Expert: Marcia Owen - 8/27/2007

Question
Ok, so me and my mom found a cat on the side of the road, and she is pregnant. First she was really skinny but that was a month ago. How can you tell when she might have the kittens, we have never had a pregnant cat before?

Answer
Hi Jessica

Well you are in for some fun in the next few weeks.  The pregnancy is approximately 9 weeks (actually 63-65 days) though there are variations with individual cats as indeed there is in humans.

It will be difficult to decide how soon before your girl actually has her kittens as we have no idea when she was mated.  However, their nipples become larger and very pink at around the 3 week stage and then her tummy will grow progressively larger over the next few weeks.  At around the 6 week stage you should be able to feel and see the kittens moving when mum is relaxed.  When she is getting near to kitten (anything from a week from kittening) she will start looking for somewhere to have her babies.  I would make sure that you have a couple of cardboard boxes available and ensure that they are dark for her as cat mums do like to feel secure and cosy.  Provide her with plenty of newspaper to dig in and to tear up to make her nest as this will be easily disposed of afterwards.  

When she is nearly ready to kitten she will get very restless and if she has really bonded with you she may follow you round and want you with her all the time.  Some cats may just go off to the nest on their own so you will have to be watchful of where she is.  At this point I would be ready to put some towelling or old clothes in the box as a blanket for her.  

Then its over to nature, though I would try to remain with her to give her reassurance and to be on hand if something doesn't seem right.  Once she starts pushing in earnest, if a kitten hasn't appeared in two hours, then I would recommend having a word with your vet to make sure something isn't going wrong.  If she is a first time mum she may not know to clean their faces off so that they can breath or to sever the cord when the placenta is passed so you may need to do these things for her.  You can tear the cord with your nails by pulling towards the kitten so that you don't pull on the kitten too much.

Good luck and do hope you have a litter of lovely troublefree babies.

Marcia.