My cat might be pregnant, and I have a few questions

ivashanko

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Hello everyone! This is my first post and I'm excited to join such a knowledgeable community.

First things first: I am a foreigner living in a Chengdu, China. While I love living in this city (it is so much fun! And surprisingly easy), it makes raising a cat harder than it'd otherwise be. My Chinese is pretty decent, and I'm able to hold conversations with friends easily, but it is certainly not good enough to understand the ins and outs of vet speak.

In large part because of what I'm assuming was miscommunication (long story, mostly my fault), my cat was not sprayed in an orderly fashion. She escaped from my house while I was travelling and doing business around East Asia and the United States, but my friends were able to find her after eight painful days (thank God. First time in a while I've prayed for anything like I prayed for her, so I'm very grateful to everyone involved).

She's a very hardy specimen, so she's not sick and she's perky and doing really well. I'm just wondering if she's pregnant. It's been twenty days from when she first got lost (so twelve days since she was found), and she doesn't have any signs of pregnancy yet, but I'm wondering when her nipples will swell/any other sign of pregnancy might occur.

Her escape was the first time she's ever been in the outside world, might she have been too scared to copulate? She's acting quite friendly and lovable now, but she is always like that so it isn't much of a personality change, and I can't see anything else that might even suggest she's pregnant.

And don't worry: If she isn't pregnant I'll get her sprayed straight away (properly this time).
 

red top rescue

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This may help you:

How to Tell if My Cat is Pregnant?

Cat pregnancy lasts about 9 weeks (63 days) so you can start counting from the week she was out to see where she may be.  In rescue, we are willing to spay a pregnant cat if she is in early pregnancy, like the first three weeks, since we have such an overpopulation of cats in the U.S. that each new life that doesn't come into the world saves another life.  However, the middle trimester is an individual choice.  I would not do it, but some rescue groups do.  What I am saying is that if you got her spayed now, it would not be traumatic for her, either way.  If she has kittens, would there be good homes available for them when they got to be about 8 weeks old?  When I visited China may years ago (in the 1980s when it first opened) no one had pet cats.  They were at farms where they had a job. keeping down the rodents. but no one had cats as pets -- although some people raised them for food.  Our guides said that the idea of having "doctors for cats" was funny to them.
 
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ivashanko

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I could get her kittens adopted pretty easily. I have a large friendship circle here in Chengdu and many of them love my cat and would be happy to take a kitten in. She still doesn't have any visible signs of change. If I take her into the vet will they be able to tell, or will it still be impossible for another week or so?

Also she's acting pretty strangely since I've returned. She's become more needy in that she seems to be constantly worried about where I am (understandable since I've been gone for a month and a half), and her mood changes from very cuddly to a little aggressive (like biting the hand petting her), which is kind of new. Any ideas what could be causing this?

Finally, after a while of being scared of going anywhere near outside I saw her try to open the front door today (my cat is pretty good at opening doors, but there's no way she can open the front one). This worries me, since I'm afraid she will want to go outside again. Any way I can keep her from wanting this, or will it just take time?
 
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ivashanko

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Also does a female cat pretty much always get pregnant if they've been out and were in heat? Does it always get pregnant if they've mated, baring some medical condition? I know that in humans the odds are much lower, and it can take months (or even in a few cases years) for conception to occur. Have cats been known to be too scared to mate even if they are in heat?
 

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Also does a female cat pretty much always get pregnant if they've been out and were in heat? Does it always get pregnant if they've mated, baring some medical condition? I know that in humans the odds are much lower, and it can take months (or even in a few cases years) for conception to occur. Have cats been known to be too scared to mate even if they are in heat?
Yes, the fertility is pretty high. Not 100% thought.   With breeders of purebreds its much lower than 100%.   Possibly simply because they do notice, have exact count.   While with moggies whom got out we really never know what happened.

Still, count on pregnancy if a cat in heat sneaked out.  And they tend to do it - just because they ARE in heat, its no unlucky coincidence...
 

StefanZ

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The nipples become red at about day 21-25, so you will know in another week.  They dont ALWAYS get visible reddened, but its the usual.

As RTR - as you ARE playing on spaying, it hasnt been done by pure misluck, you can still do it without any problems, But better now than later.

But if you wish to get her kittens and be able to adopt them out, so be it.   We will support and help you whatever course you take.  You are the pilot on your plane, no?   :)
 
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ivashanko

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I don't think I'll have the kittens aborted if my cat is pregnant, but I absolutely will get her sprayed in the near future (after giving birth or determining she isn't pregnant). I don't want her leaving again, and I know she will try if she gets into heat again. I don't think she's a purebreed, by the way, but I have no idea.

21-25 days? I was wondering because I've heard that it might be more like 18 days, and I'm wondering when I can safely conclude that she probably isn't pregnant. Do the nipples swell gradually or is it suddenly? Do they redden quickly or does it pinken first before?

And thanks for all your guys' help, you're all awesome.
 
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ivashanko

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And what does RTR mean?
 
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ivashanko

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Oh, that makes sense, haha.

It looks like her nipples have reddened, so I'm somewhat certain she's pregnant. Considering getting her sprayed. Not because of the overpopulation of shelters (honestly I don't even think Chengdu, a city of over ten million people, even has a pet shelter anymore. When adopting me and my girlfriend looked for one but we couldn't find anything), but because I might need to move two or three weeks before she'd be expected to give birth and I'm worried about her health.

I'm personally not really comfortable with the idea, and my girlfriend (and Chinese friends in general) will be up in arms about it, so I'll have to give it some thought. Will moving a couple of weeks before her birth date cause statistically significant changes in her and her kittens survival rates, and, if so, by how much? I love statistics in general, so studies would be especially persuasive (a quick look online for me has come up with nothing, but you guys have forgotten far more about cats than I will ever know).
 
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ivashanko

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Though, and wow am I double posting a lot here, her other nipples don't look like they've changed at all. Maybe its just all in my head? Confirmation bias and whatnot
 

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Moving your cat should not be a problem.

You probably need to wait another week to see if her nipples pink up more. In the meantime, if you want to spay her, now is a good time.
 
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ivashanko

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So far not much change. That she hasn't gone back into heat isn't really a sign of much- my cat's heat cycles are spaces far apart (which would be great but her not going into heat was one of the things that made me think she had the operation).

How dramatic is the change to the nipples? I think I can notice a small change, but that might just be confirmation bias. It looks a tiny bit pinker and feels a tiny bit larger. If the changes are supposed to be more dramatic then eh, I guess I don't know if she's pregnant yet.

If I loaded a picture would that help people identify if she's pregnant or not? Thanks to everyone for all their help!
 
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ivashanko

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I would take her to a vet right away. Even if she's not pregnant, she needs shots to stay healthy.
We took her to the vet when she returned, just to make sure she was healthy after going outside. 
 
 
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ivashanko

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My cat is almost certainly pregnant! Now I just have to find out how I'm going to buy all the things I need to buy in China.
 

Sarthur2

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Does Amazon deliver there?

Oh, and do not vaccinate a pregnant cat!
 
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ivashanko

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There are Amazon like services that I use and could probably buy this stuff on, yeah.

I wasn't planning on it. She's had a great deal of her shots already, and is generally an extremely healthy cat. She is pretty young (she'll be just older than one years old when she gives birth), but I talked to a friend with a lot of experience and she says there is no reason to worry about anything just yet.
 
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ivashanko

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So! Quick update. My cat has become a lot more energetic and likes play-hunting a lot more  now, but she's also gotten a lot more scared and a lot less cuddly. I'm just blaming hormones for this, but wanted to double check to see if something more dangerous might be going on.
 
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