Kittens on the way - colors and preparation?

Hello all! I'm very new to this forum, but have been reading post here forever. Recently I got locked out of my house and since my roommate did not separate my 2 cats, I'm pretty sure that the female is pregnant. She's a rescue with no breed info, roughly a year old, and has a grayish brown tabby coat. The father is a Siamese/Ragdoll mix with the Ragdoll mask/mittens and a Siamese color point in his ears and tail. I was wondering what colors the kittens might be? Is it possible for any of them to have his fur color/patterns? Or maybe even his blue eyes? I plan to get her spayed as soon as this litter is weaned (as I was waiting on her to finish a heat cycle to make the appointment).
Thanks in advance, and if this is the wrong place to post this thread, please let me know!

Yes, it's possible for some of the kittens to have his colors. It's also possible they will look nothing like either parent. Some could even be tabby points.

sayuriel said:

Hello all! I'm very new to this forum, but have been reading post here forever. Recently I got locked out of my house and since my roommate did not separate my 2 cats, I'm pretty sure that the female is pregnant. She's a rescue with no breed info, roughly a year old, and has a grayish brown tabby coat. The father is a Siamese/Ragdoll mix with the Ragdoll mask/mittens and a Siamese color point in his ears and tail. I was wondering what colors the kittens might be? Is it possible for any of them to have his fur color/patterns? Or maybe even his blue eyes? I plan to get her spayed as soon as this litter is weaned (as I was waiting on her to finish a heat cycle to make the appointment).
Thanks in advance, and if this is the wrong place to post this thread, please let me know!

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Tabby is dominant, so at least half the kittens will be tabbies.   White spot "mittens" is dominant too, so at least half of the kittens will have white spots.

Point, and longhair, is recessive.  So its necessary with "two to dance tango". That gene must come from both parents.

If momma happens to be a carrier of any of these two, rather rare genes,  half of the kittens will be that too.

If momma isnt no carrier of these genes - none of the kittens will be point, longhaired, nor blue eyed.

The money bet is none of them will be.

If you wish to have a litter on your girl, you may of course proceed.  But if it was a non voluntary  oops, you may end this if you so wish, by spaying NOW.

Anyway, spaying and neutering the the usual to do.  Even most purebred are neutered/spayed.

StefanZ is correct, none of these kittens should like dad. They'll take after mom. How old is mommy kitty and how far along is she?

Most will look like mom in your case, some could be a bit of a mixture, and some could look like dad, though unlikely, as far as I know. This link might help you out, as far as explaining pattern and color genes goes: http://cfa.org/breeders/catcolorsgenetics/basicfelinegenetics.aspx

My cat just had kittens, and she is a brown mackerel tabby, and the father is a gray cat with white spots on his chest/neck.

She had six babies, and three are solid black, one is black with an underlying tabby look with a few white spots (head, chest, neck), one is a pretty solid gray, and the other is a gray tabby. Only one really took her tabby pattern on, and he is gray. Besides two of the solid black, all of them seem to have a "hidden" tabby pattern, so in a bright light I can see very faint stripes.

newkitties said:

 
Most will look like mom in your case, some could be a bit of a mixture, and some could look like dad, though unlikely, as far as I know. This link might help you out, as far as explaining pattern and color genes goes: http://cfa.org/breeders/catcolorsgenetics/basicfelinegenetics.aspx

My cat just had kittens, and she is a brown mackerel tabby, and the father is a gray cat with white spots on his chest/neck.

She had six babies, and three are solid black, one is black with an underlying tabby look with a few white spots (head, chest, neck), one is a pretty solid gray, and the other is a gray tabby. Only one really took her tabby pattern on, and he is gray. Besides two of the solid black, all of them seem to have a "hidden" tabby pattern, so in a bright light I can see very faint stripes.

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Grey is really a diluted black, so there is the black gene.    I suspect brown is some sort of black too - Im not entirely sure, but its apparent she too must have carried black in some way.

Momma is a tabby, so at least about half of the kittens will be tabbies.   You tell at least two are visibly tabbies, and its OK with the statistics, its not ironclad.

Thank-you all so much! She's a year old, and I'm taking her to the vet on Thursday to see what our options are. If my math is correct then she is roughly 3 weeks along, maybe closed to 4, maybe closer to 2. Her nipples are already pinking, and her stomach is starting to round out.

