Can you tell how pregnant a cat is if you've just met her?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

gettingready wrote: »

And a photo - wawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Where do you live?

NO!

Stop it NOW!!!!

splishsplash

This is my fifth attempt at posting this evening...
Mother and babies are doing well, some pics at the end - the links are not behaving, but if you click on them, you should be able to see, I hope they're a little better today.
Could I ask for some more advice please? We're wondering when we can touch the babies - I desperately want to replace the sheet and protector they're lying on - all I've managed to do so far is put a clean pillowcase under them.
Also, is there any way to 'encourage' the mum to move house to any of the beds I've prepared, so that my daughters can have their room back? Mum actually did nip downstairs for a minute tonight after food, drink and a really big trip to the litter tray, so I'm wondering if that means she's scoping the place for a new base? Trouble is, the dog is downstairs, so I can't let her rehome her babies anywhere but in the room I've prepared the beds in.
Thank you all so much for the photos and advice re sexing etc - I never knew torties were all girls, more or less!
I did call to the vets this evening, no-one has asked about my poster, and she also told me not to bother bringing the cat in to be scanned, as no-one round here chips their cats (I live in a one-road-in-one-road-out kind of place, so they would know most animals here). She did give me six bags of Burns and a big bag of Hill's free gratis though!
Thanks to everyone again for all your help and advice - it's really appreciated. We're so green with all of this!
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gettingready

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

NO!

Stop it NOW!!!!

Just erm... looking....:cool:

djp64

Hi
They're adorable :-)

I handle all my kittens from day one :-) provided that the mum is of the right temperament. As I foster the mums when they're neglected / ill treated I usually get them shortly before the kittens are due and have a chance to assess them. If they're happy with humans, glad to be stroked, given attention etc and they don't try to hide the kittens once born then they're usually fine with kittens being handled.

For the first few occasions I make sure my hands are just washed and free of any hand cream / other smells. Stroke mum first several times to get her scent on you and talk to her (I just tell them how beautiful their babies are) :-) You can then pick up and move babies etc and change the bedding. I always talk to mum so she feels reassured. I also move the kittens to one of the birthing boxes so that they are safe / warm and out of any draughts etc. Provided mum feels safe / comfortable she shouldn't mind too much. For the first few days I cover the box with a spare towel / sheet so it's a bit darker. What mum will want most is reassurance - I usually put their food / water / litter tray nearby. If you're going to move them then try to make the box smell familiar by using as much of the original bedding as possible.

I weigh the kittens when they're born and then every few days to make sure they're putting on weight and that mum isn't having a problem feeding them. They should double their weight in the first week. I don't handle / hold the kittens for long - just long enough to move them / weigh them. Handling them from an early age gets them used to humans and all of my furry 'babies' can be held, have their tummy's tickled and be carried in the new owner's arms by the time they leave.

I will post some pictures of one of my foster mums and babies from last year. At one point in time I had 17 babies and 3 mums!

Hope this helps

Debbie

djp64

Tried to post photos - but won't let me. Have checked the help etc and I'm too new to post photos.

If you want to see them please look at photobucket dot com - I have made the pictures public - the profile / user name is djp64mse.

splishsplash

djp64 wrote: »

Hi
They're adorable :-)

I handle all my kittens from day one :-) provided that the mum is of the right temperament. As I foster the mums when they're neglected / ill treated I usually get them shortly before the kittens are due and have a chance to assess them. If they're happy with humans, glad to be stroked, given attention etc and they don't try to hide the kittens once born then they're usually fine with kittens being handled.

For the first few occasions I make sure my hands are just washed and free of any hand cream / other smells. Stroke mum first several times to get her scent on you and talk to her (I just tell them how beautiful their babies are) :-) You can then pick up and move babies etc and change the bedding. I always talk to mum so she feels reassured. I also move the kittens to one of the birthing boxes so that they are safe / warm and out of any draughts etc. Provided mum feels safe / comfortable she shouldn't mind too much. For the first few days I cover the box with a spare towel / sheet so it's a bit darker. What mum will want most is reassurance - I usually put their food / water / litter tray nearby. If you're going to move them then try to make the box smell familiar by using as much of the original bedding as possible.

I weigh the kittens when they're born and then every few days to make sure they're putting on weight and that mum isn't having a problem feeding them. They should double their weight in the first week. I don't handle / hold the kittens for long - just long enough to move them / weigh them. Handling them from an early age gets them used to humans and all of my furry 'babies' can be held, have there tummy's tickled and be carried in the new owner's arms by the time they leave.

I will post some pictures of one of my foster mums and babies from last year. At one point in time I had 17 babies and 3 mums!

