ent with your vet at your earliest convenience.
How to Know If a Cat is Pregnant
Because cats can become pregnant from a very young age, you should always arm yourself with some tips to tell that your cat might be pregnant. This can help you to get them the appropriate veterinary treatment to give both the mom and her babies the best care.
Here are a few of the most common signs your cat is pregnant:
Darker Nipples: The color of your cat’s nipples will appear more prominently pink just a few weeks into a pregnancy. There won’t typically be any milk, but you will be able to identify the nipples more clearly at a quick glance.
Morning Sickness: Does your cat throw up more often than usual? Much like a woman, female cats also experience morning sickness during the early stages of pregnancy. Some vomiting is perfectly normal but you should contact a veterinarian if your feline could be at risk of dehydration or malnutrition.
Increased Appetite: While a human mother might be eating for two, a cat mother is eating for several! It should come as no surprise that your cat is hungrier than usual if you suspect she might be pregnant.
Swollen abdomen: Astute cat owners will have an easier time noticing the swollen abdomen if their cat is at the proper weight. It will be rather difficult to tell if she needs to lose a few pounds already. This should be very apparent by the time she is one month along.
Nesting: If you have missed some of the early signs of pregnancy, you might find that your cat is already nesting. She may bring blankets and other objects into one quiet area of the house where she plans to give birth.
Stages of Cat Pregnancy
What can you expect when going through the stages of cat pregnancy?
Knowing what is coming next can be a great way to help you feel more prepared and equipped to assist your feline friend with the birth. There are generally considered to be five stages of cat pregnancy that you will experience.
1. Fertilization: Did you know that cats can reproduce and go into heat as early as six months? You have to keep an eye on your female cats from a very early age to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. During this stage, your feline will display the prominent signs of going into heat.
2. Early Pregnancy: This is the part of the pregnancy where a cat will experience morning sickness and begin developing an increased appetite as nausea wanes. The bodies of the kittens become more pronounced and can be felt through the stomach.
3. Mid-Pregnancy: At this point, your cat is growing ever larger as she accommodates an entire litter of kittens in her womb. The veterinarian should be able to do perform an x-ray to see the kittens and tell you how many there are.
4. Pre-labor: Roughly one to two weeks before the kittens are born, your cat will start to develop milk and create a nest for herself. This is where she plans to go into labor. She may also stop eating a couple days before labor.
5. Labor and Delivery: Your cat will start to let you know she is in labor by pacing anxiously and yowling in discomfort. She might lick her genitals as the process is beginning. One hour in, you should see one kitten born with others coming every fifteen minutes after. She will clean the kittens afterward. They will go eight to twelve weeks with the mom before being weaned.
How Long are Cat Pregnancies?
After seeing how few stages of cat pregnancy there are, you might wonder how long the whole pregnancy lasts. The entire thing is a relatively short process. The gestation period for a cat is typically between sixty and seventy days.
Keep in mind that most people won’t notice the pregnancy until the thirty-day mark. This means that you only have a few weeks left until you need to prepare for a litter of kittens!
How to Prevent Cat Pregnancy
The best way to prevent cat pregnancy is to have your female cat spayed. This will keep your cat from becoming pregnant at any point during her life.
Your cat may even benefit from having this procedure done because it can help to limit their hormones and calm them down. A lifetime of going into heat wit