I have every intention of getting her spayed. I was waiting on her to go into heat (so I could be sure not to bring her while she was in heat when I scheduled her appointment) and realized something was up when she didn't go into heat when she normally would have. Unless the vet strongly recommends I don't let her go through with the pregnancy, I will probably let her have this litter. But there will definitely not be a second litter. I am pro-spay/neuter myself, and would adopt every kitten I saw if I could.

sayuriel said:

Thank-you all so much! She's a year old, and I'm taking her to the vet on Thursday to see what our options are. If my math is correct then she is roughly 3 weeks along, maybe closed to 4, maybe closer to 2. Her nipples are already pinking, and her stomach is starting to round out.

I have every intention of getting her spayed. I was waiting on her to go into heat (so I could be sure not to bring her while she was in heat when I scheduled her appointment) and realized something was up when she didn't go into heat when she normally would have. Unless the vet strongly recommends I don't let her go through with the pregnancy, I will probably let her have this litter. But there will definitely not be a second litter. I am pro-spay/neuter myself, and would adopt every kitten I saw if I could.

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I once read a british handbook for veterinarians, where they even recommended to mate the female, AND spay afterwards.  Making sure she wasnt in heat while doing the spaying.  

Quite crude, not alonge everyones likieur, and against the normal instincts, but they preferreed to spay during an early pregnancy than risking to spay during heat.  THAT operation being more difficult and risky for an inexperienced surgeon.

Have the daddy cat neutered right away. Females can get pregnant right after giving birth, and males can keep some sperm in the tubes for a few weeks after neutering, so having him done now would ensure he's infertile by the time she's fertile again.

StefanZ said:

 
Grey is really a diluted black, so there is the black gene.    I suspect brown is some sort of black too - Im not entirely sure, but its apparent she too must have carried black in some way.

Momma is a tabby, so at least about half of the kittens will be tabbies.   You tell at least two are visibly tabbies, and its OK with the statistics, its not ironclad.

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Yes, Mama has black stripes and she is brown otherwise, a pretty generic form of tabby cat. I assume that's where the kittens got the second gene for solid black color.

I was trying to explain how my kitties colors came about but I'm sleep deprived from bottle feeding babies so I didn't explain very well haha. 

But none of mine look exactly like mama surprisingly enough! Some have her pattern but none her coloring, but all are adorable. She had what seems to be two boys and four girls, maybe half and half, hard to tell with one.

OP, good luck with your mama cat, and whatever you decide to do, whether it be spaying her now, or letting her carry her litter. We'll be here to help any way possible

Daddy cat will be staying staying next door until I can get mommy spayed.  He likes to play, and I'm worried about him being too rough with my sweet girl and her babies while they're still young.  The only reason I'm not getting him fixed right now is so that I can put all of my available money into preparing for mommy cat's vet bills and the kittens' first shots and such should the vet say it's okay for her to have them).

Depending on where you live, there should be a lowcost clinic nearby that you could get the father neutered at for around $20-$40 (where I live it's actually only $10)

Then sooner he can be fixed the better Update us with mama

newkitties said:

Depending on where you live, there should be a lowcost clinic nearby that you could get the father neutered at for around $20-$40 (where I live it's actually only $10)
Then sooner he can be fixed the better Update us with mama

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Great idea! Yes, he should still be fixed soon. The last thing you want is him spraying at your neighbors. Yuck. [emoji]128547[/emoji]

He hasn't been bad about spraying (yet) but I will definitely look around for a lower cost clinic!  The vet I have to see where I live (the only vet in the area) likes to overcharge a lot because it's a "college town."

And I will post an update on this thread once I get back from the vet (I will be taking her to the vet my parents take their fur babies to in my hometown, due to the way I and my animals have been treated at the vet office here).

Thank-you all again, I really appreciate the support!  I know I made a mistake not getting her spayed sooner, but I'm going to try to make the best out of this situation by doing what's best for my cats.

It happens. I'm in the same boat, kittens just over 2 weeks ago lol. Dad has already been fixed. It can be spendy, we're in a tiny town so we had to drive an hour to a lower cost vet...not cheap, but cheaper. So I get it. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

One thing to keep in mind in your decision making process is that a litter of kittens is a lot (a lot!) more expensive than a spay and a neuter.

Let us know what you decide and we're happy to help along the way!

talkingpeanut said:

One thing to keep in mind in your decision making process is that a litter of kittens is a lot (a lot!) more expensive than a spay and a neuter.

