Expert: Becky - 11/9/2006

Question
i rescued TWO female cats after my neighbors moved away and left them. they have been in my home for about 3 weeks and have a very noticable weight gain, VERY hard tummies!!! they were NOT use to eating on a regular basis, going through garbage aside from us giving them cat food on the front porch from time to time. they not eat both side(of a regular 2-sided cat dish) 6 to 8 times a day between them. are they BOTH pregnant or could it possible be that they are eating so much because of the fact they just aren't use to eating on a regular basis.p.s. we just raised newborn kittens we found in our crawl space over the 4th of july weekend so that doesn't scare me at all just need to know how to care for 2 pregnant cats, if in fact, they are pregnant

Answer
Hi Melissa!
Of course, I have no way of knowing for sure, but it sounds like they are both pregnant! Lucky you!!  haha
Actually, I really admire you for adopting these cats. It just infuriates me that someone could be so callous to just up and move away, leaving their pets behind!  On top of that, they were careless in not getting them spayed, so now they are pregnant.  That is probably why they left them behind!  It is just so sad that some people treat animals like something that is disposable!
If they are pregnant, you will find out soon enough. Keep feeding them a good diet.  Who knows, they could just be so used to scrounging for food, that they are thrilled to get a decent diet!
I found a really good site that talks about adopting strays that are pregnant. Go here to read about it.  I think it gives some really good advice.  Just copy and paste it to your browser.
http://cats.about.com/cs/pregnancybirth/a/pregnancybirth.htm

Good luck and I know God will bless you for taking care of His little animals.
Becky