pregnant kitty help

My 9 month old tabby girl Angelina is pregnant.

Should I be limiting her food at all? i fill her bowl twice a day but it always seems empty in minutes.

Also, she's still got the kitten playfulness in her. Should i not let her jump around as much? She bounces off the walls and does flips and leaps into the air and sometimes when she tries to jump onto high stuff, she misses and falls. Could this hurt the kittens?

Definately don't deny her food, she will need to keep her strength up for when the kittens come - Give your vet a call and ask them what food they think will be best for a pregnant cat.

As for the jumping around, I'm not really sure but I'm sure she most likely wouldn't do anything to hurt the babies.

How did she become pregnant? She is very young to be having kittens. Make sure that you get her spayed as soon as she has weaned the kittens.

Good luck!

Pregnant and playful and lively - she needs all nourishment she can get. Possibly you should swich from standard food to high qualitative kitten food already now - so she will eat less.

Yes, falling may be dangerous for the smalls in her. Therefore one should always be careful with the pregnants - especielly with late pregnants. But to stop her playfullness isnt easy either... And not good either.
I would say: let her play - and God help her.

The vet recommend this prescrip diet which came in teensy 1lb bags and was way too expensive so I declined. She's on Purina Kitten Chow.

How do I not deny her food? I'm not home during the day to fill the dish more often and i'm afraid if I leave a whole lot of food out, she'll eat it all at once and get sick.

I found her outside a few weeks ago, so either she was already pregnant or she snuck out and back in on my watch. The vet wouldn't spay her until she was at least one year and had all these shots and boosters, we haven't even gotten the appointment for that yet because the vet is so busy and I rarely have days off from work. I had to squeeze in the very last appointment of the day just to see if she was pregnant, and even then, I was only there for a few minutes, and all he said was yes, she's pregnant, and he pointed out some special pregnancy diet which i declined. The vet also does not just take phone calls, he requires you to bring the animal in for everything.

As for keeping her from playing..I can lock her in the bathroom at best. Except theres the tub and sink and tile floor, hard surfaces to hit if she jumps and falls the wrong way.

Oh gosh, don't lock her in the bathroom!! She should be OK - she sounds like she is still a baby herself. You do not sound as if you are a breeder since if you were, you would have a mentor who could assist you with this. Is there any way you can have her spayed now? That might be less expesnive than having to are for her babies. You say you cannot afford good food - which to be frank, she really needs. Kitten Chow is just grocery store stuff, not bad but not the best either. She absolutely needs excellent food to help her have healthy kittens and if you are not prepared to help her with that, you are not committed to healthy kittens!! If she is not too far along, I would ask your vet about having her spayed asap. She will never miss kittens that were never born. GFeral cat organizations do this all the time.

And unless she is a purebred cat who has won championships or one with a podigree and meets the breed standards to be a breeder (and some cat orgs just believe the latter), you should not be breeding her at all!! Espsecially when you are dealing with a young cat that is barely out of kittenhood herself, the solution here may be to spay her asap!!

How can you afford to feed kittens if you cannot pay for the food the vet recommended. Not to mention the vet visits. And she is so young she may need a C section. How will you afford that? Does she have all her vaccinations so she can pass those immunities on to her babies before they have their vaccinations at the proper time (1st at 6 weeks).?

There is more ino at www.kitten-rescue.com
and www.kittenrescue.org

Ok, your vet is a fool!!!! You can get cats spayed at 4 months!!!

I would find another vet asap and as soon as she has weaned those kittens - Get her spayed! It is essential because otherwise she'll be pregnant again before you know it!

Feed her as much as you can while you are around and fill the bowl just before you leave.

Well Done on taking her in and looking after her!!!

I second Jane Vernons advice: try to find another vet. Spaying at 1 year?? Good advice for pedigree show cats, but not for anyone else! Is he at least cheap when you come to see him? Or does he take the usual payment every time?
Dont quarrel with the first vet - if you would need him - but try to find some else who has more time and is more modern.
And yes. It is possible to spay and abort at the same time.
And no, dont lock her in the bathroom. Let her play if she wants - even if it isnt riskfree.
As for food: there is surely possibilities for you to make some of hers food yourself as a extra nourishment, it dont need to be expensive.

