by Danielle Edwards

Created on: March 06, 2007   Last Updated: November 22, 2009

We have had the joy of baby cats (as my son of 22 months likes to call them) twice, the first time our 18 month old cat gave birth to five teeny tiny bundles of kitty joy and our second cat pregnancy is currently in progress as I type this.

The first time our Tortoise Shell cat Scout fell pregnant we knew before it got to the signs and symptoms stage, we didn't have a cat flap and had to get up to let her out. When she was wanting to mate she made a really low pitched whining noise and scraped at the door, she was really out of sorts. Also, all the non neutered male cats in the area took up camp in our back garden, the smell of man cat spray was overpowering and it was a little bit scary to see your garden over run with fat randy cats.

She was eventually caught by a big black and white tom. Nothing really changed straight away. After a few weeks, her nipples became very pink and swollen, she tended to spend a lot less time with the other cats and want more attention and strokes from the big pink people. Her weight gain wasn't that noticeable but she really ballooned towards the end. Throughout the pregnancy her appetite increased and she slept a lot more. At the end she was so big she could barely walk. On the night she gave birth (a week after I had given birth to my son) she was making a grunting noise and trying to burrow into the sofa, actually underneath the main cushions. We put her into a room on her own with food, litter tray, water etc and came back an hour and a half later to discover a teeny tiny ginger kitten. She went on to have three black and two ginger cats, two female and three male. She didn't need any support intervention, managed perfectly well on her own without people gaping at her. She cleaned them up herself and ate the afterbirths. Lovely.

We kept the kittens for 12 weeks and gave away all but one, she fed the kitten we kept for ages afterward, but I would like to mention she fell pregnant again very quickly and gave birth to a still born kitten. So if you intend to get your kitty spayed, be swift.

This time is is completely different our Tabby cat Jinx is pregnant, we have no idea who the father is, no idea when it happened, it is all a bit pot luck. We have taken her to the vet who thinks there may be only three kittens in there. Her weight gain hasn't been huge yet, she looks like she has swallowed an apple, all the weight in in her tummy. Her appetite is picking up, but she hasn't been any more or less affectionate with us humans. I am also in the very latter stages of pregnancy so we will probably give birth at the same time again.

I think cat pregnancy is similar to human pregnancy, it is very different for each cat. It bears similarities in the nipple, feeding, personality and sleeping changes but the extremes will be different for each cat in turn.

If your cat is pregnant, good luck it is fabulous having kittens, sure they will keep you busy.

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