How can I tell if my cat is pregnant?
The average length of pregnancy in the cat is 65 days (with a range from 64 to 68 days). The clinical signs include initially:
- Increased body weight
- Abdominal enlargement
- Mammary (breast) development from about day 40
Diet:
- In the second half of pregnancy there is an increased food intake, but a pregnant cat has an increased need for nutrients and energy right from the start. The extra nutrients can be provided by increasing the amount of her normal diet, or by feeding a more concentrated one.
- When a cat's feeding kittens, she will need a diet that is very digestible, has good quality protein as well as lots of calories! Fresh water must always be available.
The vet usually diagnoses pregnancy through:
- Abdominal palpation. Individual swellings can be felt in the abdomen from approximately day 21. These are separate swellings for each kitten until about 30 days after mating, when it feels like one enlarged uterus (womb).
- The kitten’s heartbeats can usually be heard through a stethoscope in late pregnancy.
- The enlarged uterus can be detected by X-rays 30 days after mating, and the kittens skeletons will show up on an X-ray 40 days after mating.
- ltrasound examinations will show the kittens from 12 days after mating.
When she is ready to give birth, she may show any of the following signs:
- Lack of eating
- Looking for solitude
- Nest making
- Colostrum (watery milk) leaking from the teats
The first stage of labour includes:
- Muscle contractions of the uterus (womb)
- Restlessness
- Panting
- Nest making
- Anorexia, shivering and vomiting
- Vocalisation and grooming
- It usually lasts between 1 and 12 hours. If this is her first litter, it may last up to 36 hours.
The second stage of labour lasts 3 to 12 hours. The signs include:
- Uterine muscle contractions
- Crouching or lying posture
- Water sac appearing at the vulva. The queen may rupture this herself
- Usually, the first kitten takes the longest to be born
- They are born within another sac that the queen ruptures. If she does not it needs to be ruptured quickly
You should contact the vet if:
- The kitten is not born within 30 minutes of the appearance of the first sac at the vulva
- The queen is straining unproductively for over an hour
- The queen becomes weak, and the straining is unproductive
- More than 2 hours have elapsed since the birth of the last kitten, and there are more on their way! There is a red/green discharge and no kittens are being born
- This stage of labour lasts for longer than 12 hours
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