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Pregnant stray?
- Thread starter catfarts
- Start Date
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #2
Not easy to tell. Can you touch her and feel if you feel the kittens move? or do you see them move?
I presume you are willing to help her?
Some links
We have a good collection of articles in the Cat Health section which you can access by scrolling up to the brown bar, clicking on Articles,and then choosing the Cat Health section and scrolling through the choices. To make this super easy for you, I am copying the links regarding birth, delivery and newborns for you here. After reading this information, let us know if you have any more questions. And good luck with your approaching new arrivals.
Birth, Delivery and Newborns
How to Tell if My Cat is Pregnant?
Cat Pregnancy
How Do I Know When My Cat Will Give Birth?
Pregnant Cat? What to Prepare For the Birth
Help! My Cat is Having Kittens!
Premature Kittens
Post-Birth Complications 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" )
I presume you are willing to help her?
Some links
We have a good collection of articles in the Cat Health section which you can access by scrolling up to the brown bar, clicking on Articles,and then choosing the Cat Health section and scrolling through the choices. To make this super easy for you, I am copying the links regarding birth, delivery and newborns for you here. After reading this information, let us know if you have any more questions. And good luck with your approaching new arrivals.
Birth, Delivery and Newborns
How to Tell if My Cat is Pregnant?
Cat Pregnancy
How Do I Know When My Cat Will Give Birth?
Pregnant Cat? What to Prepare For the Birth
Help! My Cat is Having Kittens!
Premature Kittens
Post-Birth Complications 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" )
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
Thank you for your reply. When I touch her stomach, I feel lumps, but I'm not sure if that's just her nipples filled, or if actual kittens. I don't like touching her belly much due to fear of hurting the kittens.
& I really want to, she's staying in the garage right now, due to the fact it's raining outside. I just don't know if I'm emotionally, mentally, & financially ready for a pregnant cat, & kittens, if there aren't any stillborns. The only other option is the shelter, which I'd hate to do
& I really want to, she's staying in the garage right now, due to the fact it's raining outside. I just don't know if I'm emotionally, mentally, & financially ready for a pregnant cat, & kittens, if there aren't any stillborns. The only other option is the shelter, which I'd hate to do
As long you touch somewhat kindly, you wont hurt them. They arent THAT fragile. Interesting is she doest let you touch her belly, even palpate some. It means, she either is no semiferal, but a home girl who got thrown out when she come home with her belly. Or IF she is a semiferal, so she is really really wanting your help.
Thus, you had been Chosen, by her or by God. I think by both.
My recommendation is you do obey. Its your Quest now.And I agree the shelter may be dangerous. In many shelters she will be just pts. But even if it is a no kill shelter and they try, it is not probable they can give her better care than yours.
And yes, you are thus mentally prepared. Who else will do it? Who?
As you cant easily feel them kittens move, it is probably at least two weeks left. When you begin to feel them for sure, it is about 2 weeks left. When you see them move, it is less.
Unless of course its her very last day before delivery - when they drop and kittens are down into the birtihing postions, you dont feel them as much.
But I hope it isnt so, I hope you will have your time to mature and ripe.
Anyways. If you are prepared to help in person, its well and good. But the self fact she is inside your garage, protected from weather and dogs and mean boys, having food and water, it by itself means a tremendous lot for her and her children. NOW she does have a sporting chance for them.
Even if you dont do much, "just" come with food, water and something to use as bedding.
Good luck!
Since she appears to be a tame cat (letting you touch her belly) please also try to find her owners. It's possible she ran away and is missed. The local shelters usually have a place where you post found cat notices, and you can use free classifieds like Craigslist as well.
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I agree with everything that has been said so far.
This sounds similar to my situation last summer- We ended up with a pregnant stray; she chose us and we had no choice- so I'll toss in a couple of ideas.
