Is my cat pregnant?

We found her chilling out on my porch yesterday and fell in love. She did have a tomcat following her around, and she hissed and clawed at him, but I don't know if we intervened before or after the... you know. I didn't notice how yellow her nipples were until I took the pictures. We took her to the vet yesterday to schedule a spaying and check for a(n absent) microchip. She's scheduled for Saturday. I know that spaying while pregnant is possible, but I live in a state full of anti-abortion folks and I don't know how a vet would feel about doing it to a cat. I really hope she isn't pregnant and, if she is, that a vet would be willing to help me out, because my mom allowed me to adopt a young female - not an entire litter of kittens.

Also, she shows absolutely no aversion to tummy-rubbing like most cats, pregnant or not. She doesn't whine when I pick her up, either.

1.  If she still defended, hissed and clawed, and he had to belegeure and  court her, probably nothing had happened yet.  She gets friendly after the first mating, in such cases, and the next matings goes by itself, in best friendship.

Altrnative scenarios are: a) she is so ready so she lies herself in postition  almost immediately.

b)  a dominant, experienced, territorial tom just takes what he wants, beating her up in necessary.

So,  If I interpret what you wrote correctly, nothing happened yet, she is still an innocent virgin, as far as we know.  

2.   If  what happend happened first yesterday, there is no sure way  to know she is pregnant. It becomes visible firsty at roughly week 3.   If the vet is anti-abortionist, dont bother to tell the vet they perhapaps did mated.  He will probably dont noice anything,  even  when he  is  already doing the surgery.

3.  Sneaky and dishonest?  Not really.  Some veterinarian handbooks DO recommend to let them mate, and spay shortly afterwards. They say, better to spay in the first weeks of  pregnancy, than to risk spaying when they are in heat.  

Later on, when they are visibly pregnat, it gets of course ethically much more touchy, and the surgery is again more difficult.

Nay, take her to the vet as soon you can, and let him spay her as soon practically possible, it will be good  in all variations.

Your only problem is, she is no semiferal. She may have got dumped, but she may also got astray.In

 that last case, there is someone missing her, weeping,  hoping to find her.

Tx for helping this young lass!

Good luck!

We

lcome to our Forums!

We sent out a neighborhood-wide email about a found cat. I think I'll make the executive decision to spay her regardless of ownership claims, though, seeing as how it's irresponsible to have let her outside with all her equipment still intact in the first place. Not to mention she was as skinny as a rail when we got her - she ate two bowls of food without rest and her tummy bloated to absurd proportions. I think most of my anxiety about pregnancy stemmed from her overlarge belly I didn't know if maybe the tomcat and she had been hanging around each other for a while or not.

I'm with you. She needs to be spayed ASAP. If everyone was as responsible as you are, we wouldn't have a pet problem. Thank you for helping with her. Fingers crossed she isn't pregnant.

First, thank you so much for bringing this little girl in- she is very lucky to have found your porch! 

I agree with the other posters that spaying her now is absolutely in her best interest, regardless of if she is pregnant or not. And, I agree with Stefan- I don't know that I would say anything about your possible suspicions. It does seem to be far too early to tell if she is indeed knocked up and there is no sense in waiting to find out. If she is that early the vet likely won't know either. 

I understand your concern being in an anti-abortion state and I don't mean to sound coldhearted at all when I say this next part so please don't interpret it that way. But, I hope the vet you go to is a good one in that they understand that animals do not view pregnancy with the same emotions as humans do. While the majority of cats make wonderful mothers, they certainly aren't squealing with joy each and every time they find themselves impregnated. They do what they must to raise their young and then they move on. Unfortunately, the only way to control the pet overpopulation is to spay and neuter, and many in the industry would agree it's better to spay a pregnant female than allow her to have the litter only to result in them all being euthanized in a few weeks or months. Should she end up pregnant or nursing at a kill shelter and not with you that is most likely her fate and the fate of her kittens, as they are usually the first to be put down. I know I would rather see a pregnancy terminated early than this alternative. So, if the vet suspects she is pregnant and is uncomfortable I would use this argument as to why she should be spayed. And, if they still won't, keep looking for someone who will!

I also agree that if she does have owners they are irresponsible to have allowed her outside intact (really, to have her intact at all). So, thank you for being the only person who is advocating for this little girl and what is in her best interest. Hopefully as of tomorrow she will be safe with you recovering from her surgery.  Vibes that it goes well! 

Thanks everyone for the support and advice Turns out she wasn't pregnant, just a bit chubby. However, the vet told me she has had kittens in the past. She doesn't know how long ago this happened and it makes me so angry to know that this baby, with her clean fur and general good health - she didn't even have fleas! - obviously came from a household that refused to spay her and dumped her off because they didn't want to deal with the consequences. God knows where her poor kittens are. Hopefully they were as fortunate as their mother and found a family.

The surgery had a minor complication, and she bled profusely, but the vet fixed her up. Her scar is just going to be particularly long. I was about to go on a massive tirade. But it's okay, as long as she's safe and happy. And I'm sure it was only partially the vet's fault. 

Wow lots of mixed emotions reading this! First, I'm so glad she was not pregnant and was finally spayed, though I'm hurting for her and sad to hear about her complications. I do hope her recovery continues without any further problems. 

I wish I could say your rant was something new but, sadly, is one many of us here have had time and time again. As much as I love rescue work I admit I have had to take breaks and walk away because it is just so frustrating. And, not on the animal end, but on the human one. It is infuriating to know she was at one point someone's pet and that they did not have her spayed. To know she has already been subjected to one litter is bad enough, and to not know their fate even worse. Really, she is incredibly lucky that she was not already pregnant and that she found you who cared enough to have her fixed. It's very true that we don't chose the cat- they choose us. And, it looks like this little one chose well!

If you haven't ever thought about it you are very much geared toward rescue work. And that can come in any form. It doesn't mean you have to bring home every stray you find, and if you look around TCS you will find members who help cats in a variety of ways. Here in PC&K you see a good number of kitten fosters. Over in the feral section you see those who do a lot of trap-neuter-and release work. And, all over you see those who volunteer their time at shelters socializing animals, working adoption booths, even just using social media to get the word out about spay and neuter. It doesn't take a lot of time to make a big difference, and I would really encourage you to take this awful feeling you have in your gut about what someone did (and didn't do) for your girl and use it to better the cause. In my experience it is those with the firsthand accounts who make the biggest impact. 

I hope you will stay active on TCS because you like it and not out of need but please, if you have questions regarding her recovery do not hesitate to ask them. Thank you again for saving her and I hope you two have a long and enjoyable future together! 

EB24 said it perfectly. Thank you so much for opening you heart to her.

To tell the truth when I looked at that photo yesterday  , although  she did not look like pregnant over 3 weeks or like she was currently nursing,   I wondered if she had already raised a litter this year and what might have happened to them.     

  

The positive part for this cat is that it sounds like she found you JUST in the nick of time before she got pregnant again.     You have been such a great help to this little girl. 

Sorry she had the complication with the spay and I hope she will make a quick recovery and will have a long happy life with you.