Is labour starting? Help please

Hi, my cat Esmee is pregnant but I don't know quite how far along she was meant to spayed she got pregnant before I had a chance due to her getting out when we got a new dog, I had no idea she was pregnant until 3 or so weeks ago when I noticed how huge she was. I intend to get her done right after because I've read she can pregnant as soon as a week after she gives birth..she's been sleeping on the living the room floor and eating about 3 pouches of kitten food and 3 pouches of cat food a day and doubling in size every week she's lost all the hair around her nipples and has been restlessness for a day or so but still sleeping quite a lot but today's she's came upstairs and is quite clingy she doesn't normally sleep on the bed but she's been sat washing herself on it today now she's sleeping on the rug upstairs which is unusual. She's still very hungry and for a couple of days she had a creamy yellow green discharge but only a tiny bit not seen it yesterday or today though. She seems to have milk but she's showing no sign of nesting at all. You can also feel her kittens moving with ease and see them wriggling around in there. It's so hard to wait and she doesn't quite look big enough yet could anyone help put my mind doing at ease?

Here are some pictures or her today,

How long have you been able to see/feel the kittens moving? It's normally 2 to 3 weeks after that that she would give birth. She's probably only having 1 or 2 kittens since she is small, but milk and discharge can come in a week sometimes 2 weeks before. My kitty has been having discharge for over a week (a tiny bit, on and off) and colostrum for four days now, maybe five? She's due any time, probably in the next day or so.
Depending on how long the kittens have been moving around that you can see and feel, she could be due any time or in 2 to 3 weeks.

To me it looks like she has quite a bit of hair to lose around her nipples still but every cat is different and they don't all go super bald like mine! Here's a picture of my cats mammory area and nipple from five ish days ago

Hopefully that helps a little! It can be super hard to tell when especially if you don't know the date she mated. I've found that my cat also looks less pregnant this week, which means she's "dropping", her stomach feels very hard and I can easily feel kitten lumps. That's something to look for too

Nows a good time to make sure you have everything prepared for her though. Several nesting areas, and a kitten kit. The basic most needed things are a needless syringe, kmr, a kitchen scale, and a heating pad, rice sock, or hot water bottle.

Welcome!

Now is the time to prepare. When you look for kmr, get a powdered kind. PetAg is a great brand, but avoid Hartz.

Mom should eat as much wet and dry kitten food as she wants while she's pregnant and nursing. Always have food down for her. She will also need a secure area away from all other animals.

Mom can get pregnant again within a week of delivery, as you have read. She should not be spayed until the kittens are 8 weeks old, so you'll just have to be sure to keep her in until then.

Please keep us updated and keep asking questions!

Morning all, shes been looking for a nest all night and sleeping in a box under the bed but not getting my hopes up as i think she may be in week 8 after alot of research and when she got out but sometimes stray cats were getting in a couple of months ago through the bathroom window so i really dont know but weve decided to keep the kittens yay. You can feel them very easly theres feels likes theres two in there but im being very gentle so dont really know. Im planing on ordering kmr tonight and syringe set for feeding getting excited now thank you for helping guys i will keep you updated

Heres a slightly better photo of her nipple its not quite that blad yet

Yes, her mammory glands don't look full yet. Around week 8 could be a good guess, that would give her a week and a half ish until her due date, my personal guess is 7-8wks, but its hard to tell!

Also, her nipples look a bit irritated, I think I see dry skin near the mammory gland (which is common) you can try rubbing coconut oil, olive oil, or udder balm on them to help with that

Ive got some coconut oil so ill try that and shes been washing non stop for two days and licking her belly i dont know if that moght be irritating for her but she's very tired otherwise, sleeping alot and eating getting her strengh up for next week i guess

Coconut oil should be very soothing. Have you been able to secure the window so strays can't get in and she can't get out?

I managed to rub coconut oil on her nipples and she's been sleeping all day in the sun so hopefully that helps her abit and yes, learnt my lesson of keeping shut now aha

The kittens are going crazy today wriggling around like mad

jj3210 said:

The kittens are going crazy today wriggling around like mad

Click to expand...

That's how my queen was about 9 days ago! She's still got her babies in her but she's 65 days today.

The waiting is driving me mad will feel very relived after she's had them, how many kittens are you expecting?

@jj3210   I'm not sure how many! it's pretty up in the air. She's a small cat but she looks very  pregnant and even has to waddle the past week to get from place to place.

I'm expecting 3-6 but most people are guessing 4-7

She's a first time mama too, and when I feel her tummy lightly, I can easily feel multiple kittens, it's just hard to tell how many exactly since I'm no vet. I'm hoping for 2-3 but I'm prepared for as many as a cat can have!

Here's her latest (very blurry) pregnancy pic haha


She's very done with being preggers.

But on another note, you'll probably be similar to how I was at that point just a few weeks ago, you sound like me! I thought she was further along than she was since she could have mated between the 3-10 or march, turns out it was the 10th so she's due any time now, but for a while I thought she was REALLY about to give birth at any moment when she was actually only 8 weeks!

I was a nervous wreck for a while! I didn't sleep for several nights except for micro naps! I was very angry and moody from the lack of sleep. I kept checking her every half hour for more discharge and to look for contractions haha. I shined a flashlight at her bum probably more times then any sane person would.

I've gotten patient the past few days and now instead of anxiously waiting/borderline stalking her I am letting her do her thing, sleeping normally (with a few alarms just to be safe) and just content waiting for the babies to arrive!

Wow she's huge! Yeah I've been thinking she's due for a week but now I think she's got atleast another week left bust she's a tiny cat aswell. Esme had some discharge aswell a few days ago it scared me to death because everything I read online said it was bad and and get an emergency spay done but maybe it's a pregnancy thing? I think you could easly get 4 or 5 kittens she looks massive and very fed up of being pregnant bless her

Here's a big belly for you:


That was the day before my cat gave birth to four healthy kittens!

She looked like she swallowed a basketball.

Since she was a stray I took in, I had her X-rayed. Vet saw 4 kittens, and told me he estimated she would give birth in 7-10 days. Well, it took 12 days. I also kept mom and all four kittens. That was a year ago. [emoji]128521[/emoji]

Clear or pinkish discharge is normal in the final days of pregnancy.