Our 9 month old Bengal is preggers, advice please.

[snigger]

Our supposed house cat ( our other cat is an outdoors type, but mini-puss tends to stick to three rooms and her litter tray) broke out through the bathroom window (v. high, v. tiny. Much shock on our part).

So, eight weeks later, just when we'd assumed she's dead, she's come home, literally shagged out.

We have yet to confirm with the vet, but she looks pregnant.

Advice, please?

what sort of advice are you looking for? i cant see that there is much you can do except get her speyed once she has them.

sorry that isn't meant to sound insensitive, i just dont know what you are looking to hear.

our very petite 11 month old cat had kittens 5 weeks ago. managed all 4 on her own and all 4 are doing well. The only thing I would say is that she is is very skinny now - she just can't seem to eat enough to keep up with the hungry hoards but I'm sure when the babies go she will catch up. Hope it all goes well for your cat and good news that she is back.

any cats we had as children all got very skinny when they were nursing, even though we were feeding them lots. it all came back on though once kittens were on solids. just keep her comfy with a nice quiet corner where she can slink off to nurse and sleep in. she mightnt like the other cat around her or her kittens, try to keep it away from them.

I know I was a bit vague there - I just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience.

I've googled cat pregnancy till I'm blue in the face and she's booked in for an examination on Tuesday, I'm just concerned about what we're going to hear.

Do young cats suffer more in pregnancy than more mature cats?

It's our fault of course, she should have been neutered, but because she was a 'house cat' we let it go a few weeks longer that we should have. Typically, she was booked for her gynae op ten days after she disappeared - another strike for the argument that cats speak English.

tbh if she disappeared 8 weeks ago that meant she was only 7 months when she disappeared so you only really could have been getting her done around then, and as you say, she didn't go outside so there was no 'risk' of her getting pregnant.

i am not sure about young cats really. i have heard that they can be a bit less attentive to their kittens but this could just be specific cats and not really true of all young cat mums. i guess just make sure she is well fed, has a nice cosy, secluded area to make a nest and just keep a good eye on her. dont be surprised if she tries to get out of the house near her due time or if she nests somewhere other than her bed. cats do often like to give birth in secret. we had a big surprise one year when we went to feed our little moggy and found another set of eyes peeking out at us from behind a stack of hay (we lived on a farm). upon further investigation there were 4 kittens in total, the vet reckoned they were about 12 weeks old. they were wild as crows aswell!! she had kept her whole pregnancy secret and hidden her babies for 3 months!!

There is a greater risk to young cats in pregnancy and slim breeds/small/young cats have a far higher rate of birth complications resulting in emergency caesareans and death. I'm sure your vet will advise more.

Just get her there asap and either prepare to be willing to pay enormous vet bills (insurance doesn't cover pregnancy related conditions) or find a rescue which will take her on if you're unwilling/unable to do so BEFORE the cat and her kittens' lives are at risk when she goes into labour.

Ok, lets get this in perspective please. The vast majority of mother cats will give birth even at a young age without any problems. The OP here has made an effort to start finding out and making sure she is doing the best by the cat given the unfortunate and unintended circumstances. Let's not be scaring her with asking her to look for rescue centres willing to take her cat on, it's actually not helpful.

Snigger - your vet will be able to tell you more when you see them and advise you on what to be looking out for and when (if at all) you need to intervene and get veterinary help for her. Do be aware that mother cats sometimes like to hide off away to have litters so with her disappearing history take extra care she can not get out during this hot weather by accident. Most likely she'll choose the most inconvenient place in the house to have them - the bottom of your wardrobe or something!! ..but do provide her with a pen or big box type area she might like to use. You would be better feeding her on kitten food at this stage if she is not already on that as it is higher energy for her to grow her kittens, and likewise during the time she is feeding them.

I would suggest you have a tub of foster milk and a feeder in the house, just in case anything happens with mum bonding with them etc. The mum cat can have the foster milk as a supplement anyway so it would not be wasted money, but inevitably the time you need such things for kittens if you ever do is the middle of a the night when the shops are not going to be open again for several hours!

