Pregnant with multiple litters?! Also- room temp. question

I just read on another thread that a female can be pregnant with multiple litters- is this true? Is it multiple litters of about the same gestational age or could one be MUCH younger (ie not ready to be born?)

I have my pregnant feral female inside, she is very big. Obvisouly it IS a remote possbility since she was outside with many toms - what should I look and prepare for?

Also- she is in my outbuilding office, it's on a concrete block so it's always cool in there. The window screen is ripped so I keep that shut. I have fake grass rug down in the room, a newspaper kittening box and lots of softer stuff to sit in/on but she is just sitting on the cool floor all the time. Will this be a problem with the kittens? (aside from it being really dirty which I am working on....) I put the exhaust fan on during the day so it circulates air from the outside.

I'm just getting so nervous. She is eating and drinking fine, but she can't/won't jump up on the desks anymore and isn't being very active at all.

Has she seen a vet? If not, please take her to one as soon as possible. She may be sick, and there are a number of things that could be wrong.

She seems healthy, just VERY pregnant. I will be trying to get her into the vet in the next week. Not sure how I will get her into a carrier or trap again though. No upper respritory symptoms, no blood in stool or urine, no coughingm sneezing etc, has bright eyes and appetite, just seems weighed down by the humnogopus belly.

That's good to hear. Just make sure to keep a close eye on her over the next few days. Hopefully, she'll deliver soon with no complications. Also, make sure she has a warm, comfortable, quiet place with minimal disturbances to deliver her kittens. Once the kittens are born they will need a warm place. Concrete is definately too cold for kittens, especially new borns. At Petco or PetSmart they sell things called SnuggleSafes. These are pink microwavable disks that stay warm for about 4-5 hours depending on the room temp. I use these all the time for orphaned kittens and they work great. Make sure to place the disk underneath a towel, as kitten should never be directly on it. Also, make sure the kittens will have enough room to move around (i.e away from the heat source if it is too hot or onto it if it is cold). Good luck!!! :-)

The building has a concrete base, the flooring is linoleum. Thats why I put down the astroturf stuff in the middle of the room. The kittening box has a good thick fluffy base of newspaper.

Although it would torque Mama out a LOT should I put the faux astroturf down on the whole room since she seems intent to sit on the linoleum? We used it last year under our inflatable pool soI have plenty. It would involve moving all the desks in there and she spends most of her time under the desks right now. The office of the outbuilding is totally quiet, I visit her 2 to 3 times a day and my husband goes into the outbuilding once or twice to get equipment.

My Skittle was big and was having a lot of trouble moving also... The last few days of her pregnancy she layed on the tile only.... I think it feels cooler...

Originally Posted by penthilisea

I just read on another thread that a female can be pregnant with multiple litters- is this true? Is it multiple litters of about the same gestational age or could one be MUCH younger (ie not ready to be born?)

I have my pregnant feral female inside, she is very big. Obvisouly it IS a remote possbility since she was outside with many toms - what should I look and prepare for?

Also- she is in my outbuilding office, it's on a concrete block so it's always cool in there. The window screen is ripped so I keep that shut. I have fake grass rug down in the room, a newspaper kittening box and lots of softer stuff to sit in/on but she is just sitting on the cool floor all the time. Will this be a problem with the kittens? (aside from it being really dirty which I am working on....) I put the exhaust fan on during the day so it circulates air from the outside.

I'm just getting so nervous. She is eating and drinking fine, but she can't/won't jump up on the desks anymore and isn't being very active at all.

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Cats can get pregnant multiple times however what typically will happen is that the contractions will cause all the kittens to be birthed. If she has multiple litters...then some of the kittens will be born premature. More frequently, there will be multiple dads but the litter will be from the same time period so the kittens just look different from each other...but they aren't born premature.

Katie

Originally Posted by penthilisea

The building has a concrete base, the flooring is linoleum. Thats why I put down the astroturf stuff in the middle of the room. The kittening box has a good thick fluffy base of newspaper.

Although it would torque Mama out a LOT should I put the faux astroturf down on the whole room since she seems intent to sit on the linoleum? We used it last year under our inflatable pool soI have plenty. It would involve moving all the desks in there and she spends most of her time under the desks right now. The office of the outbuilding is totally quiet, I visit her 2 to 3 times a day and my husband goes into the outbuilding once or twice to get equipment.

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I wouldn't worry so much about the floor. Maybe put a layer of the turf under the kittening box. (A good place for the box is under the desk, if that is where she likes to be.) And either get the snuggledisk or a pet heating pad. The downside of a snuggledisk with a feral is getting it back out of the nest to warm it up again! With a pet heating pad, it would be plugged in so would stay warm. Just be sure there is room for her to shift the kittens on or off the heated area, so they won't get too warm!

So long as she seems healthy, I don't think she needs a vet visit now. They don't give vaccinations while the kitty is pregnant. It will just upset her. (Non-ferals of course should see the vet, though!) After she has the babies, and weans them, then you can use a trap to catch her in the room. Then she can see the vet, be put out, and spayed and get her shots all in one visit.

She probably has worms and fleas, so the kittens will need Strongid worm medicine at about 4 weeks. You should be able to just take a poo sample in, either from Mom or Mom and kits, and they can check for parasites.

If there is a way to administer Strongid to her now, you could take in a poo sample...but if she is feral, I don't know how you would get it in her without a huge fight!!!

I would take her temp to make sure there is no fever though....

Any suggestions on taking a temp on her? I haven't even been able to touch her yet.

I had to have 2 people and grab the nap of the neck... I finally gave up because I hated do it

Originally Posted by TNR1

Cats can get pregnant multiple times however what typically will happen is that the contractions will cause all the kittens to be birthed. If she has multiple litters...then some of the kittens will be born premature. More frequently, there will be multiple dads but the litter will be from the same time period so the kittens just look different from each other...but they aren't born premature.

Katie

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Maybe THAT is why the kittens that did not survive Skittles litter died. They were probably from a later mating?

Originally Posted by penthilisea

Any suggestions on taking a temp on her? I haven't even been able to touch her yet.

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Sorry, I missed the part where you mentioned she is feral...
I don't know then..... every one is different..

Ah ok. I was wondering if there was some trick out there. Yep, this is just a feral mama I picked up behind my work building. I didn't realize how far along she was, by the time I trapped her a few days ago she looks like it could be any day now. She's not a happy camper with me but is eating and relaxed.

best of luck! are you going to try and tame the kittens? you shouldn't let them be with momma for more then 5.5-6 weeks. ( i think) or they might be to wild already.

Yep, I am going to play it by ear and see if Mama Feral comes around at all. If she stays aloof it will be fine bu if she gets aggressive I;ll pull them. I have KMR and bottles in the mail already just in case.
She isn;t hissing anymore, (could just be too much effort- she;s SO huge!). At the very least mama will get a spay and go back outside, and the kittens already have people asking about them and they aren't born yet. Plus my boss is paying all the vet bills so depdning on her largesse the kittes may get the 6 week/ 2 lb. spay or neuter.

She's in a smallish office in my outbuilding, so I think with some toys the kittens won;t be able to resist (or escape) me!