my cat might be pregnant.

I am worried about my cat cupcake. I was so worried with my rescue kittens that I did not realize my cat Cupcake might be pregnant. She is only 6 months old. I feels so bad. Could this hurt her? What should I do? I feel like a bad mother. She is sleeping all the time almost 18 hours a day. Eating more than usual. I started giving her the milk replacer for pregnant or lactating cats. Also she is very clingy. Wants to be near me or my husband or the other cats all the time. She wants to be held constantly. What should I be doing to help her?

​Have u taken her to the vet yet? That would be a good start. And don't worry, i have had a cat that was pregnant at a young age too.

Why do you think Cupcake is pregnant? Does she go outside? Do you have unaltered males in the house?

If you think she has mated, you could have her spayed ASAP and abort the pregnancy. This might be in her best interest since she is young.

Regardless, you should have her examined by a vet.

We have a male cat that we have to have neutered. We have his appointment scheduled as we just got the money to be able to do so. I am pro life, even when it comes to animals. I would never hurt her that way. Tonight when I put my hand on her stomach I distinctly felt movement. She has been very clingy, sleepy, and hungry all the time. I just want to know how I can make her more comfortable. It's getting hard to carry her around all the time. I spend my time taking in rescues. Muffin and cupcake were my first two rescues and they became part of the family. I just want to know how to make her more comfortable.

cguthrie2011 said:

We have a male cat that we have to have neutered. We have his appointment scheduled as we just got the money to be able to do so. I am pro life, even when it comes to animals. I would never hurt her that way. Tonight when I put my hand on her stomach I distinctly felt movement. She has been very clingy, sleepy, and hungry all the time. I just want to know how I can make her more comfortable. It's getting hard to carry her around all the time. I spend my time taking in rescues. Muffin and cupcake were my first two rescues and they became part of the family. I just want to know how to make her more comfortable.

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There's a whole section on this site dedicated to caring for pregnant cats. The,search function is your friend. If you can feel movement and she's gained weight she's probably pretty far along.

She needs a vet visit asap to check her out.

I don't mean to pick a fight so just hear me out. We are a pro spay and neuter site. It will be the best thing for her to have a spay/abort. It will also be the best thing for the cats who will be put to sleep in shelters b/c your kittens are born.

Please see a vet right away AMD do the right thing. Animals don't become emotionally attached while pregnant. Cats breed to add to their population numbers, and ensure the survival of their species. It's our responsibility to control that population growth as they are unable to.

I hate to sound rude but what makes you think I planned on giving the kittens away. I understand this is a proneuter and spay site. I am proneuter and spay but not when a pregnancy is involved. Whatever kittens there are I have more than enough room to take care of them. She will be spayed after the kittens are born.

Hello,

Six months old is a little too young to be pregnant, but these things happen. I'd recommend a visit to the vet even though you are planning on keeping the kittens. Your vet will be able to tell you how far along she is and recommend the best food to give her while she is pregnant and lactating. There are some prescription foods available for under weight, pregnant cats

You'll need to set up a safe room for her with a choice of nesting boxes so that she can choose where she wants to give birth. Somewhere the other cats don't go so she can decide when she is ready to introduce her kittens to the others. Make sure she doesn't get out as she gets close to her delivery date, cats have a habit of running off and having their kittens in the strangest of places. Not safe for her or the babies.

First time mothers sometimes need a bit of help. Here are a few articles to read to help you prepare for the new arrivals.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/pregnant-cat-what-to-prepare-for-the-birth

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/help-my-cat-is-having-kittens

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/post-birth-complications-in-cats

Good luck and keep us posted on how she does.

It seems like your cat is the clingy kind; some pregnant cats don't want any humans around. Her mood(s) may fluctuate; she's got a lot of hormones around.
I would definitely separate her from any other animals (cats, dogs, etc) you have. She needs peace, quiet and safety. Most male cats want nothing to do with the cat they impregnated, and some in rare cases can become outright aggressive.
I do think she needs to be seen by a vet; based on her age, in human terms, she is experiencing a 'high risk' pregnancy. Although cats seem to know what to do instinctively--to a point. Do read the articles linked, and pay particular attention to signs of impending delivery. If Cupcake will let you, try to be at least in the same room/area when she starts to deliver in case she needs help delivery (breech birth, cleaning the placenta).

I just want to add that you need to make sure you can financially support 3-6 kittens. That means having them seen by a vet, get all required vaccinations, dewormed, and get ALL spayed and neutered at the appropriate time. You also need to factor in the amount of food kittens eat.

And, there is also the possibility (though I hope not!) they you may need to get Cupcake or one of the kittens to an emergency clinic should something go wrong. Sometimes cats need a c-section if a kitten gets stuck or a kitten fails to thrive and needs immediate medical attention.

We (luckily) took custody of such a momma cat 5 weeks ago. 2 kittens were stillborn, 1 alive and the family couldn't afford to get the mom to the clinic to have the 4th kitten surgically removed. Our rescue was contacted in enough time to save Momma's life, though the 4th kitten was already deceased. Momma and surviving kitten were EXTREMELY sick, momma developed mastitis and baby developed pneumonia. We lost the baby when he was 6 days old.

I tell you this ONLY because, things don't always go perfectly. Make sure you are prepared and can afford to take appropriate measures, should they be needed.

