Pregnant kitten!

Okay so I always seem to get stuck with people's animals.. Anyways, my best friend is moving out of state tomorrow and her cat is pregnant, she is not able to take her cat with her and her dad won't keep the cat inside so I told her I'd watch her until she has her kittens and they're old enough to find homes for. What my problem is, is that I have no idea how far along she is as I don't have much experience with pregnant cats, I do have experience with dogs, so my guess is 6 weeks but I may be wrong. She looks like she swallowed a basket ball and has large pink nipples and has been sleeping a lot. I haven't felt the babies move, but she's only been at my house for a couple hours, so I'm gonna see if I can feel anything tonight. I'll post a few pictures but they're not very good, I'll have to take more later when she wakes up. Also, another problem I have is that she's only 7-8 months old. I told my friend repeatedly not to let her get pregnant this young but she wanted her to have babies and just let her roam around outside, although we do think we know who the dad is. Anyways, not my cat so I can't decide what she does with her. I'm hoping everything goes okay when she gives birth, feral cats get pregnant at this age all the time and don't have complications so maybe she won't. But just in case, what do I need to watch for? And does anyone have any guesses as to how many weeks she is?
Also, is it okay to keep her with my female cat?
Suspected baby daddy

Sorry again for the not so great pictures!

Also, is it okay for her to wear a flea collar until she goes into labor?

abbygibson1212 said:

Also, is it okay for her to wear a flea collar until she goes into labor?

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Nay, dont do that.  There ARE fleas collars less dangerous than the others - Bayer makes a couple.  I dont know much about them, but knowing Bayers reputation, I think they must be OK for healthy cats to carry..

But even with Bayer products, be always double cautious with the pregs...

Most flea collars are really dangerous.  Wat you can use them for, is to have them in your vacuum cleaner, when you are vacuuming after te fleas in your home...

abbygibson1212 said:

Okay so I always seem to get stuck with people's animals.. Anyways, my best friend is moving out of state tomorrow and her cat is pregnant, she is not able to take her cat with her and her dad won't keep the cat inside so I told her I'd watch her until she has her kittens and they're old enough to find homes for. What my problem is, is that I have no idea how far along she is as I don't have much experience with pregnant cats, I do have experience with dogs, so my guess is 6 weeks but I may be wrong. She looks like she swallowed a basket ball and has large pink nipples and has been sleeping a lot. I haven't felt the babies move, but she's only been at my house for a couple hours, so I'm gonna see if I can feel anything tonight. I'll post a few pictures but they're not very good, I'll have to take more later when she wakes up. Also, another problem I have is that she's only 7-8 months old. I told my friend repeatedly not to let her get pregnant this young but she wanted her to have babies and just let her roam around outside, although we do think we know who the dad is. Anyways, not my cat so I can't decide what she does with her. I'm hoping everything goes okay when she gives birth, feral cats get pregnant at this age all the time and don't have complications so maybe she won't. But just in case, what do I need to watch for? And does anyone have any guesses as to how many weeks she is?
Also, is it okay to keep her with my female cat?




Suspected baby daddy


 

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The pics are good enough!   I too think 6 weeks is a reasonable estimation.  You will know better as soon you begin to feel the kittens move - it will be max 3 weeks left at that point - to the biological delivery date - they MAY wait a little with the delivery, if they think they need...   Young moms manage most often, but there ARE som risks. both of the kitten going stuck, but not least, the mom isnt knowing what to do, the instinct dont kicking in at once.   So, make sure you know who your vet is, and how to reach him. Try to be present with her at the delivery, and be prepared to assist...  Read on what to do IF.  Have home suitable gears, both for helping at the delivery, and also, have some kmr, glucose sugar,  and a needleless syringe.   An electronical scale measuring in grammes too so you can follow the development.

As you say, in nature females that age do get pregnant.  Thereby not said it always goes well.  There is a death ratio, both for the mommas and quite high for the kittens.

With any luck, it may go well, and with any luck, she will be a great momma - many girls are.  But double guard as well you can, you dont want to have the outcome quite common in nature...The fittest of the fit....   *sadly smile*

The suspected dad is surely a Lynx point, as the mom, even if the eyes arent blue on the pic.  (are they??).  How come he with undeniable point features seems to not have blue eyes, I dont know.  He has possibly his heritage from Ragdolls, where some lines arent blue eyes, sooner greenish eyes...

Anyway, if he is the father,  and he is of the same type as the mom, although slightly different coloring, all the kittens will be  points. and probably all - lynx points (=tabby and point).

If I forgot to answer some of your queston, please remind me.  Or ask again in a new post.  

StefanZ thanks so much! And the dad does have blue eyes, my friend put a filter on the picture so it doesn't look like it, I think I have a picture on my phone from when he was a little younger. Also, I have some wormer that is safe for pregnant cats, I'm not sure if she has worms or not but I know my friend hasn't kept up on that, should I give her some anyways?

These pictures were taken almost a year ago, he wasn't quite six months yet, but his eyes still look just like that. There's also another cat we think may be the dad (or both of them) he is flame point with crossed blue eyes, but either way I'm expecting pointed kittens StefanZ

abbygibson1212 said:

@StefanZ thanks so much! And the dad does have blue eyes, my friend put a filter on the picture so it doesn't look like it, I think I have a picture on my phone from when he was a little younger. Also, I have some wormer that is safe for pregnant cats, I'm not sure if she has worms or not but I know my friend hasn't kept up on that, should I give her some anyways?

