All About Cat Pregnancy and Delivery of Kittens

mavencat

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Two stray kittens adopted us about 4 months ago. The one I thought was female sure is, she is now pregnant! Unfortunely, she is not a friendly cat. She has let me just brush her with my fingertips a couple of times. Both of these little ones are outside cats. We already have two indoor cats and a dog. My question is, about how many kittens can she produce in a litter? I am very worried, only because she does not let us touch her. I intend to make a couple of nesting beds for her in the garage (that is where they hide). But when the kittens come, I will need to adopt them out. At what point can I touch the kittens, without mommy getting upset and possibly hurting them. Also, when can I put them up for adoption?

Thank you soooooooooooo much!!!!
 

cjandbilly

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Originally Posted by mavencat

Two stray kittens adopted us about 4 months ago. The one I thought was female sure is, she is now pregnant! Unfortunely, she is not a friendly cat. She has let me just brush her with my fingertips a couple of times. Both of these little ones are outside cats. We already have two indoor cats and a dog. My question is, about how many kittens can she produce in a litter? I am very worried, only because she does not let us touch her. I intend to make a couple of nesting beds for her in the garage (that is where they hide). But when the kittens come, I will need to adopt them out. At what point can I touch the kittens, without mommy getting upset and possibly hurting them. Also, when can I put them up for adoption?

Thank you soooooooooooo much!!!!
Hey, and welcome to TCS! How wonderful of you to take in these kittys! Perhaps you can try to befriend momma before the kittys are born. That would be best. She can produce anywhere from 1 to 7 kittens. 7 is the largest litter I've seen. As for the age to adopt them out, though many people here say to wait until they are about 12 weeks old, I normally go when they are 7 to 8 weeks old. However, if you have a "special needs" kitty, like one who is premature or needing special attention, you should wait a while before adopting them out.
 

gayef

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You have a unique set of issues here, but let's look at the primary one. You have a pregnant cat that, for the most part, won't let you touch her. Things are going to be a little harder for you than with most, but if you are willing to take on the challenge, I think we can work out some sort of equitable compromise between you and your little kitty girl.

You didn't mention how old the female was, but from what you posted, I gather she is less than a year old. You have several options here for the female, but I would suggest that as your first course of action, you get the other one altered right now. As for the girl, if you can lure her into a carrier, you can take her off to your nearest vet or spay clinic and have her spayed immediately or you can allow her to deliver the kittens and then spay her immediately afterwards. Or, and this might not be something you are willing to do, but it is a reasonable alternative for you - you can contact your nearest cat rescue or no-kill shelter and offer to foster this cat in your home if someone who is experienced with semi-feral queens can come by to check on her and assist you. And as an added benefit, they might also be willing to help you place the kittens once they are old enough, usually between 10 to 12 weeks.

Litter size can vary - expect anywhere from 1 to 8 babies. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful with this, but there are a lot of factors involved in determining how many kittens she has and unless you can get her to a vet to be examined, there really is no way to tell until she has them.

As for touching the kittens, you are going to have to be extremely careful with this. Momma cats get very protective of their little ones and if this girl doesn't even let you touch her, then the chances are extremely high that she won't let you touch her babies either. There are many experienced feral cat handlers here on TCS. I might suggest that you check out the Feral and Stray Forum here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9

I feel certain there are people there who can help you to learn how to socialize this girl and her babies.

Hope this helps,

Gaye
 

hissy

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Bottom line, if this is a stray and she doesn't trust you, touching her kittens will get you attacked or bit. You won't even know it until after she strikes that she got you. So your first order of business is to establish trust with this momcat. You do this by NO touching her, do not make direct eye contact with her, and if you happen to meet her eyes, you need to blink several times slowly so she will not consider you a threat. You want to start feeding her on a schedule and you stick to that schedule. You put up a routine for her that she can count on, her food, her water always brought to her in the same bowls, always put in the same place. She has to know she can count on you. Only then will she begin to trust you. You talk to her all the time, talk softly, give her a weather report, tell her about your day, don't talk at her- meaning don't turn your head to her direction, just talk to the air, so she can get used to your voice. Take a pair of old sneakers and a old ratty tee shirt. Put the shirt on and the sneakers minus socks, and go for a run, a bike ride, a walk, you want to get these items really smelly with your scent. Once you have them wringing wet with your scent, leave the shirt and one shoe in the garage and feed her tasty treats on top of the shirt, and inside the shoe. This gets her acquainted with your smell and nice things.

How big her litter will be is hard to say. Since females are mated with repeatedly, she could have two even three litters inside of her, that gives you the chance of seeing from 2-12 kittens. Honestly the best thing would be to trap her and get her spayed. With uncertain parentage, you have no way of knowing if the male(s) passed something onto this mom that will pass to the kittens. If you trap her, the vet can sedate her, and get her in to be spayed.

If you just can't get her spayed than ideally you should start handling the kittens at 2 weeks old. If she was a domestic cat, you could handle them right away, but feral moms are very protective of their young, and again if she does NOT trust you, you will get attacked.

Good luck
 
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mavencat

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Originally Posted by CJandBilly

Hey, and welcome to TCS! How wonderful of you to take in these kittys! Perhaps you can try to befriend momma before the kittys are born. That would be best. She can produce anywhere from 1 to 7 kittens. 7 is the largest litter I've seen. As for the age to adopt them out, though many people here say to wait until they are about 12 weeks old, I normally go when they are 7 to 8 weeks old. However, if you have a "special needs" kitty, like one who is premature or needing special attention, you should wait a while before adopting them out.
Thank you so much for your quick response!!!! I think I would like to wait, to adopt them out. Just so mommy doesnt get mad. I would like to try and however maybe adopt mommy and one or two of her babies to one owner? We have so many stray cats around here it's sad. These two (I named them Mickey and Minnie) are not the only ones we have taken under our wing. We have a very visious stray, all black with a burgundy stripe starting from the middle of her ears to the end of her tail. She (named red) is very beautiful but extremely mean! and we also have another black cat (precious) who is just a love muffin. I wish I could bring them all inside. But my cat (maven) who I have had since he was 4 weeks old (was born 2/18/1997). Might think I am nuts, plus my roommate's cat if fresh, and her dog is just a beast.
 
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