Pregnant cat?

[Becky10]

A bit random but I noticed the little stray who had been hanging around had a rather  large firm belly last week when i picked her up, she has been hiding out for a week now and showed up again with a tiny squishy normal cat belly. Could she have had kittens?  If she had I want to start putting out some wet food for her otherwise she's going to have to stick with the cheap dry stuff.  She comes and goes so I have no idea if she has actual owners or wheres shes been hiding out. 

[The Rabbi]

Im going to take a random guess and say yes. Look at her nipples and see if they are extended with little to no hair around them.

[Becky10]

Gah, thank you Rabbi, I'll have to look next time she comes around. Any suggestions on food I should give her? She cant be more than a year old herself. Ouf.
I am debating trying to follow her to the kittens if they're not in someones backyard (which they most likely are). I have to check our garage to make sure they're not in there.
Cats need to stop finding us.

[PollyPoPo]

Hummm, keep feeding her and she may bring the kittens to you in time.

If she does have kittens she's hopefully got them well hidden right now.  If you do follow and find them she might move them.  Not unusual for a mama cat to move kittens several times before they are big enough to follow her.  (Latest stray here eventually brought hers to my front porch, with my big dogs barking right in her face.  Whatever was outside the fence scared her more than my mutts.)

Also, if you notice she's eating a lot more than usual, it is a good indication that she is feeding kittens. 

Good luck.

[raevyncait]

as one who lives in a house that includes a cattery, I would say she definitely has kittens, and honestly, start adding some dry kitten food into what you've been feeding her, gradually adding more each day until it's all kitten food. It will give her some extra calories to make up for what she's expending nursing kittens.

[Becky10]

Alright, thank you guys so much, I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled. She is such a failure at being a cat I worry about her. There's a couple houses around that have been vacant for a couple months and I am hoping she had the sense to go to one of those to hide out for a bit.
Extra calories on the way!

[Mairte]

Being a dog person I dont know that much about cats....but I think the little stray is terribly lucky to have you looking out for her!

[Becky10]

Cat update: I am positive she was pregnant. She finally came around so I cuddled her and looked and she has swollen nips. It's freaking cold out here and she is a bimbo so I just fed her 3 cans of wet food and am waiting for her to take off so I can get some idea of where she is going. Unless it's real close by I am not following her tonight cause it's rather late. ..I need a life. 

[Jade Sapphire Emerald]

Being an animal person, I don't see how protecting and helping those in need is not having a life...

I hope everything works out well!

[Becky10]

Well unfortunately where she has her kittens stashed is impossible to get at (a good thing i guess) so I am just giving her tons of food and love, she comes almost everyday now and is defiantly milking.


Here she is, going to try to clean her up a bit.
This is defiantly a bad picture to describe her but I think she may have been a runt or at the very least very malnourished as a kitten cause she looks a bit...off. He eyes almost point out in the wrong direction and she is very tiny.

[raevyncait]

she looks like she's got some himalayan or siamese in her, and they often have crossed eyes, or eyes that seem to go in weird directions. She's a pretty little thing, and she looks relatively healthy for a nursing feral.  Best advice I can give you is keep an eye on her and the kittens. That she's willing to allow you to get that close to her, she obviously trusts you, try to catch the kittens when they get a little older, perhaps you can get them into good homes, and get her spayed.  Depending on where you live, there may be a TNR program that spays/neuters ferals and releases them back to their neighborhood at low or no cost to you.

[irish]

Becky.......then we BOTH need lives! LMAO!
I have been feeding an one eared, old Tom for 8 years. He is definitely Feral, who seems to have a route of where he goes. LOL! He has become picky now! He moves onto the next 'rest-area', to see what the special is!  
Last year a 'mother' cat gave birth to 3 beautiful kittens. They are all Feral. One was adopted by the neighbor across the street and we adopted the other two! They are such a joy! The 'female' took longer to gain trust, but now you can't go anywhere or sit any place in the house without her!
And now........the fun part.....'mama' cat is pregnant, again!   I need to catch her after she weens, so I can get her fixed. I wont keep her indoors, but she will still be loved, kept warm and fed, all the same. She has an outdoor palace....
Check with the Humane Society. They may be able to help with spaying her or know of someone who will help. Our vet helped with the two we adopted and when I catch the mother cat and the younger male, who I know is contributing, lol, he will be neutered!

p/s.........BEAUTIFUL cat! She is so lucky to of found you! 

[Merlin the Elder]

Years ago, a feral tom started hanging around, and we started feeding him. He adopted us and lets us handle him now...should have gotten him fixed because he's a scrapper even though he's probably the runt. He's been in so many fights, half the fur on his face is missing.

Well, he brought home a feral kitten. We think it's a female, although it won't let us handle him/her, and is just now allowing us to pet her. I need to capture her and get her fixed. We don't need more feral cats around here!

The ironic thing is, I love cats, and we used to keep several, but I'm now allergic to them. Not terribly, but enough that I can't keep them in the house anymore.

[Becky10]

Good to know I am not the only cat magnet!  We have a place down here that does spaying for free but they clip the cats ear, we also have a place that will do it for about $35 so I am just going to see if I can go muck some horse stalls for cash and get it done. She's coming over about every day now and insists on half an hour of petting along with food. 
Haha, i know about scrappers! We have a fat ol' tom cat who forces his way into the house daily. We have done more medical work on that cat than anything!
Luckily the cats have brought any kittens to us but we have had one carry in a hamster by the scruff lol.
I have a feeling once these kittens are weened she may end up taking permanent residence here.

Total so far: 1 cat bought
                  1 cat ditched on us
                  1 cat adopted us
                  3 cats rescued...and never adopted out
                  2 "dinner guests"
8 cats...I am feeding 8 cats. Plus 2 that show up every once in a while.  When did this happen?!

[irish]

  hahahaha........
It just sort of happens......
We have an invisable sign on our door I think..."Free Food! Free Love! Stop on by!"  

I forgot to add........not one of our pets, were chosen by us. They just showed up....