Another "when" question!

A little background first:

My husband was given a pregnant cat. At one of the jobs he was working at he overheard the people talking about dumping this cat because she is pregnant. The cat Saffy, is 2 years old, has never had a litter before and is the sweetest thing you would ever want to meet. Afraid that they would dump her, my husband asked if he could have her and they said yes. The people said that it would be her first litter and she had been living outside for the past 3 months, so no idea when she got pregnant.

When my husband brought her home, her belly was a little rounded and her nipples were showing and pink. That was 5 almost 6 weeks ago. For the last week, I have been able to see the kittens rolling around in her belly from across the room. We have put her in an interior room of the house all set up with everything she needs. We will be keeping her and one of the kittens and getting them "fixed" as soon as it is healthy. (We are also planning on spaying/nuetering all the other kittens before giving them to new owners also.)

I suppose my question is, does anyone have any guesstimates of how much longer we have? I am a stay at home mom, but I want to make sure I am right here when she delivers in case of any problems. We already love her so much, it would break my heart for anything to happen to her.

Thank you all so much! And what a great site!

The gestation period for a cat is approximately 63-64 days so if you have had her for 6 weeks, that could mean she is close to delivering. You migh ttake her temperature (A Queen's temp drops below 100F just prior to delivery - about 24 hours which gives you some time to prepare. But you will notice her nesting as well - looking for a place to give birth.

Here are some good web sites that explains this much better than i can:

http://www.pawsonline.info/felinepregnancy.htm
http://www.cat-pregnancy-report.com/
http://www.pandecats.com/s_birthing.shtml

Thank you for taking in this kitty and especially for having her spayed after the pregnancy!

Sounds like she's close to giving birth. Are you feeding her a high quality kitten food? She needs the extra protein in the kitten formula, in case you are not aware.

My cat didn't do any of the things she was meant to, such as stop eating and sleeping.

Good luck with the babies, and good for you for taking in this poor kitty.

Thank you for all your responses!

We put her on kitten food as soon as we got her. We also put her in an interior room with litter box, food, water, and several places to choose from with a variety of nesting materials. She seems to prefer wherver our feet are at! LOL

As I was petting her this evening, one of her nipples has milk coming out of it?!? Maybe she is very close indeed.

I will definately keep you all posted as I am sure I will have a ton of questions. In the mean time I have been reading everything I can find!

Thank you again....

I would recommend keeping her in an interior room until she has weaned her kittens and you have had her spayed. Cats can go back into heat soon after giving birth...if you need a list of low cost spay clinics in your state, here is a list. You can have her spayed when the kittens are around 6 weeks of age:

MASSACHUSETTS
Animal Advocates
North Dartmouth, MA
508-991-7727
Low cost spay/neuter clinic.
Animal Rescue League of Boston
508-255-1030
877-590-SPAY toll free
617-426-9170
Various programs offered in Boston, Brewster, Salem, and Dedham areas. They also have a mobile clinic that visits many neighborhoods, and they also accept a limited number of feral cats.

Neponset Valley Humane Society
Norwood/Mansfield, MA
508-261-9924
Web: www.nvhumanesociety.org

A Helping Paw Inc
Buzzards Bay MA
508-743-8406

Northeast Animal Shelter
204 Highland Avenue
Salem, MA 01970
978-745-9888


Alliance for Animals
232 Silver Street
South Boston, MA 02127
617-268-7800 clinic
Low cost spay/neuter and vaccinations for pets and ferals. Call for information.

Massachusetts SPCA/Angell Memorial Hospital
SNAP (Spay Neuter Assistance Program)
Boston MA
617-522-7282
617-541-5007 for info
Assistance for pets of low income people at participating area vets.

Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society
91 Bridge Road
Salisbury, MA
462-0760
Free spay/neuter for ferals.

Northeast Animal Shelter
204 Highland Avenue
Salem, MA 01970
978-745-9888


Second Chance Fund for Animal Welfare Inc
Bolton MA (services located at Clinton MA)
978-779-8287

Originally Posted by TNR1

I would recommend keeping her in an interior room until she has weaned her kittens and you have had her spayed. Cats can go back into heat soon after giving birth...if you need a list of low cost spay clinics in your state, here is a list. You can have her spayed when the kittens are around 6 weeks of age:

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I appreciate that. As I said earlier, we are keeping her in an interior room and plan on having her and all the kittens spayed/nuetered asap. We will be using our regular vet though so I will know exactly who is doing it! I really appreciate you posting the links for the low cost places though.

Originally Posted by Razzle

I appreciate that. As I said earlier, we are keeping her in an interior room and plan on having her and all the kittens spayed/nuetered asap. We will be using our regular vet though so I will know exactly who is doing it! I really appreciate you posting the links for the low cost places though.

Click to expand...

No problem at all...good luck with everything. Glad to read that you are having mom and all the babies fixed before they go into homes.

Katie