No no nooo! Keona's pregnant :(

[September]

The final word from the vet-Keona is 100% definitely pregnant. I guess I was just hoping she was a lil fatty.. No such luck. This is terrible!! She's only 7ish months old, these babies could kill her! But my vet can't spay over the litter, because she isn't vaccinated. And by the time she had all her vaccinations, she'll already have given birth. Why do irresponsible let their pets get sick, or crippled, or pregnant, and then dump them out here in the country? Gah!

Okay, sorry for my full-on rant mode there, I'm a bit upset at whoever dumped her. But I do have a question-Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this pregnancy/birth easier on her, and lessen her chances of damage or death?

[Kirsty1987]

What animal is keona you didn't say and as its under other pets i guess its not a hamster :)

[September]

Oh my bad, lol I was a bit out of it when I first got the news. She's the stray cat we took in recently :) Looks like we actually took in about six or seven of them -_-

[Kirsty1987]

I just saw your thread for your other pets and realised keona is a cat i don't know a lot about pregnant cats my mate does her cat has had 3 or 4 surprise litters she really needs to get that girl spayed. But i did find this site if its any help to you :)

[Kirsty1987]

CARE OF THE PREGNANT CAT & KITTENS (http://moggycat13.tripod.com/id85.html) didn't work lol

[September]

Haha I got kinda confused for a minute. I'll go check that out :) thanks

[Arraminta]

sending you positive vibes and will be thinking of you and mum to be.. some people are just horrible and dont care about animals.. thank goodness people like you and us do..

please keep us updated with how you are getting on and how mum to be is.

hugs
Arraminta x

[September]

right now she's mad at me lol. She just found out being a mom to be won't keep her from getting sprayed if she makes a move for one of my little pets. Oh well, she rarely does anymore.

Will post a pic of her 'baby bump' later, gotta find my camera.

I'm just sooo scared she won't survive this pregnancy :( And if she and all her kittens do, what are we gonna do with them??

[Nuri]

Normally cats will know what to do, even first mothers. Give her a warm safe place, the right food, access to water, ect. Is she really sweet, or the kind that is very dependent on you?

If she is, she might even tell you when she's about to burst! Whether she tells you, or you just find her, stay with her and talk to her softly to help calm her. If she's not the kind that is very mobile, even pet her, but only on her head.

Did the vet tell you how far along she is? Since she is young, you might want to ask the vet if they can start doing house calls around the time she should burst, or if you could call her to your house when it starts happening. Since I'm /guessing/ you have never had a cat give birth on you, you won't know what to do if something happens.

Cats don't tend to eat their young, but I have heard of it happening. Young mothers also are sometimes so frightened by the experience that they might abandon their kittens. You need to be ready to take care of them, even if you only end up taking care of the runt. (While the runts tend to be weak in all cases, the young mother might be so overloaded by even just two or three kittens that the runt will need extra love.)

And that's about it that I can think of. Keep me updated? I've always had cats, both male and female, and have helped one give birth while she had a broken leg. I'm pretty sure I could be of some help to you, even if it's just general stuff.

[samzyzg]

I've only ever had cats when I was younger, but i'm sure she will be fine. My dads cat Lucy was a young mother, the vets told my parents they couldn't get her spayed until she was around 6months old (I think it was that) So they tried their best to keep her in but one day she made a nice little dash for the door, came back a few days later pregnant (not very sure how old she was exactly). We kept one of the kittens and rehomed the rest.

Wishing everything goes well :)

[Knotty]

Oh dear :( I'm actually allergic to cats but I wish I wasn't:(

[Mushiemallows]

A stray came into our garden and took food from us for a while until we found out she was pregnant. I'm not sure her age, but I do know she was REALLY young. It took her quite a while to recover from the pregnancy but she was perfectly fine afterwards (looked kinda adorable with her tiny frame but big tummy) and her kittens were perfectly fine. It's scary but do as much positive thinking as possible! x

[Womblehands]

If you run into any problems hun I know someone who is brilliant at cats, she takes in strays and also hand raises kittens so knows a lot on cats and young pregnancies.. Pm me if you need to.

