question on possible preg. cat

Ok long story short we have 4 cats. all of them fixed except for the youngest (she is about 2) we just haven't had the spare cash to have her fixed yet. They are all indoor cats. Well she went into heat just over a week ago and about 2 days into the heat my 3 yr old daughter let her out and she was gone for 6 days (just showed up tonight and has been gone since last Tue morning! what a horrible week it has been). But anyways I am going to assume since she was in heat that she is pregnant.

I used to breed and raise cats when I was younger so know that they are preg. about 60-67 days and all that.

BUT my problem comes in on when she is close to delivering. My cats have run of the upstairs and the basement. 1/2 our basement is done up as a livingroom/game room/computer room. BUT the other 1/2 is still storage stuff and there are boxes of clothes and bins etc. so NOT safe over there for a cat to have kittens.......

We have no spare rooms to lock her in and can't block off that side of the basement. My oldest childs room is always closed off but she has birds in there, then the younger girls room I can't have her in there as they are 3 and 15 mo. so NOT a place for kittens. And I have a waterbed in my room (so can't have a cat in there).

I can borrow a HUGE metal dog crate and make it all nice and comfy for her and put a litter box etc in there but am worried about stressing her by locking her in there. But is that the safest thing to do IF she really is preg????


What do you suggest? I am just worried she will find some little nook and crany of the storage side of the basement and we won't be able to check on her and the kittens.........

I still won't know if she is preg. for a while since she would only be a few days to 6 days tops but like to plan ahead just in case.


And YES no matter what she WILL be fixed after this and get a collar with a tag on it in case she ever gets out again! That was a HORRIBLE week!

Just a thought, but if your girl is this early in her pregnancy, then you can still go ahead and spay her. Most vets won't perform the surgery later on but when it is still quite early, many will.

A large dog crate is good and I encourage using one however, I would wait to introduce your girl to it until she is about a week to 10 days away from delivery. Set it up in a place that is low-traffic and away from stressful noise, activity or other scary stuff and outfit it with cozy, warm blankets and soft nesting materials. Keep the door open and let her explore it at will but don't close her in at all. Just let her explore it on her own. When the time comes for her to deliver, she may just think it is a great place and will be happy to present her babies there. Afterwards, if you need to confine her, you can.

A large dog crate is great.

I know I could have her spayed now but I am silly and if she is pregnant then I can't see doing that to baby kitties.......... IK there are so many out there but I will find GREAT homes for the babies if there are any. so will just wait it out.

we would put the crate in the basment where the younger kids aren't allowed to go (it isn't finished just set up for the "adults". heheee (for now till we finish it). and it is away from the main traffic of the house and the litter box and their food etc is down here and away from teh kids and dogs. heehee. (yes we have 2 dogs too).

I was afraid if I didn't lock her in close to delivery she would decide to go to the other side of the basement.......... hmmmmmmmmm that is where the problem comes in.........

There are a lot of us who wouldn't feel right spaying a pregnant cat, however, it is an individual decision and one that not everyone can or will make. I just thought to give you an option which you may not have considered.

I am sort of leary of locking her in the crate until the babies are actually born, but I do see your dilemma. Is there any way you can set some kind of barrier up to restrict her access to the other side of the basement? Also, is the basement nice and warm? She will try to move her babies to whatever place she thinks is suitable, appropriate and safe. If it is drafty or cool, that wouldn't be the best place. Why not put them in your bedroom where you can keep an eye on them.

By the way, we have had waterbeds for years (still do) and only had to replace one mattress due to cat damage in 20 years and that was because I got negligent and didn't pay attention to claw clipping the way I should. If you keep a nice, thick mattress pad on the bed, along with the thickness of the sheets, blankets and doona, I wouldn't worry about damage.

gayef----- I would love to have her in my room when the time comes. not sure my hubby would go for that though. he is nice to my cats and they love him but he isn't too fond of them. heheee. funny since they all snuggle with him when he is watching tv.


Also if I get my butt in gear maybe I can have that side of the basement cleared out enough (need to sell, give away, and toss the clothes that don't fit my kids anymore. ) before then. We still have a couple mo so maybe this will motivate us since that side will be our new bedroom once we get moving. heheeee.

The basement isn't drafty at all and it is cool in the winter but in the late spring and summer it is toasty warm so will be good for her. so we will see....... Guess this just means i have to get moving to get the other side done. heheeee.


Hi momof3rugratz. I was reading about your kitty on another thread before I posted. Saw the x-ray too.


Charmed--- maybe I worded it wrong since it doesn't cause "problems" for us I was just trying to think of the best and safest thing for my kitty.

