Pregnant, or just really fat?

talkingpeanut said:

 
Do you have a way to completely separate her from the boys until she is spayed?

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Yes, I do! She isn't separated atm, though, but she will be as soon as the babies are born! :-)

Also, i was wondering what colour the babies will be? The dad's a seal-point siamese (with a seal point mum and a cream tabby dad) and Sparrow's pure white with possibly some ginger genes in her as her siblings were ginger!

indie-n-button said:

Also, i was wondering what colour the babies will be? The dad's a seal-point siamese (with a seal point mum and a cream tabby dad) and Sparrow's pure white with possibly some ginger genes in her as her siblings were ginger!

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Most of the babies will probably be pure white since white is very dominant and it pretty much "masks" everything else. You likely won't get any "siamese" looking kittens since the point gene is recessive and requires both parents to at least carry that gene (which, who knows, sparrow might). If you do get any it will likely only be one that looks like the daddy.

If she carries the pointed gene, half the kittens will be pointed. If she doesn't, none will.

If she's red under the white (did she have any spotting as a kitten? If so, that's what color she carries), her female kittens will be torties/calicos, and the males will be red. If she carries dark coloring, all the kittens will be dark. That is, if they aren't white. At least some of them will be white, not sure of the percentages.

Do you know what color Sparrow's mom was?

Raina21 said:

Most of the babies will probably be pure white since white is very dominant and it pretty much "masks" everything else. You likely won't get any "siamese" looking kittens since the point gene is recessive and requires both parents to at least carry that gene (which, who knows, sparrow might). If you do get any it will likely only be one that looks like the daddy.

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Ooo, alright! I did try reading up on cat-genetics but it sounds really confusing! [emoji]128562[/emoji]

I also think that Butty's colour is taken as just solid black, even if his fur is brown? I didn't understand that too much lmao, but I think that means we might have some calico's as well! :-)

Willowy said:

If she carries the pointed gene, half the kittens will be pointed. If she doesn't, none will.

If she's red under the white (did she have any spotting as a kitten? If so, that's what color she carries), her female kittens will be torties/calicos, and the males will be red. If she carries dark coloring, all the kittens will be dark. That is, if they aren't white. At least some of them will be white, not sure of the percentages.

Do you know what color Sparrow's mom was?

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Oooh alright! I think the chances of her having the pointed gene are very slim though, both of her parents were pure white, so I don't know how some of her littermates were ginger!

And I'm unsure if she had any spotting, sorry! And what do you mean by dark colouring?

With cats, genetically, they're either red or they're "black". Black can mean brown or blue tabby or solid black or blue or tuxedo. . .anything not red. So I don't want to say "black" because most people think solid black, so "dark" it is :tongue2:.

Anyway, white "covers" their genetic color, so you don't usually know what color a white cat is until they have kittens, unless they showed some spots.

This is how she could have non-white littermates: dominant white=W, not white=w, they get one gene from each parent. If a cat gets even one W gene, they will be visibly white. If either parent inherited WW, all the kittens would be white (because all they could pass on is W) so both of her parents must have been Ww. In a litter like that, statistically, 25% of the kittens would get WW, 50% would get Ww, and 25% would get ww and therefore not be white. Phew! I think that might be understandable, lol. If she is the kitten that got WW, all of her kittens will be white, if she got Ww she could pass either one on so she could have non-white kittens. Of course that's statistics and not every litter will have a perfect percentage mix, but in general.

But even if she gives birth to all white kittens, you might not know for a few weeks because pointed kittens are also born white! So it's kind of a time-release surprise .

Do you know if her ginger littermates were male or female?

Willowy said:

With cats, genetically, they're either red or they're "black". Black can mean brown or blue tabby or solid black or blue or tuxedo. . .anything not red. So I don't want to say "black" because most people think solid black, so "dark" it is

.

Anyway, white "covers" their genetic color, so you don't usually know what color a white cat is until they have kittens, unless they showed some spots.

This is how she could have non-white littermates: dominant white=W, not white=w, they get one gene from each parent. If a cat gets even one W gene, they will be visibly white. If either parent inherited WW, all the kittens would be white (because all they could pass on is W) so both of her parents must have been Ww. In a litter like that, statistically, 25% of the kittens would get WW, 50% would get Ww, and 25% would get ww and therefore not be white. Phew! I think that might be understandable, lol. If she is the kitten that got WW, all of her kittens will be white, if she got Ww she could pass either one on so she could have non-white kittens. Of course that's statistics and not every litter will have a perfect percentage mix, but in general.

But even if she gives birth to all white kittens, you might not know for a few weeks because pointed kittens are also born white! So it's kind of a time-release surprise

.

Do you know if her ginger littermates were male or female?

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Ooooh cool, I didn't know that! Would Butty be a red though, or a black? Seeing as he's a seal point? Or do siamese's have different genetics for their coat colour? I know there's a pointed and non-pointed gene, with the non-pointed being dominant?

And the ginger litter-mates were all male! :-) Though there were a few white male litter-mates too!

Also, the babies can REALLY be felt when  you stroke her, sometimes they're like very hard rocks (about the size of my palm!) and sometimes very soft and 'moveable'. Sometimes they kick, sometimes they don't!

However, there's a slight problem because I found a flea on one of my cats (the smallest, a rescue kitten). I washed Indie, Button and Saru (the kitten) and THANKFULLY didn't find any more than two fleas altogether! I didn't wash Sparrow though, because she's so far along her pregnancy (I'm guessing only 2 weeks are left!), but I did spray some vinegar under her armpits, around her neck and at the base of her tail because I know that's where fleas like to live. Is there anything else I can do or? Thankfully I check them for pests every day so I was able to quickly nip them in the bud!

