foster pregnant cat

Hi Everyone-

I am hoping for some much needed advice here. I have been fostering a pregnant cat for 7 weeks. I was told upon pick up of her that she was pregnant but the shelter I work for received the cat from another shelter. No one was able to give me a due date or when she got pregnant.

Fast for ward 7 weeks, yesterday to be exact was 7 weeks. She is a little bigger, not huge like some of the pictures I have seen on the internet. Her nipples have changed to pink in color but not larger. She hasnt been nesting, that I can tell. She plays with our other cat and seems to be doing well.

I'm just at a loss as to when to determine when she is due. I realize there is nothing but xrays that can determine that (no, I wont do that) but based on my picture, can any of you give me any advice if you think she is looking pregnant?
Here is a picture taken today. 


This was about 5 days after we got her, about 6 weeks ago

Hi and welcome!

The first pic she doesn't appear prego at all, and it doesn't make alot of sense that the shelter would know that she was pregnant......

The recent pic, she is obviously bigger, but can also be that she poofed out with some weight gain.

Is there any way you might get a pic of her from above? Like you standing over her? This shows if she is pouched in a rounded sort of way, or if she isn't very pouched out and it's more gradual than sudden along her sides.

What does she eat?

Thank you so very much for your quick reply. I will leave pictures "from above" below. I know she doesnt stick out on the sides too much but she did a week ago. I am thinking she may have dropped? She has been very protective of her belly area. Not sure if she doesnt like to be touched there or if she is protective due to her pregnancy (if she is pregnant)

My opinion is that she is pregnant but maybe with just 1 or 2? You can feel the bulge on both her sides, towards her hips. She now has some sagging underneath, closer to her vaginal area. This is why I thought they may have dropped. I have not seen any movement with the kittens but she is a bit fluffy haired so I know its harder to tell.

She has increased her appetite a lot in the past week to 10 days. She wouldnt eat canned food at all when she got here. I tried to give her canned many times and she didnt like it. I bought the kitten type as I know thats better for her. But with her increased appetite she is eating it now. She likes it runny, so I add about 1/2 Tbsp of water to eat. The fancy feast kitten canned food, she eats probably 2 of those a day and then nibbles on dry kitten food throughout day. She eats about 1/2 c of dry a day. Drinks water well and is a sweet, very kind cat.

I just dont see her being large like the 7 week old pregnant cats I found on internet. She is a tall cat, at least compared to our other 2 cats here.

I was a bit upset with shelter that I work for when I called to ask "how did the other shelter know she was pregnant" They told me there is no way for them to find that information out, "when they say the cats are pregnant, we assume they are" So they got a bit snippy with me when I preceded to call a few more times. They didnt return my calls. If I didnt love fostering, I wouldnt do this for this shelter. I dont care if they are rude but when I am helping them out, the least I expect is a call back when I have questions about whether she is pregnant or not. I do think, and I cant blame them, they dont want to pay for a vet visit for me if they dont have to. So just telling me to wait the 9-10 weeks is what they prefer. So here I wait. Its been 7 weeks that I have had her, like I said.

Let me know what you think about the pictures. Sorry they are not so clear, she kept wanting to sit down or roll around, did not want to stand while I took a picture!

HMMMM..........well for you having her for 7 weeks now, she surely does not look prego, not like she should look.

Perhaps it's only a couple kids in there, but she just doesn't look pregnant. She should be full bellied, rounded tummy, and obvious pouching on her sides.

That said, I have to admit I have never had a momma cat prego with only a couple of babies, so maybe she is?.........

Haha, I want to come back with the other side again and say, but why would they say she is pregnant? That would mean she conceived a matter of days n=before you got her? Makes no sense.

Too bad you couldn't use one of those store bought early pregnancy tests people use )!

I do not know how the shelter could have known she was pregnant. That has been the million dollar question for me. When I called the shelter that I foster for, they sort of blew off the question and just insisted she was. I guess only time will tell. I will keep you updated if you want. 

Yes! Definitely keep updating! Now I really want to know!!

Thanks.

Still no babies yet, but I wanted to update with another photo. Its now a week later, she is eating more and maybe me, but seems a little bigger. More importantly, her nipples are more pink, that is really what I wanted to show. Any thoughts on if you all think she may be pregnant now that her nipples are more pink?

Oh boy! She looks chunky, but just don't see the prego tummy going on here! Her appetite and weight gain will cause her nipples to be pinker too, shoot, can you feel her tummy? Is it sift and spongy or lumpy?

She doesnt like to be touched on her stomach at all, so its very hard for me to feel for movement. I do "watch" her stomach but that is usually when she is laying on one side, she rarely will lay on her back for me to see full view. When I do get 3-4 seconds of touching her stomach, it feels giggly but her sides feel firmer than stomach, if that makes any sense

So you've had her for 8 weeks now, cats are prego for 9 weeks.

They were likely mistaken about her being prego. 

Looks to me she has put some weight on due to feeding her an amt she wants. Some tend to overeat and will chunk up pretty fast.

Disappointed? I bet you are.........

Not that this world needs another litter, but fostering her thinking she will be having kids soon still feels disappointing.

I could be wrong, but it's my guess that she is not prenant.

