MY stray is going to have babies....

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

I thought maybe my little stray girl.. (which I am calling Macy) was finally starting to plump up from getting decent meals at my house... but she is pregnant. Her little belly is getting so round and I am pretty sure she is pregnant. I guess the only good news from this is I think Eric will let me bring her inside once the kittens are born.

I got some questions however.....

What are the chances of Macy using the litter box when I bring her in?

How long after she has the kittens can I get her spayed?

I can't wait to see the little babies. Please be praying that Eric will let me bring her and the babies in once they're born. HE WILL GET SO ATTACHED I AM SURE....

Maybe I will get a chance to be a foster mom after all.


I will try and take some pictures today to show you guys. SHE IS SUCH A PRETTY KITTY!!!!

[catlover4ever]

Sara, I would suggest that when you bring Macy in or even before if you have a spot set up for her, bring a litter box to her, place her in it and take her paw and "dig" for her....I think she will get the idea that that is the place to do her business. I did that with Tucker, Mystic and Abner and they never had an accident in the house.

I have never had the privledge to have a pregnant momma but my mom's Tiger-Lily had her kittens and we had her spayed about 2-3months after she had her litter.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

Sara, I would suggest that when you bring Macy in or even before if you have a spot set up for her, bring a litter box to her, place her in it and take her paw and "dig" for her....I think she will get the idea that that is the place to do her business.

thanks for the idea... i will try that. I got her a little box on the porch with some towels in it... I have never actually seen her in it but she goes in it every once in a while and scratches the towels out... I guess I will put the litter box next to the little box house.

[jenluckenbach]

Yes, definitely bring her in BEFORE she delivers so she will fell comfortable.
She is very likely to use a litter box as long as it is convienient (not to far away). She will want to protect the babies which to her will include covering up any evidence of her whereabouts.
Spaying should be 2 weeks after she WEANS the kittens.

If you cannot bring her in before the babies are born, please try to find someone who will. You may not see hide nor hair of them after the birth as she will move them around for their safety. AND if you wait too long they will not be tamable and the cycle of unwanted kittens will go on.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

Thanks for the advice Jen...

How long is the gestation period for cats?

[catlover4ever]

The gestation period for a cat is an average of 65 day. Kittens born on the 63rd or 69th day fall within hte normal range.

[moosmom]

Great advice here. As for Eric, he needs some training in compassion. Good luck there!!

[Killearn Kitties]

You have already had good advice on the questions you asked, but I thought I would tell you about the time we had a feral mother coming to our garden to be fed.

We didn't manage to trap her before she had her litter, although she was coming to the garden twice a day to be fed. When it came time to give birth, she hid herself away, probably in a wooded area close to our house. She still came 2 or 3 times a day for food. When the kittens were 9 weeks old she brought them to the garden to be fed. This time luck was with us and we managed to trap mother and kittens after about two weeks. Mother was spayed and the kittens got their first injections.

We then put the kittens into a pen while we tried to find homes for them. They used the litter tray instantly. It's amazing to me that an outdoor cat recognises a plastic box full of grit as a toilet, but ours certainly did. They didn't need any encouragement from us. Here's a picture of them in their pen.

Absolute darlings they were!!

Good luck with your Macy. I'd love to see a picture of her.

[catmandu]

Female Cats are far more inclined to use the Litter Box,as in the wild they are hiding themselves from Predators.Whereas the Male Cats leave thier droppings , on top , uncovered to show dominance! Good luck with Your stray and Family.

[luckies4me]

Please try to convince your husband to bring her in BEFORE she has her kittens. It's starting to get colder out and the babies could pass away quickly, there are also predators out there, plus the later you trap the kittens the harder it is to tame them. It would be a sad thing if a fereal colony were started. We have too many of those already. Perhaps you should take her to the Humane Society. She needs somewhere safe to have her kittens, please make sure she has them inside.