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Yes,  if you KNOW its a safe and good brand, its wise to deworm the coming mom.   Esp if you arent entirely sure she wasnt properly dewormed earlier.

What brand is it?

I understand your friend did some planning on the expected fathers!  

I hope the fathers are also friendly cats.  The father mental properties are hereditie quite more then most thinks.  

So, if you want to be sure to have kittens who are friendly, and  good mentally, be sure to pick a suitable father...    Easier said then done, perhaps unless you are a breeder.  But still.

StefanZ All three cats are some of the friendliest cats I know, and I can't remember the name of the wormer but the vet gave it to me specifically for a cat I thought was pregnanct one time

Put frontline on her and treated her with the wormer, now I guess it's time for the waiting game. Hopefully everything goes smoothly when the time comes

Those cats are beautiful! You have taken on a big responsibility in your friend's absence. Please discuss with her in advance about spaying when the kittens are weaned so you will have a plan to prevent future pregnancy.

Yes, it's just waiting now. Always the hardest part! Hopefully all will go smoothly for the young mom. She is certainly being well cared for by you, which is nice!

Sarthur2 Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to convince her to spay, but I do plan on keeping the momma inside well after all the kittens are found homes for so I can at least prevent another pregnancy for a while. My friend is suppose to be gone for two years so maybe I'll just keep her with me that whole time

May I ask her objection to spaying when she is no longer personally caring for the cat, her litter, and dealing with repeat cycles of heat? And possibly gone for 2 years at that?

No offense intended to either of you, of course, and it's your choice as well to keep her, it just adds up to quite an investment over time.

So my friends pregnant cat that I'm cat sitting, finally let me hold my hand on her belly for about a minute, and I felt a baby kick! Which means that she's at least 7 weeks. She is SO huge though, and she's a small young cat. I was wondering if anyone had a closer guess as to how long before babies get here? And is it possible that she has so many babies and that they're so crowded that I can't feel them move much?
The way I'm holding her looks a little scary, but she was purring [emoji]128514[/emoji]

Sarthur2 No offense taken. Really I probably should not be keeping her cat for her that long because of all that it will cost me, but I don't have the heart to just throw her back outside where she'll get pregnant again. And on the other hand, she technically is still not my cat, so I don't have much of a say in spaying her. I've tried to talk my friend into it many times, but unfortunately my friend thinks she can keep letting her get pregnant, and she thinks she can get money for the kittens if they're color point. It drives me crazy that she thinks that way. If she had two purebred, registered cats, and wanted them to have a couple of litters that would be perfectly understandable, because as a dog breeder, I am all for bettering the breed. But it is so irresponsible to let random cats just keep reproducing when there is already such an overpopulation problem, and it is so selfish to do it for money. I've tried talking to her several times and she won't listen. I've even told her that she won't get any money for the kittens, because even though there's a chance that they'll be colorpoint, and they'll be very cute, there are TONS of colorpoint kittens all over that people are just giving away. But nothing persuadea her. The presumed father of these kittens, she got from my neighbor, he is a colorpoint domestic longhair, that somehow just happened to come from two short haired tabby cats, I guess they just had some long hair and colorpoint genes hiding in there somewhere, but he is just a mutt cat, from a colony of feral cats and my friend tells people that he is a Siberian Lynx point. It drives me NUTS when she does this. I've told her that she can not call him that because that's not what he is, and it gives people the wrong idea. I love my friend, but when it comes to cats she infuriates me.

Update on momma, she is HUGE! She's losing the hair around her nipples, and it feels like she has some milk. She's also had a bit of discharge this past week and she's been very tired. I'm thinking kittens will be here within a week.

I appreciate your perspective, and do not at all understand hers. But it does sound like "your" cat is within days of giving birth, particularly if she is having discharge. And regardless of what the dad looks like, if he came from two "mutts," the kittens could have inherited a variety of genes and look nothing like mom or dad. So your friend may have her eyes opened a bit when she sees pictures of the litter.

Since mama kitty is huge, she could be having a large litter, or just three or four. It's so hard to know without an x-ray or ultrasound. Smaller cats tend to look really big sometimes. She is a very beautiful cat though!

Do you have nesting areas set up, and the vet's number handy just in case? I agree she is getting very close, and you are wonderful for taking care of her with so much love and attention. I would do the same!

Sarthur2 I've got a good nesting area set up and the vets number is saved in my phone lol. I would get an ultrasound but my dog just had puppies a week ago and I've been putting a lot of money in to taking care of her, and I don't want to spend anymore unless I have an emergency. But the cat and dog are in seperate parts of the house so they have their privacy. And I'm kind of glad my dog had puppies last week, because since this cat is so young, if she has any problems nursing or anything I can put the kittens on my dog, so I think it will all work out. And I think you're right, once mama has the kittens, and they don't look like she hopes, or they do look like she hopes and she can't get any money for them, it'll open her eyes.
I also have some experience reviving puppies, so if anything goes wrong I'll be prepared. And I bottle fed and raised a litter of 5 kittens a couple years ago when their mama died, they were a week old when she died, she was a feral cat in my grandparents barn. So I'm pretty well prepared for raising them, I've just never actually had the pregnant cat lol only the kittens, so I don't know as much about their pregancys as I do dogs, but I'm guessing it's pretty similar

You sound very knowledgeable and very well prepared with good past experience!

Don't hesitate to ask questions, and keep us posted on mama kitty's progress!