# A question of early pregancy



## AnoKukoko (Feb 5, 2006)

None of my cats are pregant but i a person that i know has a pregant cat, basically a kitten at 9 months give or take, i've read that it is emotionally/physical stressing if the cat was pregant at early age, or before it is oneyear old. And will it cause any genetic/birth defect because of giving birth at too early age?

BTW: This person i know says its ABSOLUTELY allright for a cat to be pregant at 9 months.


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

Cats have done it before, but that doesn't mean that it is no problem for the cat. You're right -- it's stressful and dangerous. Their body isn't fully developed. It's basically the equivalent of a very young teenager giving birth. I hope your friend is planning on getting this cat spayed.


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## AnoKukoko (Feb 5, 2006)

I highly doubt it, sounds like she just wanted the cat to be pregant just to get the kittens, which i think is cruel. I might be wrong.


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

When we decided to take in Midnight, she was 9 months old and pregnant, though we didn't know it at the time. When she gave birth to her surprise kittens, two were stillborn and two survived. Of the two stillborns, one looked perfectly normal, but the other one had a serious birth defect. His tongue was extremely swollen and was protuding out of his mouth. And of the two that lived, Star's back legs are slightly bowed out when he sits on his haunches and when he walks. However, he runs and walks with no problems. In fact, I'd say it makes him even faster. Now for Lucky...when we had him neutered, the vet told us that Lucky's chest bone sticks out. When you compare his chest to his mother's or brother's, you do notice a difference. The vet also told us that if Lucky were human, his chest defect would be the equivalent of having Down's syndrome and that he would have problems breathing later on down the line. And I forgot to mention that when Lucky was born, he had difficulty breathing due to fluid in his lungs (which I suctioned out).

I should mention that Star and Lucky are now almost nine months old, and I have not seen any problems with either one of them.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

I think it's too early, but the cat will probably manage it. Genetic defects and birth defects have nothing to do with the age of the mother. However if the female isn't fully developed there may be problems with delivering the babies and if unlucky the female won't take care of the kittens due to her young age, but most young females make good mothers. It doesn't make it right though.


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## Jimmyness (Dec 31, 2005)

Does this person have money to spare? Because if something goes wrong the vet bill can be pretty nasty, as what happened when 10 month old Lala had kittens. You really should make sure this person knows what their getting themsevles into, because it can be a pretty stressful experience witha cat that young, not only did Lala have a horrific 12 hour birth with many injections and almost a siserian, but after having the kittens she would not know how to care for them and would often leave them on their own.


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