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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

Pregnant Cat - Where to Start

21 replies

poltagast · 24/03/2013 21:09

Took my Cat to be neutered on Friday , turns out she is 3/4 weeks pregnant .
She is around 8 months old maybe older as she is a foundling , thought I had kept her safe but obviously not .
So what do I need to know/do ?
please don't flame me as I feel bad enough as it is

OP posts:

Report

LizaRose · 24/03/2013 21:13

It shouldn't be a big deal spaying her, she should recover uneventfully. I would normally recommend neutering at 5 months to prevent this kind of thing, it is very common.

thecatneuterer · 24/03/2013 21:16

Its absolutely fine to still go ahead and spay her. It is absolutely the best thing for her. She's far too young to have to have kittens. Didn't the vet suggest that? And if you were to let her have kittens you'd then have to find homes for them and there are already so many kittens without homes, and then she'd be upset that you separated her from them. Best all round if you just book her in again next week and have her spayed.

poltagast · 24/03/2013 21:42

The Vet did say but I honestly don't feel comfortable with it else I would of gone ahead .
Wont be selling any of the kittens on at most my Dm will have one & my Db .
Just wanting to be prepared if that's actually possible

OP posts:

thecatneuterer · 24/03/2013 21:47

It would be far, far better for her not to have kittens at her age. And what if she has 6 or 8? Three to four weeks is nothing. You really need to try to get over your squeamishness and do what is best for your cat. You have made a mistake by not getting her neutered early enough. But you can now choose to do the right thing. If you choose to allow her to have the kittens then you are being deliberately irresponsible in my opinion.

poltagast · 24/03/2013 21:51

Due to personal circumstances I were unable to get her done sooner & my reasons are not because of squeamishness .
I don't believe in abortion whether it be people or animals

OP posts:

thecatneuterer · 24/03/2013 22:07

Well then you are being thoroughly irresponsible and selfish. You are prepared to put your cat at risk and to bring yet more cats into a country where thousands are being put to sleep every week because there are not enough homes to go round, just because of some (misguided) belief.

It really is dangerous for such a young cat (really still a kitten herself) to give birth. Did the vet say there were only two kittens? What if there are six? If your family have room for kittens then they should adopt some from a shelter instead.

I am sorry to be so blunt, but if you worked with unwanted cats and kittens you would certainly feel the same. You said in your original post that you felt bad about it. So make it right - do the right thing!

poltagast · 24/03/2013 22:55

I have the space & time to care for & look after kittens .
I have volunteered in animal rescue centers & so I see how bad it is & it is not a misguided belief .

OP posts:

Lonecatwithkitten · 24/03/2013 22:57

I adopted a little cat who had had kittens at a similar age to that which your cat will be. It has taken her a really long time to recover from having the kittens much longer than an older cat would.
Quite often we don't even know the cat ispregnant till we get into to spay then and then it is a done deal.
If you go ahead with having the litter you have to be prepared tha she may need a c-section which depending on where you are in the country could cost you up to £1000 and you have to be prepared for the fact that on occasions you lose the mother and all the kittens. This is the worst case scenario, but you have to be prepared for that. Even if the birth is straight forward you could still be looking at several hundred pounds to get these kittens healthily to the point at which they leave for their new homes.

poltagast · 24/03/2013 23:30

That's why I asked for advice on what I need to know & do to make it as easy as possible for her .
I just can't bring myself to terminate & if that makes me a bad person then so be it

OP posts:

ThatVikRinA22 · 24/03/2013 23:40

how did you think you had "kept her safe"?

im sorry OP but im with the others on this one - she is a very young cat, you have been irresponsible in allowing such a young cat to get pregnant. I dont understand why people bring more animals into a world that cant cope with the strays we have.

she might have way more than 2 kittens. She may cost you a fortune in bills and she is just too young to have kittens. If you care for you cat you should do the right thing by her.

i have 2 female cats. they were spayed before they went out. Thats how to keep them safe.
animals do not understand emotive language like abortion, they dont really have a right to choose - you choose for her. If you allow a kitten to have kittens then you are irresponsible.

sashh · 25/03/2013 05:34

OP

I don't know if you realise this but your cat can become pregnant 48hours after giving birth.

If you choose to let her have the kittens, how are you going to stop her becoming pregnant again before she is spayed?

That's a genuine question. You seem to have made up your mind to keep these kittens but you need to think ahead.

Ask your vet how quickly she can be done after the birth and do not let her out of her house until she is done.

Start saving for vets' bills.

