what to expect when your cat's expecting

I found this interesting link for people with expectant mother cats. I remember reading What to Expect for both my pregnancies, and thought that this may be a good thing for nervous cat owners to look at.

http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/cat-pregnancy-a-week-by-week-pregnancy-calendar.html

No, I don't think Hecate is expecting, and plan to have her spayed soon either way.

That is a nice addition for anyone wanting to know how gestation goes week by week.  I am asking  @StefanZ, since this is basically directed at BREEDERS, should it be included in the Ethical Breeding and Showing section too?

Red Top Rescue said:

 
That is a nice addition for anyone wanting to know how gestation goes week by week.  I am asking  @StefanZ, since this is basically directed at BREEDERS, should it be included in the Ethical Breeding and Showing section too?

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yes, certainly! Tx for the suggestion.

And thanks Hatchytt for the link!

Hatchytt said:

I found this interesting link for people with expectant mother cats. I remember reading What to Expect for both my pregnancies, and thought that this may be a good thing for nervous cat owners to look at.

http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/cat-pregnancy-a-week-by-week-pregnancy-calendar.html

No, I don't think Hecate is expecting, and plan to have her spayed soon either way.

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According to some of the comments at the bottom of the article, you should have her SPRAYED. 

i don't think she'd like that much

Kat0121 said:

According to some of the comments at the bottom of the article, you should have her SPRAYED. :lol3:

i don't think she'd like that much

:dk:

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I coudn't stop myself from reading the comments either!

Thanks that's lovely guide, we are expecting in 3 1/2 weeks :-))

I have this bookmarked now. We may have missed our chance to spay Hecate due to all our money going toward food for us and the cats. Rune is ready to look for another job so that we can find an extra $15 in our budget after Hecate has her kittens. I can see her nipples, which I likely wouldn't be able to do otherwise with the long belly fur.

Oh... Did I mention she's getting a bit pudgy and is ravenous?

I tried to open the link but it just keeps shutting down

I don't know what to say. She's acting like she's in heat again. Maybe she's just fat. But at a little over five lbs...

Please get her in to be spayed if you can. Care for kittens costs a lot more than $15. Are there any free spay/neuter centers around you?

Agreed. She needs to be spayed right away. The price of kittens and potential emergency surgery is much more expensive than spay surgery. If you need help with the money for the spay, would you consider a gofundme account? 

edit- emergency surgery being possible if something were to go wrong. I've seen too many stories on here where the owner lost the mother cat and kittens because of complications.

There's no free. Only the $15 deal because I'm disabled. Rune is looking for a new job. So money generally goes toward food for us and our therapy pets, the cats.

Would you be willing to spay her now if you got the money? 

I thought I had to wait til she's not in heat. Yes we would get her spayed if we had the money. And we will. Rune's job just dries up in summer and he needs a new one. We have every intention of spaying/neutering our pets.

Sounds great! I thought she was pregnant. 

A lot of vets definitely don't spay when they're in heat more risks and complications or something?

I totally know what you mean about hours drying up in summer. My mom works at a driver's education place and has the same problem during different times of the year. 

Raising kittens costs a LOT. First the nursing mother eats a ton, then the kittens eat like horses when they wean. They use so much litter, and then of course they need de-worming and vaccinations. And that's if there are no emergencies! So I'm worried that if you can't afford the $15 for the spay, then you won't be able to afford kitten chow, much less the other expenses. I'd hate for the babies to be neglected .

Does Hecate go out, or do you have a male? Keep her inside or away from the male just in case she isn't pregnant. But, truthfully, any unspayed cat who's been exposed to a tom is probably pregnant now :/. I just had 2 farm kittens spayed and they were both pregnant, and the indoor kitten is currently in heat. So it's just mating season right now, that's nature. If it doesn't bother you or the vet, you can do a spay/abort if she's not too far along, if you hurry.

On the plus side, my indoor kitten who's currently in heat also has prominent nipples. So there's a possibility that she isn't pregnant. But a pretty small possibility if she's been around a tom.

ETA: I went and looked, and you have a male about 6 months old? Is he the only male she's been around, and hasn't gotten outdoors? If so, there's a possibility she isn't pregnant yet. Males that age are rarely fertile, and even if they are they're typically too clueless to finish the job. But of course he'll figure it out eventually . So it may not be too late. Keep the 2 of them separated until she's spayed and hopefully nothing will happen.

I live in a 1 bed shoebox apt. Obviously she can't be pregnant and in heat again. I'm figuring that he's just unable to get her there... Yet. I just told Rune that we get to reset to spay clock. We'll get her spayed first, then worry about getting him neutered once he's full size. That way he can hold his own with the hallway cats.

That's a good plan! But don't wait too long for him; they usually start spraying around 9-10 months.

At the rate my 6 to 6 1/2 lb boy is already growing... I swear he was itty bitty when we got him. He's doubled in size over the last month or so.