How To Tell If A Cat Is Pregnant?

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 22:49

The average gestation period for a cat is approximately nine weeks. However, there are many inconsistencies with this period: plus or minus four days is considered quite normal, even a weekly delay or childbirth a week earlier is also not unusual (from 58 to 72 days).

But kittens born a week earlier rarely survive. Although it has been argued that Siamese and Abyssinian cats may have a longer gestation period, scientific studies have not confirmed any significant difference in gestation periods between breeds. Typically, cats with larger litters have a shorter gestation period, and cats that are stressed during the last gestation period may give birth to kittens a little later than normal. However, if the exact mating time is not known, it is difficult to predict for sure when the offspring will appear.

During pregnancy, fertilized eggs (zygotes) pass through the fallopian tubes into the uterus. A woman's uterus is pear-shaped and consists of a main body and two very small processes (left and right), each of which is associated with a corresponding fallopian tube. This is why people usually have one child. The uterus of the cat is two-horned - the body of the uterus is very short and each of the processes is relatively long, since usually the lives of several kittens are born here. The fertilized eggs are distributed evenly in the processes and attached to the wall of the uterus. Later, the placenta that protects them is formed - it allows oxygen and nitrogen compounds to flow from the mother's blood to the kittens' bodies, and the decay products are removed through other channels. However, the mother's blood does not mix with the blood of the embryos; like other fabrics,the blood of the embryos is formed during their development.

In the first three weeks of pregnancy, the cat becomes less active, eats less, and may even start vomiting. Usually, the first sign of pregnancy is as follows: three weeks after successful mating, the nipples acquire a distinct pink color, which is especially noticeable during the cat's first pregnancy. After four to five weeks, the developing embryos become large enough and palpable in the form of well-spaced rounded formations with a diameter of 4-5 cm. However, great care must be taken here not to press too hard or too hard, this can lead to premature miscarriage. Usually, the number of embryos cannot be accurately probed.

Around the sixth week of pregnancy, if more than one or two kittens are formed, the cat's abdomen suddenly becomes very large at once, clearly larger than before: at this stage, the growth of embryos is rapid and they are not palpable separately. After the seventh week, you can already feel the movement of the kittens and feel their heads. By this time, the cat becomes restless, looking for a place in which to make a nest.

Having made an ultrasound to a cat, you will know with 100% accuracy whether she is pregnant or not.

Ultrasound of a pregnant cat (head - head, foreleg - front paw)

During the last week, the mammary glands enlarge, the nipples protrude. The cat becomes kind of aloof and inactive, sometimes insignificant white discharge appears at the exit of the vulva.

Some pregnant cats show signs of heat during the third and sixth weeks of gestation, which means that heat is repeated every three weeks. This is due to the fact that not enough progesterone is produced (this hormone is produced by the ovary during pregnancy, stopping the development of other follicles from which eggs arise). If allowed, the cat will again have sexual intercourse and fertilize, and these new eggs can also be fertilized. The result will be that at the same time embryos of different ages will appear in the uterus of the cat (the phenomenon of superfetation). If this happens, all kittens can be born at the same time, and the second litter will be premature (as a rule, he rarely survives), but in rare cases they are born separately, the second litter - later.

Source H. Nepomniachtchi "Keeping a cat"