Pregnancy
How long a pregnancy lasts
Pregnancy is the period from conception to birth. It lasts on average 65 days, counted from the first day of mating. Kittens born on the 63rd or the 64th day are perfectly normal, and a Siamese may carry her kittens for as long as 71 days. Kittens born before the 60th day, however, are unlikely to survive.
Telling whether a cat is pregnant
There is as yet no quick pregnancy test for cats of the kind that exists for people.
Through the first half of the pregnancy there is only a slight gain in weight. Sometimes the cat is sick in the morning. By the 35th day the nipples turn pink and stand out, and the belly begins to fill. As the birth comes closer the mammary glands enlarge and a milky fluid can be squeezed from the nipples. In most cats, though, they enlarge after an ordinary heat as well, so on its own the sign proves nothing.
A cat’s uterus has two horns and is shaped like the letter «Y», and the kittens lie in the horns. A vet can feel a pregnancy by palpation on the 20th day after mating, when the fetuses are no larger than a peanut in its shell. By the 35th day the uterus has filled with fluid and palpation tells very little. Around the 49th day the parts of a kitten can be made out: the body long, the head large.
Feeling the belly takes great care and some experience. Handled roughly, the fetuses are easily confused with other growths inside the abdomen, and the amniotic sac can be torn — which may end in a miscarriage.
Ultrasound, unlike X-rays, is a safe examination, and it follows the kittens’ development through the whole pregnancy, from the 15th day after conception onwards. The heartbeat can be picked up from the 20th day, which shows that the fetus is alive. On an X-ray the skeleton shows from about the 43rd day, and X-rays tell more when a true pregnancy has to be told apart from a false one or from pyometra, an accumulation of pus in the uterus. A cat should not be X-rayed during the first half of her pregnancy.
The late signs are a pear-shaped belly and unmistakable movement of the kittens, particularly in the last fortnight.
Morning sickness
Cats, like people, can be sick in the morning. It usually comes in the third or the fourth week of pregnancy, and it is caused by the change in hormones and by the stretching of the uterus. The cat looks a little subdued, turns away from her food and vomits from time to time. It lasts a few days, and you may well not notice it at all.
The pre-natal examination
Before the mating the vet should check the cat over, to catch in time anything that would stand in the way of a normal mating or a normal birth.
The next examination comes two or three weeks after the mating. The vet will tell you how the pregnancy is likely to go and, if there is reason to, will run further tests. If the cat has intestinal worms, they will be treated then.
Vaccinations and most medicines and wormers are ruled out during pregnancy, and so are flea preparations, insecticides, some hormone preparations and antibiotics. Tapeworm remedies are the most toxic of all. Droncit, even so, may be given to a pregnant cat. Live virus vaccines — against feline panleukopenia and against the viral respiratory diseases — are ruled out. So before you give a pregnant cat anything at all, ask your vet first.
A week before the birth have her examined once more. The vet will tell you what a normal birth looks like and how to look after the newborn kittens. Find out, too, where to turn for emergency help should you need it.
Care and feeding during pregnancy
A pregnant cat needs almost no special care, and no restriction on her movements either. Moderate exercise keeps the weight down and the muscle tone up. In the later stages she should not be allowed to climb: the weight of the uterus shifts her centre of gravity and she has trouble keeping her balance. If she likes to climb, to jump down, to play with children and with other animals, you will have to keep her from it.
For the first four weeks feed her a commercial kitten food. It suits pregnant and nursing cats, since it holds more protein, more calcium and more of the other things she needs, taurine among them. Do not feed her scraps from the table, treats or cat delicacies: she will eat less of her proper food and go short of what is in it. She needs no vitamin and mineral supplements either — the food already contains them, and an excess can do irreparable harm. The exception is a cat that has not fully recovered from her last litter, or one run down after an illness; there, ask the vet first.
From the fourth week on, feed her food high in protein. The need for protein rises in the second half of the pregnancy, so increase her ration by half. Avoid extra weight at any cost: a fat cat as a rule carries large kittens, and large kittens make for a hard birth.
In the last week or two the appetite may fall off — by then the abdomen is full of kittens. Better to feed her more often and less at a time.
Cats should give birth at home, where they feel calm and sure of themselves. Strangers and unfamiliar surroundings make them nervous, and that holds the labour up or stops it altogether.
The best place for it is a box. It should stand somewhere quiet, dim, warm and dry, and out of the traffic of the house. A stout cardboard carton will do. It must be roomy enough for the cat to move about in freely — 60 cm long, 50 cm wide and 50 cm high on average. Cover it with a removable lid, so that you can look at the kittens and tend to them. In one wall, at the height of the cat’s chest, cut an opening she can walk in and out of instead of jumping.
A knock-down box that can be used again has one advantage over a carton: shelves 5 cm wide can be fixed along each wall, 5 cm above the floor. They keep the kittens from being crushed by accident, because a kitten instinctively crawls under the shelf.
Several layers of clean newspaper on the bottom of the box take up the damp and the smell. They also let the cat “dig”, which is her natural instinct in making a nest. Small kittens must not be laid on loose, easily rumpled bedding: they can burrow into it and suffocate. Hay is the worst of all, and straw dust can get into their airways besides.
The kittens’ room must be clean, dry, well aired and warm. Cold and damp are the chief causes of death in kittens. For the first week the temperature in the nest should be 29 °C, and it is then lowered by 3 °C a week until it reaches 21 °C. Check it constantly against a thermometer lying on the bottom of the box. If the room the cat is giving birth in cannot be held at that temperature by the heating or the air conditioning, add infra-red lamps of 250 W hung above the box or set into reflectors. Leave one corner of the box out of their reach, so that the cat can move there if she grows too hot.
Other things worth having ready: a small box with a hot-water bottle or an electric pad on the bottom of it, for the kittens already born while the cat is still in labour; sterile gloves; an eye dropper or a bulb syringe to draw the mucus out of a newborn’s mouth; an artery forceps to clamp the cord; dental floss or thread, cotton or silk, to tie it; and an antiseptic to cauterise the stump. Scissors, freshly laundered towels and a stack of clean newspaper complete the kit.