If, and there is no guarantee, it is a straight forward birth you are going to need to get the kittens dewormed, defleed and vaccinated. Ideally you also need to have them spayed before they leave mum.

Cats Protection have been researching early neutering and it can be dine from 2 weeks. Yes that's weeks not months.

Not many vets will do it, but you can start planning now.

I know you have made up your mind, but what you are doing is not in your cat's best interests.

seeker · 25/03/2013 06:03

You "don't believe in abortion" - Jesus wept! How stupid and irresponsible can you get?

tabulahrasa · 25/03/2013 23:30

One of my neighbour's cats had her first litter at that age... She was so thin afterwards it was shocking, she just couldn't eat enough to feed the kittens and keep her condition up at that age. She also completely stopped growing as well, I have one of the kittens and she's a tiny wee thing at 2.9 kg (she's 2 now) and she's visibly bigger than her mum and they may always have been petite, but the mum had visible hip bones at one point and I know she was being fed as well and as much as they could get her to take.

Honestly, I wouldn't let one of my cats go through that if I could prevent it.

HansieMom · 29/03/2013 23:24

You are supposed to feed kitten food until the cat is a year old. They need that extra nourishment as they are still a kitten.

RedwingWinter · 30/03/2013 20:34

OP, she is too young to have kittens and you still have time to do something about it. What will you do if she has eight kittens? What if you can't find homes for them all? If you have volunteered in rescue centres then you must have seen how many cats are euthanized each year for lack of homes - what if that is the fate of her kittens?

You have to put the health of your own kitten ahead of that her unborn ones. If you want to go ahead, you should read the advice on the FABcats website for cat breeders www.fabcats.org/breeders/index.php which includes advice about what you should consider before deciding to breed from a cat, and the health problems that you will need to watch out for. Also you should make sure you have some money set aside (or space on your credit card) because vet bills are expensive if anything goes wrong.

gobbin · 01/04/2013 13:50

Cor, the judgypants are on this morning looking at above posts!

Fact is, it's happened. Yes you've been daft letting the cat out un-neutered so now you've got to deal with it. The cat's not 'too young' to have kittens or it wouldn't have got up the duff! My rescue cat was 8 months when she had her kittens so she was still only 10 months when we took them all in. She was a bit thin but is now 4kg a few months down the line.

It's your choice poltagast whether the cat has her kittens or not. Whichever way, it's going to cost you, so you're going to have to just suck that down.
If you really want her to have them then be prepared for 2-8 kittens! As she's so young, there's a chance she'll only have a small litter, like my cat. If not, you're going to think where they're all going to go. You may end up with a few left with you if you can't find them all homes. The idea of getting her neutered now may not be comfortable for you, but imagine your house with multiple cats that nobody else wants and it may be the easier option.

Whatever you do, get her neutered asap before/after this litter and don't let her out til you do!! Good luck.

sleeton · 01/04/2013 14:47

poltagast I am sorry this has happened and I certainly don't want to flame you, but given that you thought that you had kept her safe but obviously not have you considered how you will manage to 'keep her safe' after she has had this litter.

It's not too late for you to reconsider and, while some cats may go on to suffer no lasting effects of an early litter, many will not. Having volunteered in animal rescue centers you will already be very, very aware of the lifetime of detrimental effects there can be from this. Are you sure you want to expose your little cat to this? Would you not reconsider?

If you really won't reconsider, then would you please perhaps consider allowing your cat to go into a Cat Protection League centre to give birth and to stay there until her kittens are fully weaned. I have come across this happening in a couple of centres and, if you would do that, then your little cat would indeed be kept safe ... there would be no second litter ... and the kittens could then be homed directly from the centre.

lurcherlover · 01/04/2013 16:42

Gobbin, some girls start their periods when they're 8. They could theoretically conceive. Are they ready, physically or mentally, for a baby, then? Bit of a flawed argument, no?

Op, animals don't have moral values. You can't equate this decision with a human abortion. Do you have the time, money and resources to hand-rear the kittens if mum dies, which at her age could well happen? They will need feeding every two hours round the clock, will you be able to do that?

gobbin · 01/04/2013 19:19

But we're not talking about an 8 yr old girl are we lurcherlover. No idea why you even brought that to the discussion as it's totally irrelevant. As you said yourself, cats don't have moral values, which is why the OP now has a young pregnant queen. Once they're sexually mature, they mate!

tabulahrasa · 01/04/2013 19:24

They aren't physically mature though - they haven't finished growing.

lurcherlover · 01/04/2013 20:14

My point was that just because young girls can conceive, their bodies are still not optimally ready for pregnancy. The same goes for juvenile animals.

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