Should pregnant cats be fed kitten food, or no?

I caught a stray yesterday, a very sweet and friendly girl. Aaand... she's very, very pregnant. None of the shelters here will take her, so it looks like I'll be caring for her at my SO's brother's home.

Given she's so skinny, ravenous, and, well, pregnant, I bought kitten food for her. I went through a lot of online information and was led to believe this was the right move. However, my SO's mother took her dog to the vet and asked about it. He told her I shouldn't be feeding her kitten food throughout her pregnancy, only after she's born, and that putting weight on her now would make for a more difficult pregnancy; that, right now, she doesn't need the extra stuff. Which is basically the opposite of what I've read, so... now I'm a little conflicted on what to do.

I think she need the kitten food.  Her body will pass the nutrients to the kittens in the womb and if she is that skinny she also needs the extra vitamins and fats in the kitten food.  Wet and dry.

Yeah, I'm feeding her both wet and dry. She's a ravenous little thing. She's pretty far along so I feel like she needs it. But apparently the vet says weight gain could somehow complicate the birth...which I've never heard of before.

We always recommend that pregnant and nursing cats be fed kitten food and kitten chow. They need all the calories and nutrients they can get. You can even mix a raw egg into her wet food for extra protein.

And you'll want to pick up a can of powdered kitten milk replacer (KMR) at a pet shop and mix it and give her a dish or two daily for calcium. Her kittens will drink it when they wean.

Have you made a nest for her and the kittens?

We have lots of great articles on pregnant cats, delivery, and kitten care that you can read.

Thank you for taking in this sweet cat. You've saved her life and probably her kittens!

Thanks sarthur2! It looks like I was worrying over nothing anyway - she was further along than we thought she was. I got a call saying she'd had two kittens this morning! Everyone's pretty surprised she only had two - two little tuxedos like herself - so we're waiting to see if maybe she'll pop out any more later. She had the babies between 8am-noon but I've read it could be a whole day between babies.

They're adorable!! Mama is totally okay with me handling the babies - I weighed each since she was originally favoring one and I had to guide the other one and urge her to accept the little thing. When I walked through the door, she actually jumped up, grabbed a kitten, ran over to me, and set it at my feet. lol She's a newbie momma alright - sat on one baby once. She also likes to get up to go eat and drag her babies and drop them outside her nest. Oops!

Glad she had the babies. Make sure she's nursing both well. Ask us any questions you have!

After another 7 hours she popped out a third little tuxedo. Still trying to keep her from sitting on the kittens. One poor dude was trying to nurse a her lady parts.. lol
That was about 7pm and it's 3am now so maybe no more babies, finally. The first two were born between 6am and noon... so we shall see. (:
I'll weigh everyone again tomorrow to make sure they're gaining

Great!

Is her nest big enough for her to stretch out in to nurse? Maybe a larger space will keep her from sitting on the babies.