Hi i'm just wanting abit of advise please i have a cat who i think is roughly 7 weeks pregnant she was a stray but we took her in but she managed to get out to a male we have stopped letting her outside now as she has abit of a belly but a certain male cat literally sleeps in our garden waiting for her to go out to him?any ideas why?aswell she is wanting to get outside all the time shouldn't she be wanting to nest?i can't really feel much in her belly apart from it being enlarged to the sides(above view) and is sometimes sensitive to you touching it........only positive comments please as last time all i got was negative just want some advise please....thanks....

Many pregnant cats seem to be attractive to male cats, I see it a lot with mine. I've no idea why. She won't start nesting yet.

Liz

She needs to be kept in all of the time now.

Second thing to do would be to get her to the vet for a check over. She might not be pregnant, the tenderness on her swollen tum might be a sign it's something else. My girl loved having her belly tickled and rubbed during pregnancy ... of course I know it's not the same for all, but I would definately get her checked out.

Having her de fleaed and wormed at the same time would also be a good idea. If she is pregnant it will hopefully offer the kittens some protection when they are born.

__________________

Hi,

I would suggest going to the vet getting the pregnancy confirmed and asking them to do either an x-ray or ultrascan this is for your piece of mind so you know exactly how many kittens are coming and exactly how many placenta's are going to follow.

Once the pregnancy is confirmed keep her in at ALL times, this is to save injury from herself and other cats. Keep her on a good diet (look for food that have a high meat content) so she can sustain nutrition throughout her pregnancy, PLEASE de-worm and de-flea her so the kittens have immunity from fleas/worms.

Set up a nesting area, be it a cat basket with the lid removed and filled with blankets or just a cardboard box with blankets. Tempt her into it (although usually cats tend to go to "hiding" areas).

When the time comes you will notice she follows you around (well my cat did), become very vocal and may even stop eating. HER mucus plug will come away and her waters "break" so to speak then her contractions may well start straight away or make take a few hours, once her contractions start you NEED to be watching and be ready to help her if she needs it. Some younger cats are not good with birth and have no maternal instincts.

As labour begins you will see the kittens come out in black fluid filled sacs, the mum will lick the sacs breaking them causing the fluid to "gush" out and the kitten taking its first breaths (make sure the sac is out of the kittens face, you can do this by softly rubbing it away with a towel). Mum should start licking the kitten stimulating the kitten to breath and the fluid to come out of their nose (if mum doesn't do this you will need to do it with a towel please remember the kitten is still attached via an umbilical cord so be gentle). The mum should then push out the placenta and eat it and then chew the umbilical cord (if she trys to chew it before pushing out the placenta pull the cord slowly *towards the floor* so the placenta comes out also - my vet told me to do this otherwise the placenta may be retained).

Once she's done all of this the kitten should move towards her nipples and start suckling while the labour carrys on, each suckle stimulates the contractions. If she is pushing for more than 45 mins and no kitten appears PLEASE get her to the vet.