Kitten maybe pregnant??

klee1505

Hello every one.

Bassically i have 2 kittens 1 girl one and 1 boy, as of yet neither are nutured we are planing to get both done. the boy is 7 months old and we are not 100% how old the girl is we got her from the RSPCA and she was abandoned so they dont know exactly how old she is. we think she is around about 5 months ish
we have noticed he has been trying to get on top of her for the last few weeks now,
she has completly changed in the last few days. she is usually very independant and doesnt reallly sit with us for long. now she has been sitting with us all day and will not leave us alone if we get up she gets up and folows us around.
her belly is getting slightly bigger then normal because she doesnt really have any fat any where else on her body her face is quite small so it is just her belly.
does any one know the tell tale signs of a cat being pregnant? and are they both too young to get pregnant?

Thanks

Kayleigh

SnowyOwl_2

They are both old enough to make babies. Don't dither, get them both down to the vet's. If the girl is pregnant the vet will confirm, and may offer to spay her anyway, thus getting rid of the kittens.

foreign_correspondent

to the vets pronto... maybe you should have got the lad to the vets when he started trying to get on top of her?

She is not too young to get pregnant, but she is really too young to be carrying kittens, her energy needs to be going into her own growth, and the pregnancy may well be problematic (I think I remember a lady on here recently whose cat needed an emergency cesarian as she could not give birth to the kittens naturaly as she was too small?) A spey and termination wold be far kinder to her than letting the potential pregnancy continue, and as I am sure you know, the rescues are already overflowing with unwanted cats and kittens.

How have the RSPCA rehomed this kitten in a home with an unneutered male, without her being speyed?

giantmutantbroccoli

I thought that the RSPCA neutered their cats before rehoming them?

Cats have been known to get pregnant at 5 months, and male cats can be sexually active at that age, so it's possible. The fact that he was mounting her is a bit of a clue!
Do you know if she was in heat while this was going on? If she didn't fight him off it's possible she was in heat, and that would make it likely she's pregnant.
Signs of cat pregnancy:

Visually, many cats will not appear pregnant until they are in the latter part of their pregnancy, though it should be noted that pregnancy is more visually apparent in cats than in other species, like dogs, who often never “appear” pregnant.
There are a few signs that are consistently present in the vast majority of expecting feline mothers, including certain behaviors. Dr. Levine explained that the following signs are most commonly seen in pregnant felines:

• Heat Cycle Suddenly Stops
• Increased Appetite
• Pink, Prominent Nipples
• Increased Sleeping
• Vomiting
• A Firm Abdomen
• “Nesting” Behaviors
• More Affectionate Behaviors
• More Frequent Urination

When birth is imminent, there is typically a decrease in appetite, an increase in nesting behaviors – digging and scratching at bedding, floors, etc. – along with restlessness.

Source:
http://cat-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/is_my_cat_pregnant

If you think she might be pregnant, take her to the vet's. If she's far enough along they should be able to tell, and if she definitely isn't pregnant you can get her done (and should do so, ASAP!).
If she is in the early stages of pregnancy you might still be able to get her done, but it will be more expensive. A pregnant cat can be spayed without removing the kittens - but the surgery is more complicated and therefore more expensive. Alternatively, the kittens can be removed at the same time - essentially it's a cat abortion, but it will depend greatly on your vet's willingness to perform the operation as lots of them don't like to do it. Again, have a good talk with your vet about your options.

lowis

please get them to the vets as a matter of urgency. she is FAR too young to have kittens, it could kill her or lead to serious illness in later life (mammary cancer). the vet can still neuter her even if she is a few weeks pregnant.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Count 63 days from when you first noticed the mounting. Then panic when you realise she has disappeared somewhere and won't come out. If she is pregs (hard to tell from looking at young cats if you haven't seen it before), she is likely to lose them, so you need to do something pretty sharpish. I would personally rather support ten kittens than have them terminated, but I'm a mug like that.

The RSPCA in my experience, is quite likely to have given you a small young adult cat and told you it was a kitten. Cats are not their priority, or area of expertise, it seems. Or they would have spayed her first - my two (boy and girl) were done at 16 weeks, so there is no excuse for them not doing it. If she is pregs, I would be suggesting that they provide some finance, as they have some culpability in this.

Assuming that the few weeks isn't nearer 3 months, at any rate.

foreign_correspondent

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Count 63 days from when you first noticed the mounting. Then panic when you realise she has disappeared somewhere and won't come out. If she is pregs (hard to tell from looking at young cats if you haven't seen it before), she is likely to lose them, so you need to do something pretty sharpish. I would personally rather support ten kittens than have them terminated, but I'm a mug like that.

The problems are not only those relating to the female cat giving birth, but in finding ten good homes for those kittens, and hoping they neuter the resulting kittens asap - if only one of those kittens gets pregnant, then that is another ten cats and so on and so on, into a world where there are already more cats than good homes...

The cat will not suffer any more than the normal brief, soreness from a spey, and certainly will not be having to struggle to support and feed ten kittens from it's still growing system, and that is in the best outcome in allowing the pregnancy to continue... if there are complications she could really suffer.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Yes, which is why I said I would rather take responsibility for the upkeep of them myself as I couldn't agree to a termination for my convenience, as compared to a vet's analysis of a specific medical issue.

Not a problem I have ever been faced with, as mine always got done as soon as physically possible, thus neatly avoiding the whole dilemma, but I have taken in preggers females and had the future problems nipped in the bud pretty sharpish after birth, as it were.

Neutering is the only sensible option, and I hope the cat isn't pregnant - if she isn't, I hope both cats are seen to immediately in any case. If the OP is prepared to have it carried out during pregnancy (and can find a vet willing), then fair enough. I agree it probably won't affect the cat much either way and that it would probably be for the best that she does not carry a litter to term. I just have an immense mental block where this is concerned.

cheepskate_2

klee1505 wrote: »

Hello every one.


we have noticed he has been trying to get on top of her for the last few weeks now,


Thanks

Kayleigh

Can i ask why when the male was trying this you did not do something then, rather than wait until you think it may be pregnant. Me personally would have had either down to the vet to be netured as soon as i saw this

sorry i sound quite hard, but this is the sort of behaviour from owners is why our country is overrun with unwanted animals.

hopefully as you have had 9 hours she has been seperated from the male and booked in for a neuturing

klee1505

thank to every one with usefull advise.
but to the person about my post where in my post did i say once that if she was pregnant and had kittens that i would abandon them???? i NEVER said that once and nor would i ever do that. i will look after her and the kittens to the best of my ability. so dont you dare make that judgement on me! i was mearly asking due to the fact that she is young and i had read that it can harm them if she is pregnant so young. i work during the day i cant exactly lock either of them in a room for 10 hours until i get back now can i ??

to everyone that actually made a helpfull comment she saw the vet last night and she is not pregnant she is just filling out and he is booked in to get him done next week. thank you for the helpfull comments.

Kimberley

klee1505 wrote: »

i work during the day i cant exactly lock either of them in a room for 10 hours until i get back now can i ??

.

You can keep kittens seperated in different rooms easily. Why oh why are some people so irresponsible. Glad she is getting spayed and hopefully the boy is too? They should have been done ages ago. People do not think. Two unneutured different sex kittens are going to make babies at some stage :rolleyes:

I really do think rescues are losing a battle with mindless people not doing the right thing. Kittens shouldn't even be outdoors until they have been spayed/neutured.