How do I tell if the cat is pregnant or not???

[sparkles2307]

My cat is very small for her age, and really slender. The last few weeks shes been gaining, but now sinec last weekend her belly is just HUGE and the rest of her is still teeny. I cant feel anything when I poke around on her belly... but I havent had a cat that had kittens since I was 4 so I dont know what I am looking for....

 

[eenie114]

Is she eating more than normal?

 

[sparkles2307]

Um, shes a barn cat, so we dont usually put food out on a daily basis. But she sat in front of the dog dish for about an hour last night just chowing down... not a typical behavior for her.

 

[MamaDoula]

If you (very gently) feel her belly, if she's pregnant, you'll feel little marble sized lumps. Gently! If she won't let you, you'll notice her nipples are more prominent and that she's eating like there's no tomorrow, and is very lazy/friendly. My bet's that if she's not spayed and her belly is bigger than the rest of her, she's pregnant, and you have about 4 weeks (give or take) before you have kittens.

My "I'm not sure if she's pregnant" kitty is currently snuggled down in a closet with five gorgeous nurslings.

 

[sparkles2307]

If she IS pregnant, and usually lives in the chicken coop, how can I encourage her to nest by the house so we can watch the babies? She thinks shes a dog, rolls over whenever we pet her to get her belly rubbed, and follows us. DH really appreciated her on his lap when hes trying to fix tractors

She cant be in the garage because my brooder is there, and not indoors because I will end up in the ICU due to my violent allergies...but I want to have her deliver by the house... She's not spayed, and we have a Tom Cat (Otis--- yeah go figure the kids named the orange tabby Otis instead of Milo) but her nipples arent enlarged at all yet... I will poke around more tonight for "marbles"

 

[MamaDoula]

Our cat is an outside cat, too (she prefers this...she came to us feral). We coaxed her into our clean garage and kept her in a week before her suspected delivery time, with plenty of high quality food.

 

[animalgirl2010]

My guess is if she's outside and not spayed she's pregnant it is kitten season. As for getting her to have them by the house you could try to fix her a dog house there but it probably wont happen or at least it never has worked for the pregnant cats people dump off out here. The only way ive ever got them to have them where I wanted was when I brought them in the house then they dont have a choice.

 

[sparkles2307]

Well we wont have to worry about her letting us hold them, even if they are born in the coop

 

[savingdogs]

You can make great nesting areas but unless the cat is contained somehow, it might decide to have the kittens anywhere. From the sound of your story, I would bet she is having kittens. A veterinary visit could confirm this but the time of year and age of your cat make the answer rather likely to be yes. If there is anywhere to contain her such as tack room, shed, or enclosure meant for a different animal, I'd put a litter box and food and water in there and keep her contained until the time comes.
Please think about getting mama and babies spayed and neutered, there are already too many cats in the world! You will quickly have a large population of cats unless you intervene.

 

[sparkles2307]

Quote:
I regret not getting her spayed already... but new kitties just once will be fun! I can't neuter the Tom, he belongs to about 3 of us neighbors jointly and no one home has executive power over him.