Ok if I can interject here. 9 months is not to young for a cat to have kittens. No, it is not advisable to let young cats have kittens, but it happens. It is rare that c-sections need to be performed unless the cat is really small or having some sort of problem during the birthing.

It would be nice if only ethical breeders allowed their cats to be pregnant, but this is the real world, and cats in heat are sneaky and determined. She wanted out, and she found a way.

Some people find it a rather unpleasant task to ask a vet to spay a pregnant cat. It is a personal choice, one I make more than I would like to, but again, it is a personal choice.

I would suggest you find another vet. Cats can be spayed quite early these days. Mine won't spay till the cat is 6 months old, but there are vets that spay a lot earlier. If mine told me that he wouldn't see my females till they were a year old, I would find another vet rather quickly.

Your cat should be fine being active. You can set up an automatic feeder for her- you can buy one at any good pet supply store. Feeding her kitten chow is a good thing to do- if you can, buy IAMS kitten food and feed her in small amounts during the day and at night- which is why I recommend the automatic feeders.

I think once you leave food out all day, you will find that she doesn't overeat at one feeding. Currently she is VERY HUNGRY due to the kittens, and having been a stray, I'm sure she missed some meals. Once she realizes she can have all she wants, she will regulate herself.

Purina kitten chow is not the highest quality food available, but that is was Festus' Momma had after I took her in, and what Festus ate for the most part for the first 6 months, and she is healthy. Raw food diets are supposed to be best, but I don't have the time for that. I do give healthy table scraps-meats at times. However, cats should not have onion or garlic, so that cuts out a lot of what I cook!

I think she would be more likely of hurting herself if you try to lock her in a room than if you let her run free. Do not let her outside, though. (Sounds like you already try to keep her in.) After the babies are born, she can get pregnant again very quickly. My current foster kitty had 3 litters within 6 months!!! Now that she is in the care of a rescue organization, she has been spayed, and her two kittens that her original owner kept are also spayed.


Best wishes to you with this girl. I agree with Hissy, you need a new vet!

I would only confine her to a room if she was still getting outside. One thing you definately will want to consider is confining her when she gets closer to the date of delivery (place her food, water, litter and birthing box in one room so she has easy access to it).

Here is a great article on what to expect:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46743

The problem with feeding her kitten chow is the primary ingredient isn't protein..which may account for why she is eating so much of it. You can find reasonable kitten foods that have chicken, beef, lamb as the first ingredient (do not be fooled by chicken by product..that isn't what you want as a first ingredient). If you have a petstore close by check the higher grade brands (as opposed to kitten chow) such as Eukaneba, IAMs, Royal Canin etc. Some of them are quite reasonable but will provide your girl with more protein. Also....you may want to provide her a can of wet food to suppliment the dry food (again...look for chicken, lamb, beef etc. as the first ingredient).

I would also check with other vets...if price is an issue...then you can contact a low cost clinic in your state. Go here:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html#pa

and find the clinics closest to you. You can schedule her spay appt. for when the kittens are weaned around 6 to 8 weeks...but make sure you keep her strictly indoors until she is spayed or she will go back into heat again and may become pregnant again.

Thank you for rescuing this stray cat.

Katie

Just because you dont feed cats the most expensive food available does not mean you can't afford to rescue and care for them, or dont want to help them. Anyone who takes in a stray, and a pregnant one at that, and takes them to the vet, is obviously going to be a good guardian for them. And not everyone feels good about aborting kittens. People come to this board looking for help, not to br berated or criticized.

