Complicated situation

by Jenn
(Allentown, PA)

Hello,

Thank you for hearing me out, as well as, all other concerned kitty parents.

I live in PA and last winter we had 0 degree weather for a few weeks. During that time, we had a very small kitten appear living under our deck. I nervously watched the kitten for a few days and when no momma cat ever appeared I finally convinced my husband that we needed to let it inside.

Now, we already have 4 adult cats and agreed to let it in the basement, shut-off from the other cats, in case it had any communicable bugs/diseases, so I left the outside cellar door open for a few hours and when I knew it was inside I shut it in. Well, the next day I opened the basement door to feed it and (surprise) found out I had let in two kittens, it had a brother or sister that had been hiding from me.

Now, fast forward...

We have cared for them over the past 10 months and they have really come around, but are still semi-feral and do not like to be picked-up, spooked, etc., but we checked and appeared both kittens were male. They had remained in the basement and I KNOW I should have taken them to the vet before now and I FEEL SO, SO HORRIBLE!! that I have not and I am a big believer in taking care of my cats- shots, spayed, neutered... but with them being so skittish and believing they were both boys I wanted to try and tame them further before stuffing them in cat carriers and ruining all the progress we had made, well enough excuses... :(

Anyways, as it turned out the kittens where not both male but one boy and one girl and I realized this 2/3 months ago when the female (Scrappy) went into heat.

Now, here are the questions:

I guesstimate that their ages are about 10 1/2 - 11 months and I just realized the female was female and going into heat about 2/3 months ago. She stopped going into heat shortly after I realized but that was in the beginning of September and my understanding is that cats don't go into heat in the winter months, so I was hoping that she was just done for the year and not pregnant, but i kept pregnancy in my mind and watched for it.

So, I have been watching for signs of pregnancy, but: She became a chubby little kitty with a fat belly when we started feeding her 9 months ago and she has been very food focused -the first to the food dish and the last to leave. She has always been brave and loving, purrs a lot and lets me pet her. She does NOT have enlarged pink nipples.

Could she be pregnant? Are there any other signs? Her tummy has started drooping a lot, especially towards the back of her belly, closer to the vagina. It sags and has two defined bulges but she won't let me touch them to see if they are little baby bumps?

And to add to the dilema - I am worried she may have already had kittens. If she did, we cannot find them anywhere in the basement and it is not a big area with many hiding places. Plus, she does not appear to be caring for them and she is not leading us to them. Could the sagging area be from having babies and still not regaining its elasticity? Her tummy hangs down - it isn't a rounded pregnant belly and that is what concerns me the most.

Or is it possible she isn't pregnant and is just a chunky kitty with some excess belly fat? I could be totally overreacting...


Thanks for your time!! Any info or an opinion would be greatly appreciated!!

P.S. She has an appointment in week n a half to go to the vet and I will get the situation resolved, but I was hoping for some info before then.

P.P.S. When we first realized she was female we got the male immediately neutered - but she had already gone into heat at least once, maybe twice at that time...

Answer from Kate
Hi
well it is difficult to say but it is quite possible that she is. My best advice is to ak you to read my two pages about this issue and see if you recognise any signs etc.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-in-heat.html

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-pregnancy.html

Best wishes Kate

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