[September]

Normally cats will know what to do, even first mothers. Give her a warm safe place, the right food, access to water, ect. Is she really sweet, or the kind that is very dependent on you?

If she is, she might even tell you when she's about to burst! Whether she tells you, or you just find her, stay with her and talk to her softly to help calm her. If she's not the kind that is very mobile, even pet her, but only on her head.

Did the vet tell you how far along she is? Since she is young, you might want to ask the vet if they can start doing house calls around the time she should burst, or if you could call her to your house when it starts happening. Since I'm /guessing/ you have never had a cat give birth on you, you won't know what to do if something happens.

Cats don't tend to eat their young, but I have heard of it happening. Young mothers also are sometimes so frightened by the experience that they might abandon their kittens. You need to be ready to take care of them, even if you only end up taking care of the runt. (While the runts tend to be weak in all cases, the young mother might be so overloaded by even just two or three kittens that the runt will need extra love.)

And that's about it that I can think of. Keep me updated? I've always had cats, both male and female, and have helped one give birth while she had a broken leg. I'm pretty sure I could be of some help to you, even if it's just general stuff.

Well, the closest I've come to having a cat give birth in my care was when I was little and someone dumped a pregnant kitty in our yard. But we didn't have to worry about pre-natal care, or have time to really prepare for the babies, as she gave birth like three days later. Luckily she was a good mother, and other than one still birth, all her babes were healthy and happy. But I was like 8 or something, so I don't think that helps.

I've only ever had cats when I was younger, but i'm sure she will be fine. My dads cat Lucy was a young mother, the vets told my parents they couldn't get her spayed until she was around 6months old (I think it was that) So they tried their best to keep her in but one day she made a nice little dash for the door, came back a few days later pregnant (not very sure how old she was exactly). We kept one of the kittens and rehomed the rest.

Wishing everything goes well :)

Thanks :) I'm sorta hoping mom will let me keep at least one of the kittens, but I don't know that she would. Or that Gypsy (our oldest cat) would lol.

Oh dear :( I'm actually allergic to cats but I wish I wasn't:(

Aww! I couldn't imagine being allergic to any animals. They're my life, and I hope to open a rescue when I'm older.

A stray came into our garden and took food from us for a while until we found out she was pregnant. I'm not sure her age, but I do know she was REALLY young. It took her quite a while to recover from the pregnancy but she was perfectly fine afterwards (looked kinda adorable with her tiny frame but big tummy) and her kittens were perfectly fine. It's scary but do as much positive thinking as possible! x

I will! Well, I'll try. I have anxiety-it's hard not to imagine worst case scenarios O.O

If you run into any problems hun I know someone who is brilliant at cats, she takes in strays and also hand raises kittens so knows a lot on cats and young pregnancies.. Pm me if you need to.

Thanks :) Just out of curiousity, what do you think the chance of me needing to handraise one or all of the kittens is?

[September]

Okay so I talked to my aunt (vet assistant) and she said she's about three weeks along, possibly four. And my moms best friend said she'd take one, as long as she could come as soon as they were born and 'call dibs' lol. Her logic-She's more important, she should get pick of the litter :) And my stepdad might take one (him and my mom are actually divorced, but he's still my stepdad, to me anyways)

As for Keona, she's a lot more cuddly than usual, and she's laying around more than she used to. Is that normal for expectant mothers?

[Nuri]

Them being a little kinder is normal for preggers cats. :) It's all the changing chemicals and stuff, getting them ready to be moms.

[GhostsInSnow]

She should be fine with her kittens hun :)
Last year our neighbours went on holiday and left us their keys so we could go in and feed their cats.
One of them was pregnant and gave birth just fine on her own. The only problem we ran in to was that she gave birth to one kitten in one place and the rest in another place, and as she didn't make any attempt to go find the kitten, we had to move it back to her.
Other than that, we just left the cat and kittens to it other than feeding (and sneaky pictures) Cats are pretty good and self-reliant with their litters :)

[September]

Thanks :) I'll keep that in mind. I plan to 'lock' her in the closet once it's closer to time, so that she doesn't hide them somewhere we wouldn't be able to find them, and where they might get hurt or something.

