Expert: Marcia Owen - 8/10/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dear Ms/Mrs,

I wanted to ask you, that how old do female cats go out searching for a guy, and how long do they go out for?

Jimmy

ANSWER: Every cat becomes sexually mature at a different age but anything from 5 months old.  As to how long they will go out for, again they are all individual but a cat can be in season from 3 days to 10 days so anywhere in between.

Marcia

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

QUESTION: Hi Marcia,

I would like to ask you, what is the sign that cats are pregnant. E.g. Calls, Licking etc.

Thank you and the last answer is very helpful.

Answer
The normal signs of a pregnant cat show at around 3/4 weeks after mating.  The classic sign in a girl that has never had kittens would be an enlarging of the nipples and they will also go a dark pink.  After that they will start to fatten in the abdomen area and at around 6/7 weeks you should be able to feel the kittens kicking when the cat is relaxed.  You can of course have the cat scanned by the vet before they start kicking if you wish to know sooner but this is not an accurate way of telling the number of kittens.  Its also not a good idea to have them scanned too early to be sure of an answer, but around 5 weeks is an optimum time.

Regards

Marcia.