Seal point cats are genetically black.

I'm not sure what kind of flea meds are available to you. Advantage is safe to use with pregnant or nursing cats. If you can't get it, flea combing is about all you can do.

I suspect she has less than 2 weeks left. Usually you begin to be able to feel the babies 2 weeks before birth. So if you've been able to feel them for awhile she doesn't have very long left!

Aww, if all the red littermates were male, there's no way to know about Sparrow. That just means that their mother was either red or tortie, doesn't say anything about their dad. She can only be red if their dad was red, and their mom was red or tortie and she got the red gene. You'll just have to wait and see!

Cool! His dad was a cream tabby, though, so would that mean he's got a red and a black gene in him? I really hope we get some calicos!

Advantage is VERY expensive over here, and mum and dad are iffy about using chemicals on them. The vinegar seems to be working, and the flea's are dropping off (so far only 2 have dropped off, but I'm sure there's no more!) I also did a bit of research and found a homeopathic remedy that appears to work for many people, and I'll give that a try if I find anymore! Also, if she still has them when she gives the babies, when would it be safe to bath her?

Another thing, is it normal for her to eat in tiny amounts every few hours? She's still eating ALOT more than what she normally does but only in tiny tiny portions... I was wondering if it's because her stomach is squashed together or something?

Another thing, KMR isn't available over here, so is there anything I can give instead? Would buffalo's milk, yoghurt with an egg-yolk be alright, or do I need to get something else?

And for the umbilical cord stumps, would it be safe to put some diluted piodine on the tips to prevent infection?

Here's some pictures of Sparrow that I took today, in the first pic Butty's giving her a bath!! [emoji]128522[/emoji][emoji]128525[/emoji]

Don't put anything on the stumps, they will dry up and fall off eventually. Anything applied is potentially poisonous to newborns. Eating a LOT is normal, a pregnant/nursing mother uses a lot of energy and reserves, She will get skinny no matter how much she eats and now is a time to give her kitten food, or something high in calories and nutrition.  I don't know about buffalo milk, but I know goats milk is great, egg yolk is good too. Yogurt wouldn't hurt either. She is absolutely gorgeous too, all the luck and keep us posted! PS, I'm betting on three kittens, looking at how big she is. When My cat had 7, she was twice that size, she looked like a basketball with legs!

Di and Bob said:

 
Don't put anything on the stumps, they will dry up and fall off eventually. Anything applied is potentially poisonous to newborns. Eating a LOT is normal, a pregnant/nursing mother uses a lot of energy and reserves, She will get skinny no matter how much she eats and now is a time to give her kitten food, or something high in calories and nutrition.  I don't know about buffalo milk, but I know goats milk is great, egg yolk is good too. Yogurt wouldn't hurt either. She is absolutely gorgeous too, all the luck and keep us posted! PS, I'm betting on three kittens, looking at how big she is. When My cat had 7, she was twice that size, she looked like a basketball with legs!

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Oooh okay, I'll leave them alone then! :-)

I'll see if she'll eat an egg-yolk today, she's VERY picky though, but hopefully she won't put up much of a fuss. She loves yoghurt too! I give her a spoonful every so often :-)

And she is, isn't she? I love her little round ears, and her personality is AMAZING! I was thinking 3 too, I can only ever feel three 'bump's at a time, and they're HUGE now! I really hope it is only three, it'll be nice and easy on her and hopefully I won't need to supplement! :-)

Haha awww, when did she have them? Post some pictures if you want, I have such BIG kitten-fever atm! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Another thing, I forgot to mention it earlier, but Sparrow's poop's used to be VERY dark, almost black. But they improved a while ago and are a lovely golden-brown now! [emoji]128150[/emoji]
She also has NO worms, though one of the others has got them, probably from eating a flea when they had them :-( I'm going to worm him either today or tomorrow. Tapeworms aren't transferred from cat-to-cat are they? I think they're only transferable through fleas... but I just want to be sure!
Also, another questions just crossed my mind... would tapeworms be able to transfer to the kittens in he womb? I tried googling about it but found nothing that made sense!
And how long after the birth can I worm Mum and the babies, just for a precaution :-)

The tapeworm is from ingesting a flea. The tapeworms do not transfer from mom to kitten, or cat to cat.

Other worms, such as round, ring, and hook, can transfer through shedding, the stool, and mom's milk.

Kittens, unless exhibiting symptoms, are not wormed until 6-8 weeks old. Some worm preparations are safe for pregnant and lactating moms.

sarthur2 said:

The tapeworm is from ingesting a flea. The tapeworms do not transfer from mom to kitten, or cat to cat.

Other worms, such as round, ring, and hook, can transfer through shedding, the stool, and mom's milk.

Kittens, unless exhibiting symptoms, are not wormed until 6-8 weeks old. Some worm preparations are safe for pregnant and lactating moms.

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Thanks for clearing that up! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Okay, I'll keep an eye on them for those worms! Do you know how they get in the cat in the first place?

Oh okay, I'll be keeping them until they're 12 weeks old so I'll fit in a worming session at about 8-10 weeks just to be safe!

Just thought I'd pop in to say that she's started milking! :'-)

Okay, so I've started looking around for supplies etc. and have read that you can use unsweetened condensed milk in a kitten formula - but I can only seem to find sweetened condensed milk! Would this be a problem or is it a huge MUST for it to be non-sweetened? :-(

It's called evaporated milk, not condensed. Usually in the baking section, or with other shelf-stable milk products (not sure how the grocery stores are arranged over there). PET and Carnation are common brands. Definitely don't use sweetened condensed milk! That's basically candy.