Hope this helps

Debbie

Oh wow, thanks for this! This is exactly what I was looking for :T. I will change the bedding later and see about moving her then. She seems to like being handled, and rolls on her back when we go in to say hello - like she's showing off the babies, so maybe she's ok with us handling them.

Thanks so much again!

patchwork_cat

djp64 wrote: »

Hi
They're adorable :-)

I handle all my kittens from day one :-) provided that the mum is of the right temperament. As I foster the mums when they're neglected / ill treated I usually get them shortly before the kittens are due and have a chance to assess them. If they're happy with humans, glad to be stroked, given attention etc and they don't try to hide the kittens once born then they're usually fine with kittens being handled.

For the first few occasions I make sure my hands are just washed and free of any hand cream / other smells. Stroke mum first several times to get her scent on you and talk to her (I just tell them how beautiful their babies are) :-) You can then pick up and move babies etc and change the bedding. I always talk to mum so she feels reassured. I also move the kittens to one of the birthing boxes so that they are safe / warm and out of any draughts etc. Provided mum feels safe / comfortable she shouldn't mind too much. For the first few days I cover the box with a spare towel / sheet so it's a bit darker. What mum will want most is reassurance - I usually put their food / water / litter tray nearby. If you're going to move them then try to make the box smell familiar by using as much of the original bedding as possible.

I weigh the kittens when they're born and then every few days to make sure they're putting on weight and that mum isn't having a problem feeding them. They should double their weight in the first week. I don't handle / hold the kittens for long - just long enough to move them / weigh them. Handling them from an early age gets them used to humans and all of my furry 'babies' can be held, have there tummy's tickled and be carried in the new owner's arms by the time they leave.

I will post some pictures of one of my foster mums and babies from last year. At one point in time I had 17 babies and 3 mums!

Hope this helps

Debbie

So do I handle from minute 1! My girls would demand that you act as midwife, they come and tell me when they are having their babies, infact one came and got me with one hanging out and made me follow her to her chosen place before delivering. However as a hobby breeder of Ragdolls and Maine Coons (retired) owned my girls since they were kittens so perhaps a different relationship.

Can't beat above as I only had 2 girls, but my record was 11 kittens at one time. The strangest thing was to watch a Maine Coon mum feeding 2 Coonies and 2 Raggies! ( My Raggie mum never had much milk and we had to hand rear them along with help from our Coonie mum.) I weigh my kittens too and it was funny trying to identify them when they are identical!

Mum will be looking to move her babies soon, so you could try and pre-empt her.

djp64

I thought it might help if I posted a few of the developmental highlights in the first 3 or 4 weeks so you can be prepared :-)

As well as being born blind they are also deaf. They get some hearing after a week or so but it isn't fully developed until they are 3 / 4 weeks old. As they are completely reliant on their sense of smell, when you handle them or stroke mum you may see them look like they are panting / hyperventilating. They are in fact hissing at you - but no sound comes out :-) This is why I stroke mum before touching them so they aren't so startled by a strange smell.

Their eyes will be open after 7-10 days. They can't see properly until 3 / 4 weeks again but they see things as large blurry shapes. At first their eyes will be jet black and then quickly change to baby blue. They get their final eye colour around 7/8 weeks.

They cannot regulate their own body temperature for 3/4 weeks so it's important to keep them at a reasonably steady temperature and out of draughts. This is why you usually see them in a pile / heap when they're not feeding. Every so often the one at the bottom of the pile will move to top to cool down and a cool one will burrow under all it's littermates.

They don't make much noise - other than when they're hungry or you pick them up. If mum is feeding regularly but they start crying soon after feeding then it's a good sign that mum is not making enough milk. The regular weighing will help reassure on this point.

By 2/3 weeks they will attempt what I call wobbly walking. By 3/4 weeks they should be walking reasonably well and at around 4 weeks it's a good idea to introduce a small litter tray. Don't use fuller's earth cat litter as they quite often like to eat and it can cause digestive problems. Once they start using the litter tray it's a good idea to leave it a little dirty / soiled as they can then home in on the smell and this encourages them to use it.

By 4/5 weeks all hell breaks loose as they can walk and start to climb etc :-)

lisawood78

Well isn't that odd, I was just about to say that we had a male tortie. BUT he had developmental issues and died age 6 from liver failure etc, and he had many health issues.
Now we know why.
Op you are doing a great job!

patchwork_cat

lisawood78 wrote: »

Well isn't that odd, I was just about to say that we had a male tortie. BUT he had developmental issues and died age 6 from liver failure etc, and he had many health issues.
Now we know why.
Op you are doing a great job!

Male torties are very rare and I have only seen 1. Possibly it is Klinefelter's syndrome.