Good luck for mom, kids and Grandma!

i think the final count is three

number one born at 1.25pm white with dark patches

number 2 born at 1.57pm ginger (possibly stripy) with white collar and nose area

number 3 born at 2.23 pm white black and ginger

not weighed them yet as they all are busy feeding and my children just back from school.will do it when they are in bed tonightand its nice and quiet.

skully seems to be happy tho.

should she eat soon? or will she just do it when she is ready?

xx
 

also with my luck ill get the genders wrong. but i will try later x

tasha111986 said:

i think the final count is three
number one born at 1.25pm white with dark patches
number 2 born at 1.57pm ginger (possibly stripy) with white collar and nose area
number 3 born at 2.23 pm white black and ginger

not weighed them yet as they all are busy feeding and my children just back from school.will do it when they are in bed tonightand its nice and quiet.
skully seems to be happy tho.
should she eat soon? or will she just do it when she is ready?

xx

 

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If she ate all the placentas she may not be hungry yet. Put her food and water close to her nest so she doesn't have to leave her babies to get them. She's going to be eating a lot as long as she's nursing the kittens. It's a good idea to continue feeding her kitten food until the babies are weaned.

And where are the ix: ???

i dont know how to get them onto the laptop, hubby will show me later.

luckily for hershe had the kittens in the back room where her food and litter tray are and she ate everything xx

The last one is probably a girl with black, ginger & white.

Glad all seems well, and good idea to leave the weighing until your kids are out of the way.

Scully will soon be eating masses of food, so get stocked up! 

I'm sure you will know all about getting photos from the phone / camera into the laptop very soon, as we are expecting / demanding lots of cute kitten photos!

BTW what colour is Scully?