Yep 63 days LOL... You better not procrastanate... I always do lol.. hank You

Originally Posted by junior67

gayef----- I would love to have her in my room when the time comes.

not sure my hubby would go for that though. he is nice to my cats and they love him but he isn't too fond of them. heheee. funny since they all snuggle with him when he is watching tv.

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You know, I used to think the same thing of my own husband. When we first met and got married, I had a very saucy little Siamese girl who just loved to torment the living daylights out of my normally very good natured hubby. He would cuss and stomp around and just be so put out that I took her side each and every time, finally making the comment that I must love her more than I did him. True, but anyway ... *smile* ...

The day I was forced to have her euthanized, he knew she wouldn't be here when he arrived home from his shift at work. He came in the door that night with a look of hope on his sweet face and asked how "it" went ... I told him it was very quick. I have never in my life seen a 6 foot 4 inch, 230 pound man dissolve into a sobbing mass of jelly as quickly as my husband did that night. And I never knew he had grown to love her so much.

Also if I get my butt in gear maybe I can have that side of the basement cleared out enough (need to sell, give away, and toss the clothes that don't fit my kids anymore.

) before then. We still have a couple mo so maybe this will motivate us since that side will be our new bedroom once we get moving. heheeee.

The basement isn't drafty at all and it is cool in the winter but in the late spring and summer it is toasty warm so will be good for her. so we will see....... Guess this just means i have to get moving to get the other side done. heheeee.

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Bonus! Then get your hiney in gear and get to cleaning! LOL Don't know about where you are, but there are a couple of great Yahoo-type email lists where you can offer stuff you want to part with to people who might be looking for it. Let me know if you need more information on that.

We are here to help you so I sincerely hope you will listen and take our advice into consideration. Your experience as a breeder in the past is certainly good, but the sad truth is that the male she may have mated with may not be as healthy or well cared for as you would like. There is the potential that any illnesses he may carry have been passed on to your girl and could be passed on to her kittens. Have you taken that into consideration in your decision to allow this pregnancy to advance?

I do not mean to discourage you from this, but honestly, there is much to consider, more so than where to place the nesting crate and how to acclimate her to it. I just want you to be certain this is the right thing for you to do and most importantly, the right thing for your girl.

greyef----- Most of the cats that i have seen around my neighborhood are all cats of my neighbors! makes me sooooooooo mad they just let them run free. IK when she got out (my kitty) a couple weeks ago (not in heat and only for an hour before we noticed) she was next door playing with my neighbors MALE kitty and while they are outdoor cats they are all well cared for and look very healthy. Yes IK looks can be decieving and it may NOT have been one of them........

But I wouldn't have my sweet Angel girl (her name is Angel and also called Girly girl) if it wasn't for one of my neighbors cats being an outdoor cat and not fixed........

so I have considered most things. And yes the breeding background helps as we had many litters and went through alot with them.


Oh I do belong to the Yahoo group in my area and even used that to try to find my kitty when she was missing. so will put LOTS of things up on there. heheeee.

I am taking all the advice to heart and understand where it is coming from.

This is all good to know, but for your own comfort, you might consider having your vet see her and perhaps even test her for the common illnesses in the feral/stray population just to be safe and certain she is OK. It will put your mind at ease that your other cats are safe to be around her in the event she did acquire something during her little adventure to the great (or not so great as the case may more accurately be) outdoors.

Originally Posted by gayef

This is all good to know, but for your own comfort, you might consider having your vet see her and perhaps even test her for the common illnesses in the feral/stray population just to be safe and certain she is OK. It will put your mind at ease that your other cats are safe to be around her in the event she did acquire something during her little adventure to the great (or not so great as the case may more accurately be) outdoors.

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I agree, when we took in a stray cat, that was the first thing the vet suggested. If she did have FelV or Aids, she could live for quite awhile longer, but her kittens would have had little to no chance of surviving.
Fortunately she was negative for both!

~Julia

Originally Posted by junior67

greyef----- Most of the cats that i have seen around my neighborhood are all cats of my neighbors! makes me sooooooooo mad they just let them run free. IK when she got out (my kitty) a couple weeks ago (not in heat and only for an hour before we noticed) she was next door playing with my neighbors MALE kitty and while they are outdoor cats they are all well cared for and look very healthy. Yes IK looks can be decieving and it may NOT have been one of them........

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Yes, looks most certainly CAN be deceiving. And as a matter of course, people who are irresponsible enough to allow whole (that is to say, not spayed or neutered) cats to roam at large outside may also not be responsible enough to adequately vaccinate their pets against the common feline illnesses.

