I think this cat is pregnant. What do I do?

[NotABeliever]

I think the cat in my parents’ garden is pregnant 🥹
Not sure what to do? How do I make her comfy?

They’re really well
I’ve contacted the Cat Protection and they were absolutely useless. They said if they looked well
it meant they could cope in the wild and they didn’t need rehoming, not even the kittens
I am spreading the word about the kittens and hoping to rehome them when they’re older. Finding a home for the mum may be a bit harder but at the very least I’ll have her spayed and vaccinated. I’ll contact a couple of animal charities too to see if they can help me rehome the mum. She’s such a good mum and she’s so sweet with humans too

Can you give us an idea of your area, so we could suggest any local rescues we know of who may be more helpful?

Three kittens then? They are a gorgeous family anyway.

Thank you for taking care of them @NotABeliever . You are a very kind person

That’s very disappointing from the CPL. Kittens have far less chance of surviving in the wild, and leaving mum and the kittens not spayed or neutered just adds to the problem of unwanted, homeless cats.

That little tabby is such a cutie 😍

I’m in love 😍

@Allergictoironingmy parents are in South West London

I’ve heard good things about these rescues:

Croydon Animal Samaritans;
Stepping Stone Car Rescue;
Foal Farm.

@Thecatneuterer any of your lot go to the South West of the big smoke?

My patch is North Kent, so I'm afraid I don't know much about the Surrey side. Foal Farm as mentioned above has been going as long as I can remember & I've never heard anything bad about them.

Our go-to rescues are Anim-Mates (near Sevenoaks) and the amazing Rolvenden Cat Rescue, but that's all the way down half way between Maidstone & Hastings!

That's a shame about cats protection, my local branch were fab. took the kittens and mum when they were big enough to be spayed and rehomes them all!!
We had to look after the kittens and feed mum for a bit in the garden. Mum stayed feral but the kitten got used to being handled and made great pets I was told

Celia Hammond? They’re more SE and east London, but seem pretty dominant. There’s a branch in Lewisham. My only experience with them is as an adopter rather than someone looking to rescue/rehome. But everyone I know round here has a Celia Hammond cat.

Isn't it?! Love it, and them all!

OP, thank you for looking out for them.

Stepping Stones actually took12 kittens from me yesterday.

I don't know much about the others, but I haven't heard anything bad . All rescues are overwhelmed though.

I've actually been avoiding this thread as there were so many "don't feed cats that aren't yours" posts that I'd decided my blood pressure couldn't handle engaging. And that ridiculous feeding cats is actually illegal post - I just can't...

@thecatneuterer
thecatneuterer · Today 21:45
I've actually been avoiding this thread as there were so many "don't feed cats that aren't yours" posts that I'd decided my blood pressure couldn't handle engaging.

I think people just mean so that a looked-after cat doesn't not go home/doesn't get overfed/doesn't get given food that they're not supposed to eat.

Yes, and fair enough if you KNOW the cat has a home. But that wasn't the case here, and it never is the case when people come out with this shite. People always post when they're concerned about a cat. In that case the advice should be to feed, chip check, paper collar if possible and then ask for help. The advice should never be not to feed

Thank-you so much for all you’re doing for them OP.

Get in touch with Protected Paws. Amazing rescue charity covering SW London.

http://protectedpaws.co.uk

Try Romney house too. In Downe near Bromley. Or protected paws animal rescue. Secretly want the tabby one…

Our local facebook group are excellent are reuniting cats with worried owners.

Some people are rather selfish and don't notice anything around them or don't want to help ... Cats, dogs, people!

(Feeding a stray cat turned out to the best thing I ever did!)

Boil water, gather towels.

Bit late for that - she's had the kittens!

@thecatneutereri disagree. Some cats, yes. Others get stolen by people pretending to themselves that a cat that has roamed into their garden must have chosen them.

CPL are useless! Just telling you to leave them, well that’s not going to help the unmanageable cat population those kittens could be having babies in a few months time, they do not deserve the amount of money they get, I am yet to hear positive stories and it’s always the small local rescues that pick up the pieces. They need to be neutered at the very least but with the mum being friendly hopefully you can find her a rescue place. Have a look on Facebook there are so many groups trying to help the street cats.

If you read what I wrote - I said advice should be to feed and then to chip check/paper collar/door knock etc. People need to feed in order to help by trying to find an owner. If a chipped cat gets lost, and no one feeds it, what's going to happen to it? It will carry on wandering looking for food. If you feed it, not only will you be helping a hungry cat, but you will be able to keep it around long enough to arrange to get it scanned.

And if it's not chipped, and you can't find an owner, then you can take the next steps to help - particularly neutering. That way we might stop some of the thousands of unwanted kittens being born outside, which either end up being eaten by foxes or go on to form colonies, or compete for space in the bursting at the seams rescues.

Unless people KNOW a cat has a home, if they are in any way concerned they should be encouraged to do something. And that starts with, but certainly doesn't end with, feeding.

If a cat comes into your garden-which of COURSE it will, as they all roam across the gardens , they will almost always go home for tea.

Ooo! I’d love a kitten… too bad I live in Canada.

When people ask for advice it's always because they are concerned about a cat. Hundreds of thousands of cats in the UK alone don't have homes to go back for tea to. These can only be helped if people feed them, and get them chip checked. And if they should happen to belong to someone nearby, well great, no more feeding.

But when people are concerned they are usually right to be concerned. Immense harm is done by people being too scared to feed because idiots on the internet, who have no concept of the current cat welfare crisis or of how cat rescue works, have said they shouldn't