Let us know what you decide and we're happy to help along the way!

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For sure! I've spent so much money on the kittens and mama so far and I'm just an 18 year old student and my boyfriend is 19 and works as a service manager in a restaurant! Plus we've got three other cats

We've bought an XXL dog crate (we were borrowing it but bought it anyways) $100

Kitten formula $20

A scale $35

puppy pads $40 (we wanted to stock up!)

kitten litter pans $10

wet food $50 (so far. we feed our cats wet food daily but mama needs extra! and soon the SIX kittens will need it too! Hopefully we have enough for a while but mama is going through it fast)

bottles/extra nipples/dropper $10

And we will be worming and vaccinating all of the kittens! Luckily we live near a major city, so the SPCA clinic in the city has decent prices but it's still going to be $40 per kitten at least, but the rehoming fees for the kittens should let us break even on vaccines.

So an estimated grand total of $500! Wow that's the first time I've done the actual math    We will be keeping one kitten, so as far as rehoming fees go, we will get a total of $250, so we are paying half out of pocket. Oh my. These babies are precious though!

OP, no matter what you decide, we will help you through it if you decide to keep them, perhaps we can help you find a rescue willing to help with things if you can't afford it, and if you decide to spay mama now, we will support you too

Thanks again for all of the support!  As I mentioned, she went to the vet yesterday, and we got the official report that she is pregnant.  The vet said she is extremely healthy and there shouldn't be any problems going through with the pregnancy other than her getting anxious and not feeding them right away--which is something I was already planning to prepare for.

The vet didn't take and ultrasound and mommy's not far enough along for an x-ray yet, but just by feeling her tummy the vet predicted it would be a minimum of 3 kittens.  I'm in a very similar situation, only 19, boyfriend is 20, but we both have jobs and have been standing on our own two feet for a while now.  Fortunately, I've already had 2 people show serious interest in adopting, and since I will also probably keep one, that's 3 homes already found.

You guys have really helped me keep a positive outlook, and getting her checked on at the vet helped sooth a large number of my concerns.

For any still checking this post--I'm trying to compile a list of things I absolutely must have before she gives birth (things for mommy and the kittens.  Any recommendations or must-haves for that list?  The vet told me that if she doesn't feed them well, miracle nipples are the best topper for a bottle/dropper to feed them with, and that I should keep replacement milk on hand.  If you have any other advice I'm definitely open to hearing it!  Thanks again for all of the feedback and support! 

My cat, Bastet, had a vet visit yesterday, where it was confirmed that she is not only very healthy, but also pregnant. The visit went well, and the vet said there seems to be a minimum of three kittens.

Number of kittens in the litter aside, in general, the vet told me it would be a good idea to go ahead and invest in a can or two of kitten milk replacement as well as bottles/droppers and miracle nipples in case Bastet (who is kind of anxious) gets sort of freaked out by the whole thing and doesn't feed them properly at first.

If I were to go ahead and go shopping today to prepare for Bastet giving birth and caring for her and the kittens afterwards, what do you recommend I get? I'm almost certain I'll have to order the miracle nipples, which isn't a problem. But I would like to compile a list of things I might need in advance, so that when the time comes I'll be as prepared as I possibly could be.

Thanks in advance, and I appreciate any and all advice/suggestions!

Make sure the KMR you get is powdered! There seems to often be diarrhea when kittens eat premixed form kmr and also, with powdered there is way less waste as it doesn't go bad nearly as quickly and you control how much you make. You could also give some to mama daily for a supplement. PetAG seems to be best, I use nutrivet and I think it's nice too.
I would invest in a scale, and some puppy training pads to keep the kittens on so you aren't washing sheets and towels everyday because of kitten urine
Any kitchen scale that measures in grams is typically the ideal.
And just make sure you've got clean wash rags, and some uncoated dental floss can come in handy if you have to cut a cord

Those are some basics, of course the MAIN things are KMR, and a scale.

The kittens I supplement (mama does half the work haha) I feed with a 1ml glass eye dropper, but I put the newborn kitten sized nipple on the end so they don't touch the glass, they normally suckle it themselves after a few drops.

As for a basket to keep her in, a large Rubbermaid container seems to work well for a lot of people. Mine chooses to stay under the end table in my bedroom instead of the cosy nest I made in an XXL dog crate. Just make sure she's got options!