As for afterwards - get her booked in at 8 weeks from the date of the kittens being born and get her spayed! Don't let her get out before that, it may be too late even then!! The kittens do need to be weaned fully off her and onto new homes (at 8 weeks) really for her to be done - the only other time it may be done before is if she is in the small minority who need a c.sect then the vet could spay at the same time, but do ask as not all vets would automatically do that or even ask you!

BG whilst i agree with your statement that most cats give birth without problems, i dont think it is unhelpful at all for OP to be considering the possibility of complications. there is always that possibility with any animal and it is always sensible to have in mind that it can happen and a bit of an idea what you would do in that situation, how you would pay etc. I dont thinkink Valhalla was trying to scare OP but rather look out for the welfare of the cat and kittens, which i am sure is what OP is concerned about aswell.

She's booked in at our vet on Tuesday for an exam so we'll get input then - we have a brillliant vet. Despite the ditziness, we are actually responsible pet owners, and I would never foist responsibility for a problem of my own making onto a charity.

Thankfully, we live in the middle of nowhere, so we can keep all the kittens (they'll be having their bits whipped off toot-suite, mind you, I can't afford to become the mad cat-lady quite yet)

Thanks for your advice, I'm just really worried she's so young and could come to harm.

what if she has 10 kittens??? will you keep them all (not that it is likely she will have 10 surviving kittens, but you know what i mean

My cat had kittens very young, she was about the same age as yours.

She hid away one afternoon, Dh came home from work went to our bed room and there was Mogs led on our bed with 3 tiny kittens!

She had cleaned up everything all that was left was a wet patch on the bed!

She was a fantastic mother, she too got very skinny whilst nursing, but onced the kittens were weaned and gone she got back to normal, needless to say we got her done asap!

She's nearly 11 years old now and still in fab condition etc.

One of my cats had kittens very young having gone to the vets to be spayed but being sent home due to conjunctivitis. Took her back not much later to find she was pregnant. She had 3 kittens under my bed. She also went very thin after but went on until she was 15.

I want a kitten, I'd love a Bengal, if I kick out allergy ridden ds' and dh put me down for a couple.

We adopted a stray who was already pregnant when she moved in with us and she had her kittens 5 weeks ago. We'd created a little cubby hole for her in our front porch and that's where she had them - I watched the whole thing last Bank Holiday Monday, better than EastEnders it was. She has been a great mum and the kittens are now proper boisterous little things.

Have you found any dedicated Bengal clubs etc online... someone might want a kitten?

We have an animal rescue centre on standby to have the kittens if we can't find homes for them by 8wks. They are also very kindly giving us a voucher to have mum spayed as they heard we adopted her (we're keeping her). They have really been no trouble, just confine themselves to our porch and we use stairgate so they can't get out.

Pregnancy lasts 60-62 days just so you know.

we watched one of our cats give birth in our living room in a cardboard box as children, it was lovely.

Just wanted to add a little experience of Bengals in particular as we have a few bengal breeders in the practice.
Bengal Mummies can be very fiesty mummies who dislike people interferring with their babies in the early stages and are much less laid back than any other breed about humans handling their babies. This is probably due to the fact that they are closer genetically to wild cats that the vast majority of other cats.
However, the vast majority of even young bengals do just get on with it themsleves. I have only done one bengal c-section and she was just too posh to push and not interested in rearing her Babes either.

Sorry - wrote my post whilst in a rush and was a little abrupt. My apologies for sounding rude.

I meant what I said, but was trying to advise that things can go wrong with a small breed X unknown (possibly bloody big Tom) pregnancy in a cat, particularly if the mother is young. Therefore you may be wise to think ahead and consider the possible problems rather than be faced with an out of hours caesarean and subsequent difficulties and the risk of losing your cat and or her kittens. The chances are it WON'T come to that, I didn;t intend to scare you or be a cow, but it may be in your and the mum's interest to think ahead.

Hope this makes sense and sorry again. Too much to do and too few hours in the day does not make for polite forum posting!