I have worked with several feral cats and kittens and have raised several kittens from the bottle. With feral kittens you must handle them even if they do not like it, whereas with older cats you just try as hard as you can not to force them, and either they come around or they don't. I have had a huge success taming even older feral with a little love and compassion, as well as food.

I remember clearly one of my rescued feral kittens. She was out in the back alley one day with her mother. I took a can of cat food and kept throwing the food closer to me, and when she turned her head I grabbed her by the scruff and took her inside our apartment. I was 16 at the time. Every night she would call for her mother, who would sit under my bedroom window and they would talk to eachother. I often thought it sad to hear this, but I knew that I did the right thing because she was inside, safe, fed and loved. Her mother unfortunately got squished between an electric fence in the apartments behind us, which is where the alley is. One neighbor even went as far as poisoning the ferals there.

I was the only one who fed and cared for those cats. I felt even better after the kitten was diagnosed with a heart problem, and I knew that if she would have stayed feral there would have been no way she would have survived.

I took in two more litters that year. One of which the mother had out in plain site (and the kids in the area were not too nice) under a dumpster. As much as the mom protested to me taking her babies, I took them inside and fostered them. All found great homes! Another litter had bad luck after I found them dead bolt locked in a water heater wooded box. We had to get a flashlight and actually use a crowbar to break open the box to free the kittens. For the longest time I could hear them crying but I could not find them anywhere, until I got to the box and knew they were in there. Luckily they all survived, but I was very angry at whomever put them in there to rot!


I totally went off subject, but whenever the topic of ferals comes up it just pulls at my heartstrings. It's just not a way you want a cat to live.

I am very passionate about ferals, and as you know my new kitten Ewok was a bottle baby who would have been feral if he were not brought to me to bottle raise.

Make sure you get some good quality kitten food to feed her since she will need all the extra calories and protein she could get. I would suggest getting some KMR milk replacer and a couple bottles just in case something goes wrong and you need to bottle feed the kittens. You can also try offering her some Nutrical as well, which is a high calorie palatable supplement which you can get through your local vet or Petsmart.


Good luck and let us know how it goes. But please again, if you cannot take her inside please find someone who will. If my bf were to suggest otherwise, I would throw him outside and the cat would sleep on my bed! Naughty naughty men! Of course, Dan adores cats so I wouldn't have a problem there thank goodness!

[luckies4me]

Another thing I want to suggest is that if you do take her inside either test her to FIV/FELV first or keep her seperated from the others and make sure you keep a very strict cleaning regimen. As in washing your hands EVERY time you move between her and your cats as you wouldn't want to infect your cats with any potentially fatal disease. Perhaps you can take her to the vet beforehand to make sure all is well? If not I would suggest a Humane Society or try to contact a Feral Cat Coalition close by, or perhaps they have a Stray Cat Alliance near you as well.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Oh how exciting, Sara...and scarey! I know Eric will do the right thing and let you bring her in, but like others have mentioned, I would keep her separate from T & J until you can get her tested.

Other than that, I have no advice and just wanted to say good luck with her and with Eric. I know, too, that once she's in and has her babies that at least 1 of them will have found a forever home with big sis & bro T & J because Eric will certainly become attached and won't be able to give them all up.

Good luck and please keep us posted, and pics too please.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

Another thing I want to suggest is that if you do take her inside either test her to FIV/FELV first or keep her seperated from the others and make sure you keep a very strict cleaning regimen.

yeah... i am going to put her in the spare room... and I always wash after I pet her!

[catland]

You should also be able to tell if she is pregnant instead of just a bad case of worms by checking out her nipples. (if she will let you). By now the fur around them should be thinning out at they should be more pronounced and pinker. Compare them to Tinky to get a comparision.

If/When she has her kitties - its nice if you can start to give them human contact from an early age so that they can become more social and friendly.

[Miss Meow]

Good luck with Macy. I hope everything works out with bringing her inside and getting her vet checked