Expert: Marcia Owen - 11/9/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

Its been around 3 weeks since my female persian mated. Today I noticed six of her nipples changed in color and became longer! While the top 2 nipples remained the same in size and color. Is this a sign that she is pregnant?

Note: When I touch her pinking nipples they would turn white, but as soon as I let go they would return to pink color. Attached is a photo of one of her nipples (In real it is deeper in color).

Any advice would help

Thanks

ANSWER: Congratulations!  It would certainly seem your cat is pregnant.  Now you will be counting the weeks until she is due.  I would suggest that you look through the already answered questions for more information of how the pregnancy should go and if you have any more questions then do come back to me.  

She will start to eat more, sleep more and generally take life easier from how on.

Marcia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Wow!! I'm excited! Thank you so much..

After my cat reaches the 2nd month of pregnancy, I should switch her food to kitten food. So I was wondering, should I feed her "baby cat food" (up to 4 months old kittens), or "kitten food" (4months to 12 months old)?

btw, I feed my cats Royal Canin

Thanks

Answer
I don't feed my cats anything different to what I would normally.  By changing her diet to kitten food, you could upset her stomach which is not what is needed when they are pregnant.

Just keep your girl on normal food - Royal Canin is a good quality food so you shouldn't need to change it at all.  Just reserve the kitten food for the kittens when they are weaning.

Marcia.