Personally, although I am strongly pro-spay neuter, I am also strongly against performing any late term spay abortions because I have seen the mothers get very depressed -- in fact you will find several threads on here started by people wondering why their recently pregnant and now spayed females would not eat, would not move, just lay around acting....yes, DEPRESSED.  That being said, @cguthrie2011, your young cat is definitely in the later part of her pregnancy if you can feel movement, and I would never recommend spaying her at this time.  Read the links posted by @Norachan  above and be prepared to be a good midwife to your cat.  It sounds like you are doing a great job so far and you love her a lot. 

You certainly aren't the first person to have an"oops" like that happen -- I knew someone who had two kittens, brother and sister, who were scheduled to be neutered/spayed the following months when they were six months old.  Their vet had said six months was the right age, so the people didn't think about it, but by the time they were six months old, the sister was pregnant by her brother (they had no other cats and these cats did not go out!) so they were successfully breeding at age 5 months.  They took him to get neutered right away, and she had three kittens, two of which were adopted out to good homes and the third of which they kept.  The female is now spayed, as is the female kitten they kept, and all is fine now.  It changed me, because now I always advise people to have their cats spayed and neutered before they are five months old. 

I hope all goes well with Cupcake's babies and look forward to hearing about them and seeing pictures.

I have never had her be so clingy with me. She usually only wants my husband. She can't seem to get comfortable when laying down either. She is being seen by a vet very soon. Muffin will be neutered as soon as possible. I have a small non profit rescue that I do. I took in 5 kittens and the mother before but the Kittens were already born. Muffin has actually surprised me. He has been taking care of her and cuddling with her. He has been a surprising cat since we took him in. He has taken care of kittens and treated them as if he was the mother. He is very different than other male cats I have know. This was taken last night when cupcake couldn't get comfortable and Muffin stepped in to hold her.

It sounds like she'll be giving birth very soon! Do you remember how long you've been feeling the kittens? It's usually for about 2 weeks before birth.

Be careful with the male---some females go into heat RIGHT AWAY after giving birth, and, even if you have him neutered this week, sometimes they retain sperm in the tubes for a while after neutering. So if she gives birth less than 2 weeks after he's neutered you should keep them separate for a while, even if you think he's no danger to the kittens. Besides the problem of ending up with more kittens(!), it's very hard on the mama cat's health to have back-to-back pregnancies like that. And, yup, be sure the kittens all get spayed/neutered by 4-5 months or there could be some incestuous teenage pregnancies .

Hope everything works out well!

Well to be honest I remember about 3 weeks ago finding them stuck together in the house when I came in from feeding my chickens. Right now the kicks are very soft and faint but I can tell they are there. She purrs every time they start moving too. Hopefully my husband can get a day off of work to take Muffin down to the vet to be neutered.

If they only mated 3 weeks ago you wouldn't be feeling movement yet. . .they're still little peanuts . A skilled vet or breeder may be able to palpate for fetuses at 3 weeks, but there's a risk of hurting them if squeezed too hard. If that's when they mated, 6 more weeks to go---but maybe she allowed him to mate with her even after she got pregnant? I don't know if cats do that or not.

Maybe you should have the vet check her over to make sure she really is pregnant before you worry too much. At three weeks you wouldn't be able to see movement, as Willowy said.

As other members said, you can't feel the kittens move until about 7 weeks into the pregnancy. If you saw them mating 3 weeks ago I would mention that to your vet. Cats have the ability to carry more than one litter at different stages of fetal development (she could have 2 kittens tomorrow and then have another 3 kittens two weeks later). Not as common but it does happen.
If you are planning to keep the kittens you will want to get them spayed/neutered around 12 weeks of age. Perfectly safe. I have seen cats get pregnant as early as 4 months, and they will absolutely inbreed. Your vet may advise an immediatel spay and abortion due to her age. She looks quite small in the pic u posted, labor and delivery may be dangerous for her.
You can start feeding her kitten food, that will help fetal development. Also be careful she doesn't slip outside. A queen's temperament can change drastically during pregnancy (as u have already said she seems clingy) a queen who has never shown interest in going outdoors may suddenly try to dart out every chance she gets. Don't want her having them outdoors where u may never find them.
Good luck.

Many cats that experience "oops" pregnancies is because the owners couldn't afford to get the cat spayed in time to prevent pregnancy. Many of the others are cats that are strays. Many preople (though not all) cannot afford to properly care for AND keep an additional 3-6 cats (the average size of a litter of kittens.) You then have to make sure to spay/neuter all kittens before they procreate. If you cannot afford to keep and care for the kittens (or find suitable homes for them,) they end up in a shelter and add to the overpopulation of cats.

katieCatof2 said:

​I don't know if I'm the only one but I'm afraid and uncomfortable with the idea of giving my cat an abortion. Its sick to me :/ Why do it to a cat when others feel so strongly about it when a mother doesn't want to be responsible in real life? Its up to you. But I'm just saying that i never would

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It's unpleasant, yes. But it can be MUCH better than what might happen to them after they're born . Life is not nice to unwanted kittens and they may suffer a lot. Generally people who are against human abortion are against it because they feel that it's ending a human life. Ending animals' lives isn't generally considered such a big deal---unfortunately, that's how we've chosen, as a society, to deal with unwanted pets. So if they're going to be killed after being born anyway, better to do it before they've really lived, IMO. There are SO MANY cats being killed for being unwanted, there just aren't enough homes for all of them. Unless the owner is really willing and able to keep all of them or take the time to find really good homes for them.

As for being afraid, it's not much riskier than a normal spay, unless she's very far along.