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

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

My vote is she's knocked up!

I might have read wrong but inside or around the coop(chicken coop?!) could be dangerous. If the chickens see newborn kittens with all the birth material/ placenta fluid/ blood they might want to eat them!

I would also start feeding her everyday. kitten food if possible(yes, during the pregnancy, and while nursing!), she needs all the nutrients she can get. dog food isn't really nutritionally right for a preggo cat. I've seen cats only have 1 or 2 survive because of poor diets during pregnancy(not my cats.. I was a vet tech for about 5 years).

I'd trap the male and neuter him wether he is yours or stray. It sounds like a stray you all feed, not that you all own. IMO owning a cat is neutering, vaccinating, treating when sick, and you being the sole owner etc.

I, too, do not belive in aborting the kittens(humans or any other species either!). I'd lock her up(in a dark quiet place) so she has them where you want, otherwise she can have them anywhere and move them if she thinks you or anything else is a threat.

Right now I have an adopted feral and we're in the same boat, except she wont let me touch her. She's very HUGE, and she just isn't as fast as she usually is. So I think if I didn't feed her and she hunted for her food she would be having A LOT of trouble catching prey while carrying around kittens in her belly!

Good Luck!

 

[RabbitMage]

Yes, the 15-20 bucks is on top of the cost of the spay, which I think is $40. But this clinic offers discounts for people on Medi-Cal and also does specials frequently. Places like this do exist!

And after working at that clinic for a little while, my usual response is spay and neuter everything. We had so many kittens come in to get fixed in the hopes they'll find a home, and it hurts knowing they're only a fraction of what the shelters take in. We had so many pregnant animals come in thanks to owner irresponsibility, and all I could do was look at the pregnant cat and think about the 40 kittens sitting in the back who might not get a home. In the peak season the shelter in my town euthanizes most kittens that come through they're doors. If they are too young to be on solid food? Dead. If they are sick, even if it's a minor issue that five day's worth of antibiotics could clear up? Dead. If they have any visible deformity? Dead. Sometimes even if they're a less popular color, they never make it to the adoption floor.

Why does this happen? There is NO SPACE, NO MONEY, and NO TIME. Many places receive more animals per day than they have room for. Only a small fraction of those animals get adopted. Most shelters are not well funded, and there's only so many animals they can afford (and in most cases, the adoption fee a person pays does not come close to covering the shelter's costs). And because of the lack of funding, shelters are often understaffed.

So in cases like this my vote is spay/abort. I'm not saying I like it, but every fat pregnant cat belly I see makes me cringe. I'd rather euthanize a fetus that's likely not aware of it's situation-one that's never felt pain, abuse, neglect, homelessness, one that's never had to deal with being in a shelter, pawing hopefully through the door at people that walk by. I would rather put down a fetus and hope that one of the kittens who IS homeless, who is sitting in the shelter RIGHT NOW, mewing and pawing through the door for attention gets a home.

 

[dacdeihl]

When she has a littler.

My female was fat with swollen breasts last week. This week the hair around her nipples are wet matted down. She is nursing. Found her little last night. Four beautiful kittens.

 

[sparkles2307]

Quote:
I feel that I may have failed to communicate clearly that we live on a farm in B.F.E. (PM if you need an interpretation of BFE) and I wasnt planning on taking my kittens to the shelter or adopting them out. They will stay here for their entire lives because I need mousers on a farm with as many out-buildings as we have.
I plan to take momma and the babies all to be fixed after they are born, therefore, I feel that I am being responsible. I dont even think we have a shelter within 60 miles of our house... so obviously not only is it ridiculous for me to consider wasting the gas to haul animals there, that I KNOW wont get adopted because really, we all know there are cats everywhere, but also I wont be wasting the gas to go GET anything either.
Since I have no affiliation with the "local" shelter here, I feel that the best thing I can do for my kitty is to be sure her and her babies have a nice home here together and no more accidents (cute as they may be) occur on my watch.

I'm pretty sure that I started this thread because I wanted to know how to tell if she's pregnant or not, and how to ensure that she has the babies in a safe place that I can supervise. I dont remember asking for input on whether to kill the babies or if I should take them to a shelter or anything like that. I really appreciate everyone's (pro-life) advice and pointers! I am really excited for this addition to our farm family!

 

[sparkles2307]

Quote:
Congrats!!!!

 

[RabbitMage]

Quote:
And for your particular situation, that may work. However there are orgs who work to adopt out cats at little to no cost as barn mousers-these are often semi-feral cats who are considered unadoptable in the traditional sense. Adopting a few of these cats could have given them a job and saved a few lives.

I'm glad you plan to care for these kittens for the next 15+ years, though.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
I adopted one of those "semi-feral" mousers. Want to know what happened? He killed 20 almost adult chicks by breaking into their coop. He now resides at the bottom of the hill about 3' under. At least she will be able to "train" these kittens not to kill chicks or semi-grown fowl. The kitten that I got for free was the best investment I have ever made. I did not have to pay a dime to get her and she was the best mouser I ever owned. She was TRAINED, as in, would sit, stay, roll-over and was perfectly happy curled up with the chickens at night.

Why should she put her poultry at risk to as well as her money to save animals that may or may not stick around? She may want to have her children be able to play with the cats and that can hardly happen with a semi-feral cat that is only associated with living on it's own and coming to get food every now and then.

sparkles, will you post photos for all of us to see and join in on the celebration of new life?

 

[Miss Red]

Quote:
You have NO idea how true that is. One of my cats, Annie, is full of tumors and we were told she would NEVER have kittens. We were told she would never have kittens, she had DeeDee last year [we were going to wait to get them spayed at the same time] Now DeeDee has five kittens, Annie has three, and my Mau has four. All three girls are going to get spayed in January [we no longer have tom cats in the area, myself and all the neighbors started with the boys because all our girls were preggo'd'.]

So now I have 12 kittens to give away, on contract stating they must be spayed/neutered once they are of age. -shrug- I don't have room to talk I guess with 12 kittens, but they were too far along in their pregnancies when we brought them in to get done for the vet to do it safely. So fingers are crossed that they wont breed with a wild cat between now and their next spay dates.

ETA:: I'm with you there. All my unadopted kittens will stay here and WILL be fixed.

 

[Sammimom]

I would for sure find somewhere to "lock her up" if her belly continues to grow, so you can handle the little kitties and they'll be as tame as their momma. If she has them somewhere very private it will be much more of a challenge to tame them to be proper friendly barn cats.

I'd feed her some kitten food so she gets the extra protein she needs, there is a lot more protein in cat food then dog food, since she is stealing from the dogs!

 

[RabbitMage]

Quote:
Yes, I know it's an unreasonable hope that people will spay/neuter their animals before they get pregnant and rather than bring new animals into the world, find homes for the ones that already exist. But it's a hope I cling to.

OP, good luck with your kittens.