Expert: Norman Auspitz - 9/16/2010

Question
My cat had kittens on June 1, 3 beautiful healthy kittens who all went to very good homes mid august. I believe she's pregnant again, we were going to get her spayed after weaning her kittens and tried VERY hard to keep her inside but my 2 1/2 year old son let her out and we were sure she was pregnant again due to an again growing tummy. Now almost 5 weeks later she is huge!! Almost twice as big as with her last litter. My concerns being that her tummy is large and fairly firm but I'm having allot harder time feeling the kittens and have not felt any movement from them, she only let's me touch her tummy for a minute or so before walking away. She is much more distant than she was with her first litter, I'm guessing because of the amount of noise and commotion that my son makes, she will come sit with me and my husband while we are watching TV but she goes to an empty room if we are moving around cooking, cleaning, ect.

She also had a hard time when we gave away the last litter to their new homes with in 3 days of each other. For 2 weeks she would wander my house calling for them, especially at night. Is this because she was pregnant again? Most people said 8 weeks before giving them away I asked the vet and she said 8-10 weeks and we gave them at the end of the 10th week so almost 11 weeks.Just wondering if maybe thats why she's being more distant? Through her whole first pregnancy she slept on my bed and now she's sleeping on the couch:(

Answer
Naomi,

As to giving away kittens, I think a better minimum age is 12 weeks! They should have all their shots before going to a new home.  You can wean kittens at 6 weeks of age.  I would then have her spayed as soon as possible after that.  You need to be vigilant to not let her out or you will go through all this again.  Females often have a "lactation" heat about 4-5 weeks after giving birth and they can be impregnated at that time.

I suspect some of her behavior is because she has not really recovered from the last pregnancy and birth before getting pregnant again. She is probably feeling rather puny these days.

Best regards... Norm.