Junior67, I think you should know that a cat needn't be in heat to become pregnant. They can and do conceive without it. Cats are induced ovulators, which means the act of mating itself is what causes the eggs to drop and if a whole male can catch her, he WILL mate with her, in heat or not.

But I wouldn't have my sweet Angel girl (her name is Angel and also called Girly girl) if it wasn't for one of my neighbors cats being an outdoor cat and not fixed........

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I truly do not mean to be harsh here, honestly, I don't. But it needs to be said that the astronomical numbers of homeless cats languishing in shelters wouldn't be there either if not for people throwing their whole cats outside to indiscriminately reproduce. I am glad you have your sweet girly, I truly am. But the goal of this Forum is to assist people caring for a pregnant cat or orphaned kittens get through what needs to be done and then strongly advocating a strict spay/neuter policy in order to try and reduce those astronomical numbers at least a little bit.

so I have considered most things. And yes the breeding background helps as we had many litters and went through alot with them.

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What breed/s did your program focus upon? Were your cats shown? I would love to hear more about them. Pedigrees are a sort of hobby for me, much like people will put together a family tree and do the ancestry search, I do it for cats. I would be very interested in hearing more about your bloodlines.

We are all glad you have joined us here at the TCS Pregnant Cats and Kitten Care Forum, and I look forward to your contributions.

grayef---- I wholeheartedly agree on getting pets spayed and neutured! we have 4 cats (3 of which are fixed) and 2 dogs both are fixed. And the last cat will be fixed SOON!


We used to breed himilayans and also "hybrids" (which I think since have changed what they are called). We had one persian female, one hybrid male, and then a himilayan male, and 2 females. Then the kittens that we got from them. They were pedigree but don't think we had a "name" etc. We stopped breeding them when I was around 15 so don't remember too much about it.

But yes we used to show a couple of them. They were my babies and to this day I still LOVE the Himmys the most

Originally Posted by junior67

And YES no matter what she WILL be fixed after this and get a collar with a tag on it in case she ever gets out again! That was a HORRIBLE week!

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You can still have her spayed!!! And that would prevent mom the stress of labor and delivery and you (and the rest of the world) an unwanted litter of kittens Best of luck...thanks for getting mom spayed no matter when you do it

I thinkn she already said she wouldn't feel right doing that...

I was going to suggest though, if you don't feel right about it you could always take her to the vet to be spayed when she gets back and tell the vet there is a chance but you don't know. And you don't want to know. Just tell him to spay her and that is it. That way you have nothing to feel bad about. Just a suggestion. When my cat was young she got out before she was fixed. When she came back, we took her in asap to be fixed and that is what I did. I didn't want to know because I felt bad. I later found out she was in fact pregnant, my boyfriend asked the vet. Now, I just spay all the strays I get no matter what...after I saw the amount of strays and everything around here I just figured they are better off never being born and risk flooding shelters when the "good" homes I find decide they don't want a cat anymore, or whatever the situation may be.

It is hard, but the vet should be fine with just not telling you either way. If you don't that is perfectly fine, won't mention it again, just bringing up another option.

The vet here said there is a risk to spaying a pregnant female. To me what if something did happen they would have to tell me she was pregnant. I void against it and found homes for my kittens and I will spay/neuter all before leaving my house.

It's my understanding that the only time there is a risk is if they are close to delivering. If a cat is barely pregnant, just a week or so, then there is no more risk than there would be with a simple spay.

Originally Posted by Charmed654321

It's my understanding that the only time there is a risk is if they are close to delivering. If a cat is barely pregnant, just a week or so, then there is no more risk than there would be with a simple spay.

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There is only an incresed risk in the last week or so. ANd even then, you weigh that risk against the risk of labor and delivery.

While this is a very interesting turn of the topic, the OP has already commented that she will allow her cat's pregnancy to progress and delivery of the kittens to occur.

So, let's all help her along ~with that~ for now. *smile*

Thanks, Gang, you guys here in the TCS Pregnant Cats and Orphaned Kitten Forum are the BEST!!!

~gf~

thanks Gayef. It was ok though I was just reading along. Interesting to learn new things but gotta go with what I feel I can do and is right for me.


My daughter is trying to figure out where she can put her birds so the cat can stay in her room near the end if she is indeed pg......... Thinking of trying to get hooks to hang the cages from the ceiling..... but not sure the cat would be happy locked up in there either.............

Oh well still have time to wait and see. Normally she goes into heat every 2-4 weeks (I think) IK it seems like non stop, during the spring and summer so should know by the end of the mo. either by that or her getting big. She is on the thin side (always has been and eats plenty) to begin with so think she would start to show fairly quick and will check her nipples too.