Pregnant "Stray" Cat ..

[Panamasammii]

Hello ...

I know nothing about cats ... So I am coming to BW for help, as this is the first place I always come for helpful advice!!.

I work in a place calle Valle Escondido .. this translates as Hidden Valley .. it is a Retirement Haven,a gated community with golf course and a Resort, consisting of 4 Cabañas for rent..

About 8 months ago .. Two "stray" Calico cats appeared, and took a liking to the resort, and have decided to stick around. Actually it may have been my fault that they stuck around, as I fed them .. they were both so scrawny I felt sorry for them. So for the past 8 months they have lived here and everyday when I come to work I feed the cats.. They have become used to me, and when they see me coming they miaow!! but I have not built up enough trust with them to be able to get close enough to touch them.

For the past few weeks I noticed that one of the females was eating alot, and demanding food more often, I also noticed that she was getting a little portly around the middle .. So I am asuming that she is pregnant??

The thing is, that now she is venturing into the Resort Offices and miaowing more and more often for food ... she has also just comes into the office to lie on the rug!.. and miaows and miaows ? Is she trying to tell me something??! I do not know how far along she is and I haven't the faintest idea of what to do if and when she goes into labour.

Should I try to catch her, and take her somewhere else to have her babies? Or should I just leave her to take care of it herself .. She is a wild cat .. I just hate the idea that I may not have done her any favours by offering the regular food..

Can anyone offer me some advice?

 

[Shakira's Ma]

I have ended up with a lot of cat pets over the years by doing just what you did, feeding them. Most of these cats were pregnant, I found responsible homes for the babies and spayed their moms and kept them until they went to the bridge, never ever regretted it because I felt bad for them also because they were skin and bones when they were dumped off here. I would probably be inclined to let the mother cat decide where she wants to have her babies and not confine her anywhere as she will be upset if she is wild. If you are planning on keeping her then kind of keep an eye out as to where she seems to want to nest, we have actually had one cat that gave birth to her first kitten on my daughter's lap. As hard as it may be to believe, sometimes these cats need help giving birth, I have actually had to help remove the sacs from kittens before as they were coming so fast the mom couldn't keep up. Good Luck with the future little kitty family and if you decide to let the cats stay around I hope that you will consider spaying them because if they are both calico then they are both females, a male calico is never heard of.

 

[Cami]

Just a footnote here, I have had a few different calico's that were males. Nearly 98% of tortoise cats are females. They do resemble calico's. Another thought was that aside from the weight gain she may be in heat and not pregnant? A female in heat can drive you crazy with all the meowing! Is she perhaps sticking her bottom end up in the air at all while doing this? If so that could be the reason and the fact that you are now feeding her may just be the cause of the weight gain. I hope she is not pregnant but if so then I am sure you will help her through it. Good-Luck!

 

[lafsalot]

Wow Cami, calico male cats are very rare! I seem to recall reading somewhere that they are always sterile because their coloring was due to a genetic defect. Were you able to breed yours? ~ Cathy
.

 

[Kylie_L]

I am also like you, i am constantly feeding the cats where i live, and IMO i think you should put her in a safe comfortable place until she has her kittens. If she has them out by herself the kittens will be wild and will take a lot of coaxing for them to tame down and you stand a chance of when there older of them becoming pregnant as well. They will also be a lot easier to find great homes for if they are tame, and not soon after she has weaned the kittens she will fall back into heat and become pregnant again. Hope this helped

 

[megan313]

off subject...

I found this when searching (according to http://absolutelycats.tripod.com/22Calico.html)

"And are all calico cats females? Well, the majority of them are. For very complicated genetic reasons, it takes two X chromosomes for a cat to be a tortoiseshell or calico cat. A male would have to possess two X and one Y chromosomes to be a calico cat. This can happen, but very rarely. According to a study at the College of Veterinary Medicine in Missouri, one out of 3,000 calico colored cats is male. This oddity occurs in humans, too. The males, in both cases, are usually sterile."

 

[Panamasammii]

Thanks for all the advice about "my" cat! .. oopps I also assumed that Calico was the name of the breed ... Now I know!!!

I am definitely sure that she is pregnant and not just on heat .. she has grown bigger even in these last few days... I have not been able to find where she has made her nest (If she has one?) but I have decided to leave her be and wait until the Kitties appear .. One of my co workers has offered to take her to her house, and to get her fixed, also we have started to find homes for the little ones too!! I know that we could not possibly allow them all to stay here, as I am sure there will be some inbreeding?

I wish I could take this little cat to my home, but my two boxer babies are WAY too boysterous, and already bother my cat maurice ... I am not sure that taking a wild cat into this environment would help her!! They would not mean her any harm... they just like to play!!!!!

Again, thanks for the help, as always my BW friends come through for me!

 

[brwneyesk8]

It's been helpful reading all of the responses you've gotten to your question. Thank you for posting it!
I'm in a similar situation (although I haven't been feeding her) with a preggers kitty near my apartment. Now I have lots of good advice to use in helping her! Thanks everyone.