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Good Samaritan question - sorry long!
Last weekend, we had an adorable orange stray kitty show up in our yard. We have a lot few strays in the area but they are pretty feral and I had never seen this one before. Since it was so hot outside, I set some water and a little food out for her. I sat nearby and waited. After some work and time, she came close enough for us to get a good look at her. She was super skinny but looked otherwise healthy.
Over the next day or so, she really warmed up to us. We were able to pet her and moved her into our air conditioned garage. She's the sweetest little thing I've ever met. My mom recently had to let her 18 year old cat go so she said she would give her a home.
I took her to the vet on Thursday and she checked out well other than a minor eye infection which is already clearing up with antibiotics. But he get couldn't tell if she'd been spayed or not.
Here's where the question comes in - the last couple days she's been eating like crazy which attributed to not having food for awhile. Then today I noticed her nipples looked large. I'm not sure if they were like that before not since it's only recently that we've been able to hold and cuddle her. Is she pregnant? Did I just sign myself and my mom up for a new cat and her kittens??
Re: Good Samaritan question - sorry long!
Take her back to the Dr. see if he/she can tell. If the cat is pregnant
have her spayed ASAP.
Agree with the above. The vets can perform an abortive spay.
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She could be pregnant, she could have an intestinal parasite, she could be really flipping hungry etc. etc. Our stray fosters tend to get huge bellies when they make it to our house and get food b.c. they eat everything they can get their hands on after getting used to being underfed. My last foster Mama ate nothing out of nervousness for the first two weeks, then ate everything in sight for four weeks, then nothing for two weeks at her adoptive home. And that's all post birth! I would go ahead and make the spay appointment. There will be no way to tell if she is pregnant beforehand and they do make you sign a form saying you understand that IF she is pregnant and they do the procedure there is no way to save the babies.
We've had one or two of our ferals go in pregnant unbeknownst to us and come out not pregnant. I could give you a whole novel on it, but I do think its in the best interest of the Mama cat and also in many cases the kittens. Very few kittens survive as strays and pregnancy can be very dangerous with the Mama, especially a stray that hasn't had the best history of medical care.
Thanks for helping this sweet girl and I'm glad you have found a home.