Adopted a young pregnant cat

Hi, I'm new here and have been reading a lot of threads, trying to get as much info as possible. A little about us:
I adopted an abandoned cat, the owners were kicked out of their house and just left her there! The landlord(my husband's friend) asked if we wanted her and for some wonderful reason my husband who is not a cat person at all said yes! Anyway, he said he thinks she is about 4 months old. I noticed her belly was slightly swollen and my first thought well she's too young to go in heat(I thought that happened later) maybe she has parasites really badly. After trying to figure out why her intestines where so low, and Me being really worried that something clearly wasn't right) the vet realized she is pregnant! she guessed 3-4 weeks. I personally disagree with that but what do I know?! I'm told she probably has 2 kittens in there. I was given the option to spay her but I just couldn't do it. But I will definitely do it after she has her babies! She is a beautiful kitty, a gray american bobtail, but she is a rumpy, no tail at all! and her first night with us, she laid right on my husband's chest, and I do believe she is slowly turning him into a cat person, or she is at least trying her hardest to do so

Now that I got our introduction out of the way, I am really worried because she is so young. Is this dangerous for her, what's the likelihood these babies will be stillborns or she will have complications? Is there any way to tell how far along she is, my vet even admitted she doesn't work with pregnant cats much and isn't as knowledgable. I feel like I didn't get much info besides putting her on kitten food and letting her eat as much as she wants. She has worms, they gave her pregnancy safe meds on Thursday but I think I still see bit of white dried worms stuck on her butt(the skin, not fur, and sorry, TMI) when will this get better?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.i know the basics from this site And maybe that is all I need but I'm on edge just as though I was pregnant. In fact I think I'm worse with her then I was with any of my pregnancies! Where's a 'What to Expect When Your Cat is Expecting' book when you need one?!

Thanks in advance, I look forward to being part of this group!

Oh and I meant to say her kidneys were low, not intestings[emoji]128522[/emoji]

I couldn't get a good belly pic of her, she never seems to corporate! But the top pic was 2 days ago, she actually looks larger now. It's crazy how fast she is growing!

That pic didn't work for some
Reason.. Trying again...

I'm sorry, one more question.. How soon after giving birth can you get a mama spayed? I have been reading conflicting info on this. What is the youngest you can fix kittens? I just really don't want cats going into heat and acting crazy around here! I would rather fix the kittens before finding a home to make sure it happens. (We may keep one anyway. If my parents take one, they will fix it and i won't need to) I'm afraid I'll go broke over this but I want to do the responsible thing!

Hello and welcome to the site. I am sorry I don't have any experience with pregnant cats and kittens. I think somebody will post here that can help you.

I hope its ok if I answer tomorrow evening, in 20 hours...  Lotsa to do, and  Im tired now, work again tomorrow day....

Im sorry, I saw there were several posts in your thread, I was convinced you already did got answers...  

Welcome and good luck!

Thank you. And help or tips would be greatly appreciated! I kept thinking of things to add and since there is no edit button (at least on my phone) I had to keep replying to myself!

I am mainly worried for her well being and am afraid she would need a csection, or that the babies won't make it. She just seems too young to be doing this. At her appointment last week she was 7.5 lbs and she Is about 4 months old, we think. I don't know how much she has gained since then but she looks bigger about every 2-3 days!
She doesn't really like her belly touched anymore either.

I picked up kitten milk and will get bottles just in case if she neglects them, I want to be prepared. I have some boxes ready in my bedroom for her and a heating pad too.

I do hope she is successful changing your husband into a cat person, my husband definitely is one now! StefanZ is one of the most knowledgeable people I  have seen on this site about birthing and kitten care, I'm sure he can give you very good advise. I just wanted to say Bless You! for taking in this poor baby, and I'm wishing you the best of luck! There are a lot of cats out there that have given birth at a very young age, they are a LOT tougher then you think, that's why there are so many of them! She may be a little older then you think, it doesn't sound like the previous owners took very good care of her. She is SO lucky to have found some wonderful people like you two!

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The vets advices seems fully adequate so far, so she is surely competent enough for one who doesnt deals much with cat pregnancies.  But by the same reason you may perhaps wish to have contact with another one, IF  she needs a C-section.   Doing a prepared spaying is often somehting else than an emergency cesaean, or other complication and or  emergency decision and action...  You can even ask her, which collegue experienced with pregnancies she does cooperate with and recommend you?

As you say, even if she is hopefully older than 4 months, so she is young. This being stumpy doesnt  make things safer.

Although the stumpy danger is biggest  is if it was stumpy x stumpy.  If the tom was a random straying tom with tail and all, the dangers are much lesser.

Her weigh, almost 4 kilos, is good for a female.

So, lets be optimistic like Di and Bob says, but it is wise of you to be prepared for complications of all sorts.

ALL cat owners shold be.

Worming should usually be done in a couple of repetitions.   But, Small white bits  attached to the bottom (alike rice) sounds like segments of tapeworm.  So this makes me wonder: did she got an allround dewormer, killing both round worms and tape-worms, or just one killing off the round worms?

among the gears you mentioned:  have also a scale measuring in grammes (best electrical).  Weigh the kittens every day, and see if they gain or not - often the easiest way to see their overall health.

Get also glucose sugar (commercial name often Dextrose).  Useful in many emergency situations for cats and folks.

Spaying.   The most usual spaying of the mom is about when the kittens are 8+ weeks.  But if necessary it can be done earlier.   Moms who got complications and had done emergency spaying, come back home and continue to nurse their kittens  often just few hours afterwards...  Esp if the wound is done in the side/flank.

Healthy kittens can be spayed at  8 weeks /2+ pounds = 1 kilogramme.

I think it was all, only some adresses left.

Your are welcome with more questions and updates!

Good luck!

ps.  the links mentioned which I did "borrowed" from my collegues:

 One from this site:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/pregnancy-and-delivery-in-cats

http://www.icatcare.org/advice/my-cat-having-kittens    ( This is a link to a group of articles on cat pregnancy, birth and kittens.   Read the ones on normal cat birth and on " when to wait and when to worry"  )  

http://www.cat-world.com.au/parturition-birth-in-cats

http://www.icatcare.org/advice-centre/cat-care/normal-cat-birth

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thank you everyone, this is all very helpful! Now I just wish I knew how far along she was. She is already bigger then the picture I posted, I've only had her for a week now. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have good news and no complications.

you say the biggest risk would be if stumpy and a stumpy mated. now is that a risk to her delivering or the babies' outcome? is it because she has no  tail at all or even if it was just a shorter tail? would she or babies still be at risk if it was just a short tail? im just asking because from what I have researched, American bobtail cat's short tail is a dominate gene, so most likely at least one kitten will have a short tail, even if she mated with a regular length tailed cat. is that a risk to the kitten and is there something I should look for in the kitten or would it just not survive?

karagraaf said:

 
 is that a risk to the kitten and is there something I should look for in the kitten or would it just not survive?

Click to expand...

As I understand it, this is the interpretation yes.   Compare also with the Manx cats, there is probably more written on them.