# Stray cat...pregnant?



## tris_prefect (Oct 24, 2008)

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forums here. I grew up with cats (I love the little guys to death), but unfortunately two of my roommates in my apartment are allergic to cats, so I can't have any right now. I live in Worcester, MA, which is known for its bad owners. :x I rescued one abandoned cat during my freshman year two years ago...people just let their cats wander everywhere, and if they get lost, they make no effort to find them. It's really sad. 

But anyway, a few weeks ago my boyfriend and I discovered a cat in the basement of our apartment, meowing like crazy. It sounded kind of like that loud meow when cats are lonely. I stayed a bit away from it, because I didn't know it, but it was really friendly. Luckily I had some cat food in my apartment (to give to my pregnant gerbil for extra protein), and I brought it down to feed the little guy. It was coming up to me and rubbing and purring...more affectionate than my own cats at home! It ate the food really fast. I've been feeding it whenever I see it (usually once every few days, more often lately), and it always seems hungry.

As I was able to get close to the cat, it let me pick it up, and I noticed that its stomach seemed really firm and a bit round. I didn't really touch it for more than a second (the cat probably didn't appreciate it), but it seemed a lot different from my cats at home. I doubt that it's a stray, since it's so friendly, and also because when I brought the can over, it seemed to know what it was and started freaking out with excitement. But right now I'm concerned that it's pregnant. I have no way of knowing for sure. I'm just worried because it's been getting pretty cold here, and if she does have babies, I don't know if they would survive outside. We're perfectly fine having her stay in the basement, but we're not always there and sometimes people shut the door, so that she can't get in. My boyfriend went out and bought a little cat bed (he secretly loves cats), and we've been feeding her whenever we see her, but I'm afraid that if she does have babies, they won't survive. All the no kill shelters in the area demand a pretty hefty "donation fee" to take in a cat, and we would rather just deal with it here. I know a lot about cats, but none of mine have ever been pregnant, so I have to say I'm pretty ignorant about breeding. I was hoping someone could help me figure out if the cat is pregnant, and any suggestions you might have for helping out the little guy if it is. Thanks so much, I'd hate for anything to happen to her!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

If she doesn't have a safe and protected area to kitten in that she can have access to all the time, most likely the kittens won't survive.
Best bet is to get her indoors ASAP before she kittens. You can't do that because of your allergic roomies, but perhaps you could locate a rescue or a foster home for her? Try calling the local vets and shelters, they may know of someone.
Best of luck. I wish I could take her. It has been quite some time since I've fostered and my kitty LuckyDuck LOVES kittens.
Heidi


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## tris_prefect (Oct 24, 2008)

Thanks for the advice, that's sort of what I suspected. We've been trying to contact shelters in the area, but many of them are at or over capacity right now (like I said, people around here aren't very responsible with their pets). The only thing I can really think of to do is to try to keep the cat in the basement and not let her out, but I'm not really sure if she's pregnant (or if she's a she, for that matter), and I'm almost positive that one of the people who lives here would let it out by mistake (it's our laundry room as well). I guess we'll just continue to contact rescue centers and shelters in the area. I'm not really sure where I would post this, but do people on these forums ever foster/adopt? I'm just trying to think of options, because as much as I would love to keep them in the basement, I can think of a million ways it would go wrong. Ahhhhh...I don't know what to do!! I should probably first try to figure out if she's pregnant first. It's been hard though, because a lot of the facts they give you are useless if it's not your cat. I can't tell if it's eating more, because I don't know what it used to eat. I'm not really sure if pregnant cats using have a hard, round tummy, or if maybe she's just extremely malnourished. It's so frustrating, because even though it's not my cat, I feel somewhat responsible for it. It always comes bounding up to me whenever it sees me and rubs up against my legs. I would hate to see anything bad happen to it.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I have fostered, but I've never been involved in the adoption side of things. I foster for my local PetsMart, which is one county away (25mi?) from me. This means I raise and socialize the cats/kittens for adoption, provide all supplies (food and litter) and drive them to their wellness exams at the vet. The adoption center takes care of the vet costs, and I take the kittens to their vet, not my own in my town. When the kittens have reached weight/size/age to be spayed and neutered is when I turn them over to the adoption center.
Perhaps you could contact any PetsMarts or PetCos in your area and talk to a director or associate of the adoption agency to locate a foster home for this cat. 

I won't be much help about checking for pregnancy. Will the cat let you handle it? If so, feel its belly. If the cat is pregnant, the belly should feel rounded and firm. The best tell-tale sign would be the mammary glands, if you can run your hand under her belly and feel that she is begining to produce milk, that would be a good indication that she is pregnant.
Can you post a picture of her?

Is it possible to inform all the renters to keep the cat in the laundry room and to not let her out? I still think that could end very badly. She could get out accidentally, not allow herself to be caught and perhaps not be around to be let back inside when the person is done with their laundry.


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## tris_prefect (Oct 24, 2008)

I haven't seen the cat in four or five days, so I'm not sure what's going on there. If I see her, I'll take a picture and post it.


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