As for how far along she is- they say if the kittens are moving it is within two weeks of delivery. They also say that the mom cat will have a decreased appetite for a few days before the birth. A third thing is that the nipples will change just before the birth. We saw the kittens move once and didn't see any other signs. What we did see was that our cat couldn't get comfortable for two or three days before the delivery- she would just keep moving around like she was trying to find a good place to rest.
Definitely do your best right away to figure out if she is runaway. In our situation the cat was brought to our neighborhood a few months before it gave birth on our patio. We could tell she was a house cat by her behavior so we tried at that point to locate an owner. Unfortunately too much time had passed and we didn't really know where she had come from (neighbor's daughter brought her home from McD's at college). If you can hold her or get her into a carrier you can take her to a shelter to get checked for a microchip (You might want to wait on that if you think it will upset her too much in her condition). The shelter can also help you with where to look for 'lost cat' listings.
Give her a box or somewhere safe to have her babies and don't be discouraged if she doesn't go in any of them. Our cat had no interest in the spaces we offered her at first, but then she gave birth in a cat carrier with the top removed and a towel in the bottom.
Be ready to deal with fleas. Our queen didn't seem to have any fleas when she gave birth, but within a few days the kittens had them. You can treat nursing mothers with frontline or advantage. That will give the babies some protection, but if there are fleas on the babies all you can so is wash them with dawn dish washing soap and a flea comb. You should be aware that dawn is strong enough to take the flea treatment off a cat... so for the mom (and the babies once they are old enough) you cannot wash them with dawn after you treat them... unless you like flushing $20 bills down the sink. If you wash the kittens you need to make sure you know what you are doing- just look up info on this site first.
And have fun! You may not have chosen this... but kittens are so much fun! Take lots of pictures!
This sounds similar to my situation last summer- We ended up with a pregnant stray; she chose us and we had no choice- so I'll toss in a couple of ideas.
As for how far along she is- they say if the kittens are moving it is within two weeks of delivery. They also say that the mom cat will have a decreased appetite for a few days before the birth. A third thing is that the nipples will change just before the birth. We saw the kittens move once and didn't see any other signs. What we did see was that our cat couldn't get comfortable for two or three days before the delivery- she would just keep moving around like she was trying to find a good place to rest.
Definitely do your best right away to figure out if she is runaway. In our situation the cat was brought to our neighborhood a few months before it gave birth on our patio. We could tell she was a house cat by her behavior so we tried at that point to locate an owner. Unfortunately too much time had passed and we didn't really know where she had come from (neighbor's daughter brought her home from McD's at college). If you can hold her or get her into a carrier you can take her to a shelter to get checked for a microchip (You might want to wait on that if you think it will upset her too much in her condition). The shelter can also help you with where to look for 'lost cat' listings.
Give her a box or somewhere safe to have her babies and don't be discouraged if she doesn't go in any of them. Our cat had no interest in the spaces we offered her at first, but then she gave birth in a cat carrier with the top removed and a towel in the bottom.
Be ready to deal with fleas. Our queen didn't seem to have any fleas when she gave birth, but within a few days the kittens had them. You can treat nursing mothers with frontline or advantage. That will give the babies some protection, but if there are fleas on the babies all you can so is wash them with dawn dish washing soap and a flea comb. You should be aware that dawn is strong enough to take the flea treatment off a cat... so for the mom (and the babies once they are old enough) you cannot wash them with dawn after you treat them... unless you like flushing $20 bills down the sink. If you wash the kittens you need to make sure you know what you are doing- just look up info on this site first.
And have fun! You may not have chosen this... but kittens are so much fun! Take lots of pictures!
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You can do it! I took in a stray on easter and found out she was pregnant. She just delivered a week ago. Buy kitten food in the biggest bag you can find and feed it to her with some canned food. It only cost me about $40/ month for food, litter and treats. If you lived close to me I'd take her lol but I don't think that's going to be the case. As for being mentally prepared, I almost had an anxiety attack when she went into labour but it was all for nothing. She did great with me sleeping beside her. Best of luck