Yup, I have to chime in and agree. I used to foster pregnant mamas, and if she hasn't had any kitts by now, she's not gonna. I fostered one HUGE Maine Coon once that everyone swore was pregnant, but it turned out she had a vicious case of worms. I got her the day after she was dropped at the shelter, but at home, as soon as her Stongid kicked in, it was apparent we were all wrong. [emoji]128542[/emoji] and I wanted to foster real Maine Coons so bad!!
Tbh, I'm glad your girl isn't preggo, now she can be spayed and begin living her long happy life awaiting adoption!

Thanks for your reply. I have been told to just wait till the 10 week marker with her and if no kitties by then, she is scheduled to be spayed on 12/19. I agree about being glad she isnt pregnant, this way she can get spayed and adopted. She is a sweetheart too, so I am hoping she finds her forever home quickly!

Just curious, did she turn out not to be pregnant? I am in the same situation with a cat I am fostering.  Our local Humane Society has an "exam team" that checks out the incoming animals, but they are volunteers and not veterinarians. I'm assuming that the are the ones that determined that she was pregnant, because I have had her out to see their vet for some eye issues and he said he had not examined her before. He said he couldn't feel any kittens, but that was several weeks ago. I've had her for just over four weeks now and she has put on weight, but it could just be because I've been free-feeding her kitten food.  I guess I'll just keep treating her like she's pregnant, and if there's no kittens, or she's not noticeably larger after I've had her for 8 weeks I'll have to see if their vet wants to examine her again. 

Hi- As it turns out, she is not pregnant. I have had her now, for 11 weeks. They wanted me to wait a full 10 weeks to see if she was just "late" but I had some doubts, which is why I originally posted. The shelter I work for got "Ella" from another shelter they work with, it was at that shelter that they assumed she was pregnant and wrote it on her discharge papers. My shelter had no way to find out or know how they actually had determined it, but obviously week 11 now and nothing, so not pregnant. She is due to be spayed on 12/29. Ella did get heavier while in my care, but like you, I was feeding her a lot assuming she was pregnant. Her nipples did turn from milky white originally to a slight pink, but not dark pink or swollen. But it was her abdomen that I questioned. She did have that burrito shape where there stomachs (from above) look wide, but she did have a belly below, which I thought maybe the kittens had dropped. This was my first pregnant foster, so I was very bummed but I am also happy that 1 less kitten litter to go to a shelter eventually. I know there will be more pregnant cats to foster come spring, so I can get my "fix" then. Let me know if you have any questions that maybe I can answer since you seem to be in the same situation as me just a few short weeks ago. Can you post pictures?

Here are some photos, but you really can't tell much from them. She's a pretty tiny girl. I fostered a pregnant cat this summer who had 5 beautiful healthy kittens, so I have a little experience. My previous foster didn't get really big until her last two weeks or so. If I count backwards from her delivery date, she was about four weeks along when I got her, and the vet could feel walnut size lumps. My current foster, Misty, has been with me for about 4 1/2 weeks now, so she's at least that far along. I spoke to the exam team today and they thought their vet should take another look at her to see if he can feel anything at this point, so I just left a message on their clinic voicemail. She's a very sweet cat so I don't mind having her with me, but I have two cats and a 7-month old puppy, so I definitely won't be keeping her and if she's not pregnant, the sooner she goes to her new home, the better.

Not that we need any unplanned kitten litters, but I'm sure it was kind of a bummer to wait 11 weeks and have no kittens. My first one was with me 5 weeks before she delivered and it felt like an eternity. It is a pretty amazing experience, I definitely recommend doing it if you have the chance. I adopted out all the kittens and the mother was also up for adoption, but after the first people came by to see her, I realized I couldn't part with her, so I ended up adopting her myself.  

She is so beautiful! Those eyes!! Keep us updated on what the vet tells you when you take her back in. I dont think our Ella was ever really checked out by a vet, I'm not sure though. The shelter I work for gets most of their animals through another shelter about 500 miles away. They transport them every Friday to our facility. It was at the other shelter that they said she was pregnant. No one had any info for me as to how they thought Ella was pregnant in the first place, so I just had to wait it out. My daughters boyfriends family, I am hoping, is going to adopt her as she is such a good cat.

As far as her pictures goes, I am no expert, so maybe others on this board can tell you. I know they asked for a picture of Ella from above to see if she has that wide appearance so maybe try posting a photo like that?

Keep us all posted

Well, I just got back from the vet and it turns out she's not pregnant. Just getting fat from the kitten food she's been eating. She does have an issue with her right eye, which you can kind of see in the first photo. She's been on three different medications for it since I got her, and the vet decided it was just a chronic thing and decided not to treat it any further. But I saw a different vet today, who tested her tear production and found that her right eye isn't producing any tears, so it was a worthwhile trip to find out she's not pregnant and try some different medications. She's on their list to be spayed next week and they'll also recheck her eye then. If the medication isn't helping, then she'll see an eye specialist. So I'll be fostering her a while longer while we try to get her eye straightened out. I'm really glad to have a second opinion on the issue. I'm sure it must be uncomfortable for her.

she will be getting spayed the same time as my "we think she is pregnant, not 100% sure, possibly, could be 50/50 chance" foster cat! Seriously, I'm glad she is not so she can get adopted sooner, she sure is beautiful. I hope the vet can fix the eye problem she has. You are a good person to take her in as a foster with all the other animals you have!!

I forgot to mention that I'm also fostering 3 - six month old feral kittens for a local spay/neuter outreach organization. There's 7 cats in the house right now. I'm feeling like a bit of a crazy cat lady. 

I understand! I had 11 cats/kittens here this past summer! only 1 was my own!!