Exciting news - cat's first pregnancy - help/advice needed

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My little black cat is definitely pregnant. Although this is actually regrettable, as there is a surfeit of stray cats here and I should have got her spayed, I am secretly very excited as I have never had an animal that gave birth before.

Some background:
Lail is only half my cat. She’s basically a wild, alley cat, that I semi-tamed when I first saw her as a kitten about eight months ago. She’s now very tame with me, follows me around like a puppy, waits for me at night quite often, but sometimes I don’t see her for days while she roams the streets or whatever.

She’s still only just got used to being picked up and not freaking around other people, which is why I hadn’t managed to get her to the vet’s yet. Anyway I want her to stay half-wild, because being an expat I’m not likely to be around for as long as she is, so I want her to be able to survive on her own when I’m gone.

This complicates the pregnancy a bit.

(a) I’m not sure whether in the later stages she’ll want to be around me more, or go off on her own somewhere.

(b) The kittens will need to be independent - I will try to find them homes but there are zillions of cats here already desperately seeking owners so it might not be possible. They might have to end up as alley cats. So should I try to discourage her from birthing at my flat (small first floor flat - hence why I can’t take on a whole family of cats) and becoming too reliant on me?

Any advice, info and shared experience would be very welcome. I’m not sure how gone she is, but I think at least three weeks. She’s already bulging round the middle a bit, and her nipples are much bigger.

Looking forward to hearing from cat-experienced people and thanks in advance for any feedback!

2

And I forgot one question which I have searched the net for but can’t find out - what is the average number of kittens? What is the most/least for a smallish cat’s first pregnancy?

3

it doesn’t sound like you have any business dealing with this cat or her litter.

Are you going to be around to support the kittens (via mother) until at least 6 mos.? (should be 18 mos).

Until you can answer that question, the rest is irrelevant.

If 1000’s of cats are dying of malnutrution daily, and you won’t be around to support the kittens to adulthood… Is there really a question?

If you decide to care for the kittens, let us know…

4

I understood that kittens were usually weaned far younger than six months. When we had cats in the UK, we got them much younger as kittens (from good homes and breeders). I don’t know exactly how old they were, but certainly younger than six months.

Please note that this isn’t entirely my cat - she’s still half-wild. I feed her whenever I can (whenever I see her) but I don’t have the right living situation or working hours to provide her a 24/7 home. Nor does she seem to want one. She is basically a stray cat that I began feeding and tried to tame. I can’t put a cat-flap in my home (it’s on the first floor) nor can I realistically give up work for 18 months to supervise a family of cats!

What I had hoped to do was make sure this cat goes through the birth OK, then try to find good homes for the kittens as soon as they are ready to wean. I don’t meant to sound heartless, but if you saw how many stray cats there are just hanging round they alleys here, you would realise that this is a better option than most get. There is no way I can afford to have half a dozen kittens spayed as well as their mother - which is why I hope to find them good owners that can do this.

5

Google says 3-4 kittens are average for a first litter.

Sort of like Eric the Half a Bee?

6

Hmm. Sad news. I just rang Feline Friends, and they have advised that the kindest thing to do with a feral cat - or any cat here in Dubai - is to get it spayed, even if it’s pregnant. This is because there are just so many unwanted cats and kittens here it is nearly impossible to find homes for them. So I think that is what I will have to do. Better that than her kittens ending up in the alley I suppose.

Incidentally weaning for kittens is 6-8 weeks, for anyone else interested.

7

My kittens are weaning themselves - Squiggle (later renamed Mr Bigglesworth) starting pinching solid food from his mother’s plate at 4 weeks of age, and at 5 weeks 1 day is living the best of both worlds, though his mother is starting to give him the boot. The other two kittens are showing more interest in food but still aren’t eating much.

Incidently, cats don’t seem to be efficient food replicators. My two cats were eating half a can of food a day, so in theory two cats and three kittens would be eating roughly less than 1 can of food a day - yet they’re eating closer to 2 and a half cans and the mother cat is still looking dreadfully thin. Mr. Bigglesworth is the only kitten consuming a significant amount of solid food, and yet he’s only eating maybe a tablespoon’s worth at a time (once or twice a day), and the other cat is still eating the same as she used to, so most of 2 cans of food is going into the mother cat and through to three kittens.

The mother cat (Peace) was insistent that I help her through her labour. 24 hours before giving birth, she began calling me to come with her as she explored likely birthing places throughout the house - I showed her the nesting box in the broom closet, and she seemed happy with that. From that time on, she kept coming to me and getting me to sit in the broom closet with her for a while. This went on all day until 2:00am when her water broke - she cleaned herself so it didn’t leak everywhere. At 2:30am the first kitten was born, and I’ve never seen a cat look so happy and proud. The others were born at half hour intervals. She did a brilliant job, purred the whole time except while she was pushing. I was impressed! She knew to clean them up, cut the umbilical cord and eat the placenta (yuk), all I had to do was sit there and be thrilled.

It was a great experience. I had never before seen anything born. It felt great to know that Peace wanted me with her - I read online that cats that really trust their owners want them there. Peace came into my home when she was already a few months old and had had a rough time so she’s always been shy. I was touched that she showed so much trust in me at the end of her pregnancy. That last week she was pregnant we really bonded - she spent most of it lying on my lap while I stroked her belly for her. It was lovely! And such a contrast to the harried, nervous and exhausted little mother I see today! Poor Peace. She’s sick of motherhood already!

www.mbtree.com/kittens - yes, they have their own webspace :slight_smile:

8

Cazzle that was a wonderful story! I am still in a huge dilemma to spay now or spay later and let her have the kittens. I have already found one (and possibly two) people who would give a home to a kitten. Fingers crossed I will find more. Lail has such a lovely nature that I am sure her kittens would make wonderful pets.