If you know 4 sure she is prego you can go ahead and switch her to a kitten food diet that way everyone gets plenty of nutrients and dont starve her let her eat plenty just not too extreme. good luck

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

Oh gosh, don't lock her in the bathroom!! She should be OK - she sounds like she is still a baby herself. You do not sound as if you are a breeder since if you were, you would have a mentor who could assist you with this. Is there any way you can have her spayed now? That might be less expesnive than having to are for her babies. You say you cannot afford good food - which to be frank, she really needs. Kitten Chow is just grocery store stuff, not bad but not the best either. She absolutely needs excellent food to help her have healthy kittens and if you are not prepared to help her with that, you are not committed to healthy kittens!! If she is not too far along, I would ask your vet about having her spayed asap. She will never miss kittens that were never born. GFeral cat organizations do this all the time.

And unless she is a purebred cat who has won championships or one with a podigree and meets the breed standards to be a breeder (and some cat orgs just believe the latter), you should not be breeding her at all!! Espsecially when you are dealing with a young cat that is barely out of kittenhood herself, the solution here may be to spay her asap!!

How can you afford to feed kittens if you cannot pay for the food the vet recommended. Not to mention the vet visits. And she is so young she may need a C section. How will you afford that? Does she have all her vaccinations so she can pass those immunities on to her babies before they have their vaccinations at the proper time (1st at 6 weeks).?

There is more ino at www.kitten-rescue.com
and www.kittenrescue.org

Click to expand...

Why so mean cyberkitten???? Just because she couldnt afford the 1lb bag of foo foo stuff the vet tried to sell her doesnt mean she is poor. She sounds like a very good mommy to me being so concerned about the mommy cat. I once took in a pregnant feral in the dead of winter I was unemployed at the time and all I could afford was the "store junk" they were just fine every single kitten made it through kittenhood and found great homes so I am sorry i totally disagree with you on this one

After reading some of the responses in this thread (and YOU know who you are) I feel it is time to once again remind everyone of the purpose of this forum:

"... in the interest of reality and to promote our primary mission of cat welfare, the focus of this forum is to assist those who may find themselves having to care for a pregnant cat NO MATTER WHY OR HOW THE CAT CAME TO BE PREGNANT or to hand-raise kittens.

In that light, the rule is that NO ONE should be judgmental of anyone posting a request for assistance - please do not automatically cite all the good reasons why a cat should be spayed or neutered. This only serves to alienate those who might otherwise be helped here and perhaps forever turn them off from seeking our help - how can we reach people who won't come to our Forums for fear of being jumped on? Again, the FOCUS of this Forum is to assist those who, for WHATEVER reason, may find themselves the primary caregiver to a pregnant cat or orphaned kittens. It is NOT to focus of this Forum to judge anyone requesting assistance. In order to reach as many people as we can with the message of responsible cat care, we must always always always remember to treat everyone here with kindness, consideration and respect. We want to make this a safe, comfortable place for everyone, regardless of their circumstances, to ask questions and seek assistance here."

So please, everyone remember that we are here to HELP, not judge.

Thank you.

Your Appreciative Forum Moderator,

~gf~

I have to agree with Gaye that we need to be sensitive in our comments. Many people come here seeking help and we cannot presume that it is their cat or their responsibility that the cat became pregnant....even if it is, many people are opposed to spaying a pregnant cat and we must respect that and help them to be responsible owners during the pregnancy and delivery so that the cat and kittens can be safely spayed/neutered and placed into appropriate homes at the right time. Giving advice on keeping the cat indoors during the pregnancy and offering them a low cost clinic option for when it is the right time is a good way to help.

Katie

Originally Posted by gayef

After reading some of the responses in this thread (and YOU know who you are) I feel it is time to once again remind everyone of the purpose of this forum:

"... in the interest of reality and to promote our primary mission of cat welfare, the focus of this forum is to assist those who may find themselves having to care for a pregnant cat NO MATTER WHY OR HOW THE CAT CAME TO BE PREGNANT or to hand-raise kittens.