[September]

She gave birth this morning but the first-and so far only-kitten died. Does anyone know how I can tell if she's got any more inside of her? It's been about 7 hours since she had the first one.

[Bright_moon]

aww that's such a shame :( have any more kittens been born since you last posted?

[September]

No, and it's now been 24 hours. I personally don't think she has anymore, but I'm gonna keep her in her lil closet till tomorrow, just in case. Had to get her some food and water and a towel and put in the closet because we have so many animals out here that would try to kill her babies if they saw them.

[souffle]

I think you need to see a vet to have her checked in case there is a stuck kitten in the birth canal. Is she still pushing or anything? Is she feeding and drinking?

[September]

No more contractions, she isn't meowing and climbing the walls like she was (literally climbed a wall-took forever to get her down-kinda funny looking back now, but not at the time) and her stomach is squishy now, instead of tight. I want to get her x-rayed to see if there are any more, but I would worry what the radiation would do to her and any possible babies. I stayed up most of the night with her, massaging her belly in case one was stuck in the birth canal. But honestly, she's so young and small, I don't think she had more than one. Or maybe she had one more while we were at the hospital with my grandma and we just can't find it. I dunno.

[souffle]

The vet would be able to scan her rather than X ray and this would not harm any babies. A trained vet would likely be able to feel any kittens anyway without a scan even. To be honest if there were any more babies they would have been unlikely to have survived that length of labour anyway. It sounds as if her body was too young to stand the birth process.
Remember she will come in heat again very soon so get her along to the vets for spaying before she gets pregnant again and also to check her health. Don't let her out until she is spayed. The can come in heat even when suckling kittens!
I hope she is Ok and also that your grandma is OK too. Take care.

[September]

My grandma is good, thanks :) We don't exactly know what happened, she just collapsed and couldn't breathe and was throwing up, all that good stuff. But we took her to the hospital overnight and it's passed, whatever it was. They're gonna run some tests today but they think it was just a really strong virus combined with her weak immune system.

As for Keona, she was a stray that we were feeding for awhile, outside. She dissappeared for two weeks, and I'm basically positive that's when she got pregnant. After that I bought the collar and brought her in. We were making plans to have her spayed when she started showing signs of being pregnant, so our vet told us to hold off till after delivery.

I know the kittens probably wouldn't have survived, but, as cruel as this may sound, I don't really care about the kittens right now. It'd be great if any survived, I'd be overjoyed, don't get me wrong. But at this moment I really just care about keeping Keona alive. That's my main-and really only-focus.

My aunt (vet assistant for 20 years now) is going to come by on her way to work to feel for any stuck babies. If she feels anything even remotely kittenish, she'll take her to work with her.

[Bright_moon]

That's really good that your aunt is going to come by and check Keona over. I really hope Keona will be OK and that there are no more kittens in her. Oh, your poor Grandma, glad that she's feeling a little better.

Let us know what your aunt says.

[September]

it'll be another hour or two before she comes by. We're a wee bit out of the way. Keonas in my lap right now grooming herself. I keep feeling around her stomach, but of course I have no idea what a kitten feels like, so it isn't actually productive. But still, I feel like I need to be doing something, ya know?

Add: Okay, I'm still massaging her stomach just in case that helps, but now she's being completely still I can feel something that feels like a whole bunch of little bubbles popping against my hand. Any ideas what that could be???

[Bright_moon]

Yeah I know what you mean about wanting to just do something that feels useful.

Oh gosh, I've no idea what that could be.

[September]

Me either.. Will definitely have to ask my aunt when she gets here. My mom keeps telling me I'm overreacting, that the first kitten probably had a different dad than the others, so was older and therefore born earlier. I'm not buying it. I know they can have different dads, but I don't really see them being born this far apart.

[Bright_moon]

PS I've just looked on yahoo answers and someone who works in a vet clinic was saying that up to 24 hours in labour is normal for a cat but that they have known it take up to 36 hours.

[September]

Hmm.. that's a relief. Maaybe my moms right about me overreacting. But she didn't sit up almost all night with her in the hopes of stimulating labor. Poor Keona. If she is still pregnant, she can't be comfortable :/

[Bright_moon]

aw you're doing great! I'd be in such a panic!!

