are my girls pregnant???

hi, i have three female cats who arent spayed (they dont go outside) and recently the nipples on two of them have gotten bigger and hard, and their tummies have gotten a little bigger. they had worms though and im not sure if thats the culprit? we had one male who was trying to mount his sisters (different babies) but hes only about half the girls' size, so its improbable that hes been able to mount them. are their nipples like this because they went into heat or because theyre pregnant?? there havent even been any signs that theyve been mounted and we dont have any unaltered males.

They sound pregnant. How old is the male that you thought was too small to mount them? How old are the females?

It's important to spay your cats even if they don't go outside. Going through heat cycles isn't healthy or comfortable for your cats. They can get an infection of the uterus easily.

the male was just 4 months and the females all nine months. the only reason we havent gotten them spayed is the cost. weve been saving for it and getting the males neutered first because its less expensive. ive also read that a males sperm isnt able to be fertilised until two months after hes matured. the male, to mount the girls, would have to grab her neck and by that point his genitals would be halfway up her back.

It sounds like he's been able to mount them, perhaps while they were already lying down. He also wouldn't have to bite their necks so much if they were in heat and willing, I believe. Anyway, sounds like they are pregnant. If you can't afford babies I would recommend getting them spayed asap.

also on the "getting them spayed" note, we were planning on making appointments in this upcoming month because of tax returns and all our boys are fixed. I'm hoping we still can get them fixed if theyre pregnant, but I'm really hoping theyre not pregnant. we also tried to keep the male pretty separate from everyone else because we didnt want him to mount his sisters, and only let him out under supervision when we were home

Yes, it sounds like waiting for next month may be too late as they will be far along in their pregnancies then. Can you find a low cost clinic or a vet that will allow you to use a payment plan?

we have a clinic that does females for 65 but the problem is getting it off because they only do signups on saturdays and since i work in food service saturdays are our busiest days. thats also getting up 200$ in the next week because this coming saturday is the only saturday i have off unless i want to wait three weeks and have the chance of not having it. im not trying to make excuses, because i definitely don't want kittens, im just not sure how itd work. plus my family/friends either live hours away or also work in food service.

$65 is not that cheap. I wonder if you could find something more affordable? Maybe through a rescue? Hoping you can figure something out asap because kittens, as you know, are A LOT more expensive than a spay.

yeeeaah we took in a stray that was super pregnant and had kittens so we know how expensive they are, definitely dont want a repeat. the best rescue we have is $85 unless theyre feral strays and theres no way my sweet girls could pass off as strays. vets are 150$+, and the humane society is a waiting period (bc theyre full/busy) and not cheap either.

Do you have family members who could lend you money now until you get your tax return?

If their bellies are getting rounder they are about halfway through the pregnancies. Cats begin to show at around five weeks. You don't have much time left to spay/terminate.

In the neantime, has the young male who mounted them been neutered? I would keep him away from your other female cat if she is not already pregnant.

Males are rarely fertile at 4 months but I have heard of isolated incidences of it happening :/. How long ago was that? When was the last time an unneutered/freshly neutered male was in the house? Sometimes sperm can hide in the tubes so they can still be fertile for a while after neutering.

so here's a photo of her from the side, she doesnt look super pudgy and shes always had sort of a pudge.

It's hard to tell by a picture sometimes. Our cat is pregnant, at least 7 weeks along but maybe further and she doesn't look like it most of the time but the vet is guessing only 2 or 3 kittens. When is the last time your cat was in heat?

and heres a photo of the other girl's nipple, they basically look the same. theyre less red than previously which makes me thing they arent pregnant?

we also dont know if theyve even gone into heat because weve had them since they were six weeks old and theyve always been noisy and super cuddly, so they basically have shown signs of being in heat since we got them. theres a little discharge from their vaginas though, so they may just be in heat?

If it's clear discharge it could be from them being in heat but it could be other things too.

1) $65 is a steal for a spay. that is an invasive surgery. No bloodwork is done first, probably no medication for afterwards. You get what you pay for. This is surgery remember.

2) $200 might seem like a lot for their surgeries. But it is a lot more expensive to buy kitten food, litter, and all the rounds of vaccines for 3 sets of kittens, plus mom, plus deworming them all multiple times, perhaps emergency vet visits if something goes wrong, they are awfully young to be having kittens when they are just kittens themselves, there could be complications....

Just some food for thought.