My cat is 10 years old and was fixed when young. She’s never had any kittens. Yet just the other day I noticed that she’s developed two teats on her lower abdomen.
As I understand it, cats only develop teats when they’re pregnant. One teat for each kitten they’re expecting. So she shouldn’t have any.
OK, I know I should take her to the vet, and I will call for an appointment first thing Tuesday (I would have to notice this at the beginning of a 3-day weekend). She’s due for a checkup anyway.
I’m mostly wondering what’s the most likely cause of this. False pregnancy due to a tumor? Estrogen in her diet? Actually (and inexplicably) being pregnant?
And before anyone asks for pictures, I don’t have a digital camera, so there won’t be any. Sorry.
One teat for each kitten they’re expecting? I’ve never heard that, sounds like an old wives’ tale. Your cat could have tumors or a hormone problem causing it. Has she had the opportunity to get pregnant? Have you got an intact male in the house? Let her run loose outside unsupervised? Take her to the vet, we on the boards have really got no way of knowing.
Well there is such a thing as a botched hysterectomy, or a vet who lies. Or a previous owner who lies. I’m not saying that’s true, just that you never know.
Actually teats, as in her nipples are getting larger? Or just flaps of fatty tissue along the milk line? I had a spayed cat who was 15 or 16 when she was put to sleep, and for the latter 5-7 years of her life, she had was we referred to as “Bitch tits” - lines of fatty tissue along the milk lines down both sides of her belly, just like a female cat gets after she’s done having kittens. The vet investigated them several times, and advised us they were just like men sometimes get when they put on weight - fatty tissue that builds up around the milk ducts, aka “Bitch tits”
Get her checked out, but if it’s not mammary tumors it may just be related to middle-aged spread.
This looks like the answer. Thanks Sierra. Cat is definitely going on a diet starting now.
As for the one teat per kitten, I was confused by something I read. It seems that kittens usually have a prefered spigot, which they use almost all the time. After a while, the unused teats dry up, so a momma cat ends up with only one teat per kitten. But that happens a couple weeks after the litter is born.