Does my pregnant cat need any shots?

Hi, I'm new here. Only found this place while trying to find a little more info about pregnant kitties.
I have a pregnant cat. She is only about 8 months old, so this is her first pregnancy. I have no experience caring for pregnant cats, therefore I have a few questions.
Does she need any shots? I'm assuming she is about 6 weeks pregnant. Can't tell for sure, just kind of guessed based on the pictures of pregnant cats I found online.
Also how much should I feed her? She eats like there is no tomorrow. She is on a raw diet for now and seems to love it.
She looks healthy and spends most of the time sitting on my bed, or on the blanket in her crate. So no issues. Just trying to make sure she is well taken care of.
Thanks!

jade417 said:

 
Hi, I'm new here. Only found this place while trying to find a little more info about pregnant kitties.
I have a pregnant cat. She is only about 8 months old, so this is her first pregnancy. I have no experience caring for pregnant cats, therefore I have a few questions.
Does she need any shots? I'm assuming she is about 6 weeks pregnant. Can't tell for sure, just kind of guessed based on the pictures of pregnant cats I found online.
Also how much should I feed her? She eats like there is no tomorrow. She is on a raw diet for now and seems to love it.
She looks healthy and spends most of the time sitting on my bed, or on the blanket in her crate. So no issues. Just trying to make sure she is well taken care of.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

No, no shots at this moment during pregnacy.  Even if vaccines arent so dangerous now in the late pregnancy, its more dangerous in mid pregnancy.  But deworming is useful!  Does she hunts or had fleas? if so, you must treat also against tape worm.  If she is pure indoor its enough with treating against round worms.  If so, use a preparate with Pyrantel Poamate as the active ingrient, its mild and pretty safe.  The same you can use later on on the kittens.

Raw should be good, and give her as much as she wants. Be sure she gets lots of fat (IS she getting enough of fat?  It is perhaps why seh eats so much), and be sure she gets enough with calcium, ie more now then earlier when she was alone.   An alternative to raw is otherwise canned of good quality.

I will paste some of our links.  But please come with more questons, and reports, whenever you wish. Usually you will get answers.

Good luck!

Most of these links have been readied by our forumist  Red Top Rescue:

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

And also:

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"  )  

Fleece or flannel good to use in the bedding for kittens.

Thank you I really appreciate your advise. I will read those links.
I guess I should explain more. She eats the raw diet, because that is all I have for now. This kitty started showing up in our pasture when she was roughly 3 months old. I couldn't get any closer than about 50ft and than she always bolted and I couldn't find her any more. I kept seeing her in a stall behind the hay.
Anyway I kept trying and I finally managed to touch her for a first time at the beginning of December. Now that I am researching more, I think she became friendlier, because she is pregnant. Considering the nasty weather outside, I am assuming she got hungry too.
She had a breakthrough last week, allowed me to pick her up. Wasn't happy about it, growled and dug her claws in, but didn't bite. I brought her in the house and fed her. 10 minutes later she was following me around acting like she lived here all her life. Week later, kitty follows me around, sleeps on my bed and my arm is getting sore from rubbing on her, because she wants her tummy rubbed.
I have no cat food, and wasn't going to buy any, because my husband doesn't want a cat. I have been looking for a home for her ever since I brought her in. It's freezing outside, there is no way I'm putting her back out. She wants to be an indoor kitty. I take her out when I do my chores outside; she follows me everywhere I go. When I'm done, I open the door and kitty runs back in.
Seems nobody wants a pregnant, feral kitty. Therefore I gave up and instead of looking for a new home, I started looking up what to do with her. My husband will have to get over it.

I have been giving her a mixture of deer liver, heart, spleen, lungs and some other deer meat. (I saved that for my dog when we butchered  couple of does not too long ago.)
Also gave her some raw egg and raw goat milk. I figured it was better than what she would find out there. I will switch her to cat food as soon as I make it to the store. 

I have been mixing DE in her food. I use that for my other animals too. Works better than chemicals. When our little dog had worms from catching mice, whatever the vet gave him didn't get rid of the worms. Week on DE and my dog was clean. 
So I think the parasites are taken care of. She has no flees. I checked her over, but didn't notice any. If she had some, I would be bitten by now too. Fleas seem to love me.

I keep putting her in a large dog crate for the night. I don't trust her enough to leave her running around the house while I sleep. She has a soft blanket, water bowl and a box with dirt in there. I had no idea cats can be crate trained, but I guess they do. She seems to like it there. When she wants to be alone she goes in by herself. 

As I said I have no clue what to do with a pregnant cat, so any tips are appreciated.

I know coconut oil is really healthy for dogs. Not sure if it's the same for cats. I could add some coconut oil to her diet to raise the fat amount. I also have some of the deer tallow I saved to make soap, so I could add some of that to her diet too. Do you know how many % of fat does she need in her diet at this point of pregnancy?

Never mind on switching to cat food. I read the the links you gave me. I think what she is eating now is better. I added some deer tallow to her dinner to raise the fat content. 

jade417 said:

 
Never mind on switching to cat food. I read the the links you gave me. I think what she is eating now is better. I added some deer tallow to her dinner to raise the fat content. 

Click to expand...

Yeah, what you give is very excellent!  The problem with raw, is you must know some about it, to get a good balance with fats and calcium.   Calcium is necessary to balance out the phospor in meat.   And she needs some more calcium now as she is building up the skeletons of her growing kittens.

If you do it the easy way, and give mostly muscular meat, and perhaps some intestines, it will be too little.  

I myself Im no expert on raw as such, so I dont know the exact percentages. But fat amount should be surprising high percent of the given calories, especielly for kittens and high pregs. 

Compare with the info on kittens, its roughly the same.

Look up some at our Nutrition forum,  there is a subforum for Raw.

You do have access to raw goat milk - this is very excellent, for cats (and humans).   If you would happen some kittens who needs mother milk replacement, use this.

Raw egg youlk is exellent and nourishing, nutritious fats etc...  Raw egg white not so good (contains a little nasty enzyme which kills B-vitamines), but boiled egg white good.

Egg shells crushed into fine powder works nicely as a calcium source.

Raw chicken wings contain much "whats is its name-almost bone-tissue" - and works as calcium source too.  Boiled, these bones and other parts become hard, and may be dangerous.

Also, plain unsweetened full fat youghurt is useful. Cheese.   But many cats dont manage common cow milk, so careful with cow milk - goat milk is much safer!

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.
I figured she'd need more calcium, that's why I've been giving her the milk. It's about the end of season; it has more fat than it did in the fall. So kitty has not been completely on fat free diet. Yes, goat milk is wonderful. I have a couple of goats, that is the only milk I would drink. We don't buy cow milk. It's just as bad for humans as is for animals. And I hate the bad aftertaste of store-bought milk.
I will make sure to raise the fat level in her feed. Will check the nutrition forum.
The almost like bone thing is called cartilage. Don't worry, wouldn't offer cooked bones. I have a dog and know quite a bit about her diet. This applies for dogs too. We raise our own poultry, so I do have access to fresh raw diet. 
About the eggs, it is true the avidin is biotin inhibitor, but there is a lot of biotin in the egg yolk, so as long as the egg is fed whole and not fed daily it is perfectly fine. I give my dog 3 to 4 raw eggs a week, shell included. It's healthy and her coat has a really nice shine.
I didn't give my kitty the shell, figured she wouldn't chomp it down like my dog does. Crushing it in to a powder is a good idea. I'll do that.
Thanks again!