Expert: W - 10/25/2008

Question
Altogether I have 5 cats. 3 fixed (males) and 2 not fixed (male and female). I am wanting my (female) calico pregnant, but she is only 5 months old and I'm afraid that it would be too hard on her. I also have a pure black (male) cat and he's only 2 months old. I'm wondering how old he has to be before he can get my female cat pregnant. I've also read that you have to keep the male and the female away from each other after the female is pregnant. I don't live in a very big place so I don't have that much space to separate them, let alone enough time. I really don't want the male to spray all over everything and my house smell unbearable. I had gotten rid of the two cats for a couple days out to some nice Amish people, but then took them back. There are many tom cats there that had not been fixed yet and I wonder if she may be pregnant from one of them. I think that she has already gone through heat. She's a lot more tired and calm and wants more attention... but it was only 2 or 3 days ago. I highly doubt that she would be giving off any signals that she was pregnant already, but I'm not a vet.

Answer
It is impossible to tell for at least 21 days if a cat is pregnant, tehn the nipples would start to turn pink and enlarge.
5 months old is still too young for a first litter.
The male can be prevented from mating with the entire female if you buy some cat pants and have him wear them around the house. He can go to the toilet in them but cannot mate. They are like big nappies and do work
Also it is unlikely the male will be interested until he is about 9 months old or more



Regards

ray