[September]

I'm trying not to panic lol. I'm always the 'calm' one in emergencies, like yesterday, I had to call 911 to ask for the ambulance because my mom was freaking out. And at the hospital I had to be the one to talk to the dr. So it's a very rare thing for me to let myself 'panic'.

In other news, I have no idea if she's pregnant or not! Confusing little kitty. She's taking a nap right now, but if she were still in labor wouldn't she be contracting? Breathing fast? Pacing? Something??

[Bright_moon]

aw you sound really good to have around in an emergency :)

dunno, but just found another post on yahoo answers and someone else's cat gave birth to one kitten and then another kitten came out three days later!

[September]

Haha, I try!

That's.. reassuring? I'd probably freak if she gave birth three days from now! :shock: Grr, I'm so impatient for my aunt to get here.

[Mikayla]

I rescued a cat who had two kittens, and then birthed a stillbirth kitten three days later.

Hope she's okay!!

[Bright_moon]

Grr, I'm so impatient for my aunt to get here.

So am I *hurry up September's aunt* lol :lol:

[September]

She seems to be doing good, just lazing around haha. And I'm beginning to wonder if my even remembered to call my aunt. *Sigh* I don't need to have kids lol. I'd probably die of anxiety+hypochondriac-ism... or whatever it's called :p

[September]

No more babies!! She said she'd probably still bleed/act pregnant for a few days, and that she might try to foster a stuffed animal or something (since she has no babies) and that she still needed to expel her afterbirth, but no more babies!

[Bright_moon]

aww that's good news!! aww do you have a stuffed animal you can give her?

[September]

Yeah, I have a kitten shaped one lol. So I'm thinking I'll give that to her if she starts 'searching' for her family. Then she can raise it for 8 weeks and be a happy lil momma cat haha.

[Bright_moon]

aw bless, that sounds perfect! You must be so relieved :)

[AJ Hamster]

I think she'd be ok, my family are very irritating when it comes to neutering pets so we have had quite a few of them. One of our cats was pretty much a kitten when she gave birth unfortunately only half survived but that's because she got stressed.
She was a fantastic mum until she got sick of one of her kittens not wanting to be weaned (even we struggled) and she ran away - we still have her other kitten now and he's nearly 13
Good luck with her, she's lucky she's got a home for the birth

[September]

I am! I mean, at first I did sort of hope she had another kitten, since the first one died. Would have been fun to watch it grow, and we already had my moms best friend saying she would take one, so just one would have been perfect. However, the more I sat with Keona last night, the more I did not want there to be another kitten in her. So yeah, much relief lol :D

[Bright_moon]

aw well at least you were prepared and had a home lined up just in case, but at least now you can just focus on giving Keona the best life :)

aw AJ Hamster that's a shame about your cat running away all those years ago, but I'm glad to hear that the kitten that you kept has done really well and is living to a really good age. :)

[September]

@AJ-So sorry! Didn't see your post as I was out of it this morning from sitting up with Keona. Sorry your cat ran away :/ stinks, don't it? At least you got to keep the lil kitten, and wow he's old! Well, okay, cats can live to be 20+ so I guess it isn't that old :p But our oldest is just 10 or 11, so that's a bit old to me lol.

@Bright Moon-Yep, now instead of me freaking out about her kittens, I can just spoil her rotten xD

[lucyeleanor]

We do have such a problem in this country with dumped cats, the animal sanctuary I work at is full of dumped kittens and pregnant mums at the moment. Kudos to you for taking her in, that was such a lovely gesture and really does help sanctuaries like us.

EDIT I am very sorry, I didn't realise there were several pages to this post until after I had written you a long reply. Very sorry to hear of the loss of your cats kitten, but that is unfortunately the way with many young mothers. Best wishes to her for the future x

[September]

Mhmm. She's still bleeding a bit, which has me worried, but my vet said that's normal, and that she should settle down in a day or two.

[Bright_moon]

Poor Keona :( I do hope that does settle down, I'd be worried too! Glad the vet thinks she will be fine though, at least that is some reassurance.