In that light, the rule is that NO ONE should be judgmental of anyone posting a request for assistance - please do not automatically cite all the good reasons why a cat should be spayed or neutered. This only serves to alienate those who might otherwise be helped here and perhaps forever turn them off from seeking our help - how can we reach people who won't come to our Forums for fear of being jumped on? Again, the FOCUS of this Forum is to assist those who, for WHATEVER reason, may find themselves the primary caregiver to a pregnant cat or orphaned kittens. It is NOT to focus of this Forum to judge anyone requesting assistance. In order to reach as many people as we can with the message of responsible cat care, we must always always always remember to treat everyone here with kindness, consideration and respect. We want to make this a safe, comfortable place for everyone, regardless of their circumstances, to ask questions and seek assistance here."

So please, everyone remember that we are here to HELP, not judge.

Thank you.

Your Appreciative Forum Moderator,

~gf~

Click to expand...

thank you. i was seriously beginning to wonder if anyone would EVER say anything like this. Reading responses where the person just skimmed the first sentence or two and wrote a judgemental paragraph which answered none of the questions the person wrote about makes ME want to quit coming here.

We are essentially educating. If a 5 year old gets 6 as an answer to 2+2, you don't grind his face in it and berate him or call him a moron, so why do it to someone older. People have different levels of knowledge on animal care.

It is not as if we were all born with an infinite knowledge of cats, a great job, and the best, most knowledgeable vet within walking distance, and anyone not following the pre-known guidelines of care is a negligent cat-hater. In my opinion, if they're taking the time to ask for help at all, and willing to try the suggestions of other, more experienced people, they're at least a little caring of their animals' welfare.

We demand respect for our animal companions, why not for our fellow humans?

I'm glad this was able to be raised! I was trying to say something similar but I couldn't get my post through (must be because of the server change!).

Unfortunately cats get pregnant by mistake sometimes and as we all know not everyone has the means to pay for the "best" care - But we do what we can with what we have - What we know for sure is that this pregnant cat will receive lots of love and so will her kittens!

Thank you for all the comments!

No, I am absolutely not a breeder. In fact, this is my first cat beyond the strays I fed as a child. This was not planned at all. I found her on my doorstep around the beginning of October, and the neighbors reported seeing her being left by people on the side of the road, so I took her in and decided to keep her.

I switched her to IAMS today, but she hasn't touched it yet. As far as the vet food, it was $11.99 for a 1lb bag and he suggested I would be going through 3-5 bags a week. I'm sorry, that is just too much money when I have the vet visits, spaying, shots and kittens to consider. I'm not destitute, but i'm not Donald Trump either.

The vet -isn't- the best, I agree. He was an exotics and small animal vet up until about 3 years ago, when he suddenly started accepting cats, dogs, and ferrets. I believe it was either for money or because of pressureSadly, we only have two nearby vets and the one just had a fire and will be closed for the next 2-3 months. This one is my only option, beyond the emergency vet who charges entirely too much for me to take her for routine things, if they even do routine things.

I'll let her be active then. maybe i'll just take some of the knick knacks down off the high shelves and see if that deters her from going up there since she seems to like to knock them over. I wasn't planning to lock her in the bathroom, I just suggested that if she wasn't supposed to be jumping, that is the only room where there's nothing to jump on.

She will be spayed asap. I'll research spaying while pregnant and see if the vet will do it. The plan WAS to get her spayed originally, but either she got out and back in without my noticing, or she was already pregnant. She does stay strictly indoors now and I've been checking around the house trying to see if i can find where she could get out.

Thanks.

How far along is she? I'm not sure how safe it is to abort the kittens if she is quite far along.

But of course, totally up to you! Hope everything goes well for you!

Originally Posted by jane_vernon

How far along is she? I'm not sure how safe it is to abort the kittens if she is quite far along.

But of course, totally up to you! Hope everything goes well for you!

Click to expand...

Jane...at the feral cat clinic I volunteer at every pregnant cat is spayed....there are definately risks associated with spaying a cat that is further along...but we've had many pregnant cats spayed that pulled through the surgery ok. Of course....I want to clarify that the cats we work with are ferals and are returned outdoors which is why the pregnant ones are spayed. In this case, the vet will determine if this cat can safely be spayed.

Katie