9

Forgot to mention, Istara, we took Peace to the vet when she was about 4 or 5 weeks pregnant, and the vet was able to confirm that there were at least three babies by having a feel of her tummy. She said she couldn’t be sure if there were more hiding up the back, but she was positive that there were at least three. Well, she was spot on - two grey kittens (Cuddles and Punkin) and a black one (Squiggle aka Mr Bigglesworth).

10

Not to ruin your fun, but I really hope you go ahead and have her spayed now, terminating her pregnancy.

I work at a humane society in the United States, where we take in 9,000+ animals each year. Our staff has to euthanize 6000+ of these animals each year, and it’s terrible work for them, and it’s a terrible thing to do to the animals. The only reason we do it is because it’s kinder than letting the animals die of malnutrition, cars, and disease on the streets.

I know that kittens are about the cutest thing ever, and I know that it’s a wonderful experience to attend a birth. However, it’s the kittens who will suffer: given the cat overpopulation problem you describe in UAE, they’re likely to live short, brutal lives if you decide not to spay the mother.

Even if you can find good homes for the kittens, consider whether the folks who take them in will get them sterilized: if not, you’re pushing the problem back one generation. Rather than asking folks to take in these kittens, how about encouraging folks to adopt kittens, either from a shelter/pound or from the street?

For more information, check out the Humane Society of the United States’ articles on pet overpopulation. They’re specific to this country, but it sounds as if the problem in the UAE is even worse.
http://www.hsus.org/ace/11829

Good luck, and I’ll get off my soap box now! :slight_smile:

Daniel

11

Totally a side note, since it appears you have decided to have her spayed (the best thing IMHO), but feral or semi-feral cats will normally have their kittens in a hidden place and keep the kittens hidden for several weeks if they can. This is what the barn cats always do even though we feed them, handle them, and they are quite friendly.

12

Thanks all for your advice, it has been really interesting and helpful.

I am not anti-abortion or euthanasia, but I am still having a massive dilemma in deciding whether to spay her now she is pregnant. This is because Lail seems to know she is pregnant, it has made her more docile, she rolls around much more revelling in having her tummy rubbed, follows me around more than ever, and has been seeking “nesting” areas.

I am caught between two cruelties: the cruelty of forcibly ending a natural, instinctive process for my cat, which - and I am not trying to over-anthropomorphise her, but reading Cazzle’s account I can really relate to it - the cat is clearly enjoying. Or the cruelty of bringing more unwanted kittens into the world (which even if I find homes for will deny currently-alive kittens and cats the chance of those same homes).

I have decided that if she has the kittens, I will pay to get them all spayed (or give the money to the owners to get them spayed when they are old enough). Any owner nice enough to take a kitten would certainly be responsible enough to ensure this is done - also there’s no way they would want to be stuck with the kitten problem I could have. Also I believe to register a cat here you have to have them spayed.

Any more feedback would be appreciated. I am most concerned about the mental damage it could do to Lail to have her spayed at this stage. I am not sure how far gone she is, but I think at least a month and maybe more.

13

Having lived with cats whose kittens are taken away from them, I can tell you that some of them are driven insane by the experience. They’ll carry socks around the house for years as if the socks are their kittens, and attack viciously anyone who tries to take the socks away. Allowing her to give birth and then taking the kittens away from her is no guarantee of her sanity.

It’s a strange phenomenon: people that start working for animal shelters almost invariably become spay/neuter zealots. Even if you find good homes for these cats, those are homes that instead could have taken in other kittens. If there’s such an overpopulation problem where you live, why would you want to add to the problem?

When I was writing one of the faqs for our shelter, I answered this question specifically:

http://www.ashevillehumane.org/overpfaq.htm#onelitter
[h1]I’m a responsible pet owner, and I’d like my cat to have one litter before I spay her. What’s wrong with that?[/h1]
**We understand the desire to let your pet become a parent. Some people want their children to learn about the miracle of birth by watching the family pet have a litter. Baby animals are also adorable, of course, and many people even believe that a animal must become a parent in order to mature properly. While this belief is completely untrue (in fact, many animals develop neuroses when their children are taken from them), we understand and appreciate the sentiment behind it.

It is our affection for young animals, in fact, that makes us so passionately opposed to pet owners allowing their companions to have “just one litter.” Because of overpopulation, we are forced to euthanize wonderful puppies and kittens almost every day, and we hate doing it.

We often must euthanize entire litters whose owners were trying to teach children about birth, or who were trying to give their pets a “natural” life. These owners have not considered what their abandonment of the puppies or kittens will teach their children about the value of living beings, or how the abrupt loss of her young will affect the mother. And even when owners are able to find homes for an entire litter, these are homes that might otherwise have been opened up to the animals at the shelter.

We cannot escape the math. Each extra pet brought into the world will, as long as we have a pet overpopulation problem, represent one animal that will be euthanized. Please have your pets sterilized today.
**

14

Damn! That last post was me, logging on from Burundi’s computer. Sorry about that!
-Daniel Withrow

15

Another issue nobody has brought up, the health of the mother and the kittens.

I personally would never taken a kitten from anyone I know until the cat has had full blood work and it’s first shots - I already have a cat and I would worry about her health. Feral cats can have parisites, and some nasty illnesses to boot. Feline Leukemia is contagious and deadly - as well there is FAIDS. I would caution against adopting the kittens out - take her or wait till kittens are born and take them and her to the humane society in the sad case that they are not well you would not want to condem a friend’s cat to a contagious illness.

16

Daniel - when you say that taking a litter away from a cat can drive them insane, do you mean taking them away before they are weaned? Or do you mean taking them away even after say 8-10 weeks could permanently upset the cat?