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My cat was pregnant (now with kitten pictures).

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:22 am
by Widdi
I think (and I really hope, I shall explain shortly) my cat Chloe is pregnant.

Here's the facts: aprox. 8 weeks ago she was in heat. She has not gone into heat again since that cycle, which is odd cause she has gone into heat every 12-15 days since I adopted her last spring.

Aprox. 8 weeks ago my 6 year old Tom Cat was still living here (he has since vanished without a trace, and though I search all the time, I have not found him). The reason I am hoping for a preganancy is so that I can have a kitten of Stoner's to raise (his bloodline has been in my family for over twenty years. My mom originally adopted his great-great-great-great grandfather in 1988). In fact that was the whole point in getting a female cat, so that we could get a litter of kittens and then have them both fixed.

In the past 8 weeks, Chloe's appetite has increased drastically. Her abdomen has greatly expanded, while the rest of her has not. She no longer likes being touched there (this was a cat who before would let you rub her belly for hours). It has also become hard. Her nipples have become larger (but not darker in color) and in the last 24 hours I have noticed a brown residue on some of them that was not there before. However you cannot feel or see any movement from possible kittens. I once thought I felt a kick, but it may have been her pulse.

However she has shown no signs of nesting behaviour and wants nothing to do with the kittening box I made up for her. Like I said before her nipples have not darkened and you can't feel the babies, which makes me think she isn't pregnant.

I have attempted to set up a vet appoinment with no success. The only vet in town I trust (there are three: one killed these potential kittens great grandmother and the other has a very bad reputation). The first available non-emergency appointment isn't until January 20th.

So are the signs pointing away from pregnancy enough for me to give up hope for the 6th generation of my cat family? Or should I prepare for kittens?

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:15 am
by disneyboy20022
Well...im not sure exactly...but if she is going to have kittens....she will probably have them in a place of her chooosing.....we when my cat earlier this summer had kittens unexpectedly.....she had them under my dresser drawer.......not the first place I would have chosen so just because she doesnt like the spot you picked doesn't mean she's not having kittens.....

and maybe by the 20th you'll know more about her having kittens if she had them already....still make the appointment anyway....who knows there might be a cancelation.....

actually that reminds me...I gotta call the vet because 3 of the kittens were boys and they need fixed or else they start stinking worse than poo....and a vet I called said they charge $50 a whack...(no pun intended :P )

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:46 am
by pap64
You should check this site out:
http://www.cat-pregnancy-report.com/

It has tons of into on cat pregnancy, including detecting if a cat is pregnant and what to do when the cat is about to give birth.

I also recommend asking our own animal whisperer Siren, seeing that she has every animal under our bright yellow sun as pets :p .

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:41 pm
by Siren
Frankly...have her spayed now and the kittens aborted. I KNOW that sounds terrible, but every day, 1000s of kittens and cats are put to sleep. Unless you can afford to have EVERY kitten she has spayed/neutered before you give/sell them you will only contribute to the problem. Let's say she has 8 kittens, having them aborted will end up saving far more cats because it will keep those 8 kittens from growing into 8 breeding cats, having more kittens to and meaning more euthanasia.

As someone who spent hours in an euthanasia room, assisting putting to sleep 100s of unwanted pets, and then to come to the front office where someone is dumping another box of kittens, which means we have to go pick a bunch of more cats to be killed to make room for the kittens, because they are easier to adopt out...its a vicious cycle that only spaying/neutering can stop.

Its not a popular piece of advice. And I was horrified the first time I heard one of the dogs that came in was having an abortion, but spending 4 months working at a Humane Society, I learned how many more lives were saved by stopping the birth of another litter

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:12 pm
by pap64
Not to mention that un-spayed and un-neutered cats produce more stray kittens, which mean they are left alone to suffer the dangers of the streets, like diseases, other cats, dogs, other dangerous animals and abusive humans. I've had the unfortunate opportunity of watching many stray kittens die because the mother wasn't giving them enough care and attention.

Though, Siren, at the beginning of the post Widdi DID say that he was hoping the cat was pregnant. I am going to assume that Widdi will take care of the kittens since that's what the family wants. Also, in all fairness, all he was asking was how to detect if the cat was pregnant, which is again what he wants.

I'll leave it to Widdi to explain what are the plans for the kittens.

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:22 pm
by Siren
I just have trouble knowing litters of kittens are dying in shelters right now and yet people keep on breeding.

If people were required to help euthanize a few animals before they let their own pets get pregnant, I bet we'd have less of a pet overpopulation problem. Watching the life go from a kitten's eyes makes the miracle of birth, less miraculous.

I'm sorry if I sound like a bitch, but this is something I take very passionately. And frankly, I find it irresponsible you would let your cat get pregnant when there isn't a reliable vet around.

Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:46 pm
by disneyboy20022
Yeah....I agree everyone should get there cat's spayed or neutered.....I mean it does save a lot misery not just for the cat or kittens but for the people involved as well....and also its not uncommon at all for a cat to have 8 kittens at once....unlike people usually have kids one at a time unless your counting octomom but let's please not get into that discussion....

anyway....my aunt had a cat that was given to her and (this was about 14 years ago and she the cat was farm cat) anyway it had a kitten....yes 1 kitten....which I thought was very rare......there was only one born.....and she was born on March 10th the day I celebrate my birthday...which is on my 10th birthday is when I discovered that only kitten.....so my aunt said when it was old enough I could have the kitten...and we got her fixed....and she's still here today...her name is rather unique though...I named her Titanica after the IMAX Documentary that was the reason I become interestd in the Titanic History way before the James Cameron's Film hit theaters......

and also has anyone heard of somthing like a teacup cat.....because one of our cats got pregnant over the summer and had kittens when she got loose when we were moving over the summer here....but by the time we realized she was going to have kittens (we really had no experience in that department...we've never had a cat of ours have kittens and we figured would get her fixed in the new town we live in....but if we were to spay her at the point we realized she was having kittens...it would have hurt the mother I remeber the vet from our previous town told us so we had the kittens and she had 4.....3 boys...and teh 1 girl....but the 1 girl who is now 6 months old hasn't really grown that well....or much....she looks like shes maturing but she's really tiny for a 6 month old cat.....although don't let that make you think she's weak....she's so persistant and smart we call her scrappy doo and sometimes we even say her theme song is I am woman hear me roar.....because she is quite the litte spark.....we are getting the whole family fixed this month hopefully by next week....

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:40 pm
by The_Iceflash
So are we expecting kittens or not? :P

and you do know that pics will have to be posted when they are born. :wink:

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:46 pm
by disneyboy20022
The_Iceflash wrote:So are we expecting kittens or not? :P

and you do know that pics will have to be posted when they are born. :wink:
Im beginning to think this thread ends in a cliffhanger :P stay tuned for the next thread that answers Kittens or No Kittens and cat's just eating too much meow mix...find out next time on

UD forum Members lives about the cats they own

or maybe it should be called Widdi's Kitties ? :P

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:53 pm
by Widdi
She is in the process of giving birth right now. So far one kitten. Can't tell the coloring yet, but the parts I have scene so far make it look like either a tortoise-shell or a calico (mom is a calico, grandma was a tortie). I'm hoping one kitten is all she has so I am not forced to give any away, but rest assured I will find good homes for them. I know the location of every other kitten any of my cats has birthed, and I will be keeping tabs on Chloe's too.

Mommy will be fixed later this spring.

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:13 pm
by Widdi
Image

Baby's first picture. It's a tortie.

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:29 pm
by Elladorine
Awwww . . . more pics, more pics!!! :D

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:28 pm
by blackcauldron85
OMG, how cute!!!

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:07 pm
by ajmrowland
Wow, so cute! :D

We have a Tom Cat that goes out all the time, but he always comes back.

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:43 pm
by Margos
I just love baby kittens! They're just so cute! :D I want to snuggle him! Or her. Is it a boy or a girl, Widdi?

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:58 pm
by Widdi
Margos wrote:I just love baby kittens! They're just so cute! :D I want to snuggle him! Or her. Is it a boy or a girl, Widdi?
Normally you wouldn't be able to tell yet, but male cats with the tortoise shell pattern are exceedingly rare, so until proven otherwise we are assuming we have a new little girl in the family.

It's been almost 18 hours since she was born so I think it would be safe to say she is an only child.

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:03 pm
by Siren
Its rare for a cat to just have one kitten. I'd recommend you get her to a vet to check to be sure there aren't complications.

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:33 pm
by disneyboy20022
Siren wrote:Its rare for a cat to just have one kitten. I'd recommend you get her to a vet to check to be sure there aren't complications.
Yeah...it is weird.....but it so happens one cat I have was an only kitten.....and she miracoulsly didn't have any helath problems and was fixed and is now 10 years old.....she was born on my Birthday back in 2000...

But yeah its always good to doublecheck to see if there are complications or not...better safe than sorry

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:24 am
by Widdi
Siren wrote:Its rare for a cat to just have one kitten. I'd recommend you get her to a vet to check to be sure there aren't complications.
Really? All of my cats that have ever had kittens had a single kitten birth for their first (and in three out of five cases) last litter.

She has a vet appointment this afternoon.

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:04 pm
by Widdi
Looks like a family reunion could be on the horizon. I ran into an old neighbour today who told me that she sees Stoner (my cat who disappeared almost 10 weeks ago and the newborn's father) all the time hanging around my old house about a half mile away from where I am living now (I moved last November). I asked if she could recall the last time she saw him and she said yesterday he was laying on my old front porch (where we would often sit together).

I'll be spending all of tomorrow with a group of friends searching the neighbourhood. Hopefully I'll be bringing him home with in the next 24 hours.

Weed and Chole are both doing find by the way. Here's a newer pic:
Image