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?

I'm actually shocked at that. I know the RSPCA give appalling advice, but I'm shocked at CPL.

I see idiocy differently. We’ll have to agree to disagree.

@marmaladeandpeanutbutter Bearing in mind that @thecatneuterer is very much at the front line of cat rescue you should at least consider what she says.

I too am very surprised at that being CPL advice, not like them at all!

It was quite clear the pregnant cat didn’t have a home. She was always in my parents’ garden and when I fed her the first time she wolfed it down in no time. I’ve never seen a cat eat anything you give her and with such greed.

Poor cat to be so hungry. And yet, from what you say, it sounds as though she is used to humans. I wonder if she was a pet and someone ditched her because she was pregnant. It wouldn’t be the first time.

She’s the most loving cat and so trusting of humans. She even lets me handle the kittens when I check them to make sure they’re thriving. It really is a mystery how she’s ended up stray. She’s not microchipped, I bought a scanner on Amazon and there’s no microchip.

The two most common scenarios are people move away and leave their cat/s behind (our rescue gets multiple calls every day reporting this), or an unneutered female is chased by tom cats over long distances and then can't find her way home. In the area I cover (East and North London/ Barking/ Dagenham and Ilford) there probably isn't a block of gardens where this hasn't happened fairly recently. There are far too many strays and abandoned cats, many getting pregnant and giving birth, for any of the rescues to cope with.

I could have told you to save your money - unneutered cats are never chipped! Well, perhaps one in every couple of hundred.

Those are big kittens for such a young age.

I had a thought about a recent post which quoted some legal blurb about cats being property and people could in effect be sued for feeding.....I wondered if I could claim for the amount of cat food other cats stole from my cat, he was a grazer so returned throughout the day to his dish; local cats cottoned on and I would often come into the room where his dish was, to find it empty and a cat's arse vanishing out of the door, all while my boy was asleep upstairs.
I really like the way you centre the cat's wellbeing @thecatneuterer

I think the cat is in the OP's parents garden so she may not have seen them when they were newborn, or she may not have wanted to disturb the new mum too much at first in case she abandoned the kittens?

@thecatneutereri agree. They were rude to me when I found a stray ill cat. Fortunately a local rescue were absolutely fantastic. And he lived the rest of his life in luxury! My direct debit was swiftly swapped to them!

Yeah cpl were useless when I found a stray too. Smaller rescues are the way to go.

i donated a cat tree to a local one recently as my cat has zero idea what cat trees are for so they got it ready assembled.

It's strange though, as if you can manage to get through to the individual local branches of CPL they are normally quite good. Not all have a lot of trapping experience, but they are normally caring and committed. As always it's the centralised HQ part that can be less than wonderful, but I'm still surprised they would advise anyone to ignore a mother and newborns in a garden.

That's not what I was saying though.

Saw this posted on a local group re CPL. Quite concerning.

It was the local branch of Cat Protection I spoke to, not the national helpline.

You must have a particularly rubbish local branch then. I don't think most of them would say that - well I hope they wouldn't.

Aw so pleased they are all safe and well 😊 Our cat was basically dumped when she was pregnant by her previous owners as they were clearly too irresponsible to get her spayed. I have no idea why owners are so unkind as to not to! It isn't about cost as it's about a tenner if on a low income.
Our cat had her babies and was a great mummy to them but - as is often the case - her three babies were quickly rehomed and she was left behind 😢 Until we met her!
She is the most gorgeous cat ever and living her best life 😍

I know this is an old thread and you seem to be looking after the kitties. I adopted two cats from Romney house (latest being a month ago) and the lovely lady said that one along with kittens was left in a cardboard box by the side of the road and she wished the owner just brought them there as they never turn down a cat. If you get stuck do reach out to them. I know it’s a bit of a drive for you but they are wonderful there.

Also I’ve seen people advertise cats and kittens on our local pages and people always comment saying not to do that as people pick them up as bait for dog fights which I didn’t know. Just a thought if you are putting them up on pages. Best of luck!

Any news of mother and kittens @NotABeliever ?

I second @CatChant : any updates? especially hoping for more pictures of the mum and babies!

I haven’t been to my parents’ house since last week but they told me that the kittens had disappeared 😭

I don’t know how this could happen…they were in the shed…maybe my parents left the door open, they are elderly and forgetful. I’ve been really upset as you can imagine.

I’ve just heard that the mum has brought back two kittens - the tabby one and one other. I have no idea what happened, maybe she moved them? I’m going there later today or tomorrow and will get this sorted for good. Either one of the SW London shelters can take them in straightaway or I’ll move them to my house and put them in my shed and contact my local charity Woodgreen.

I’ll post pictures later!

If you're going to put them in your shed you will have to be exceptionally careful that the mum doesn't escape when you open the door. She will be in an unfamiliar place, and scared. If she gets out she's likely to be gone forever.

Inside your house would be better. But don't leave any windows open in the room she's in. Not even a crack - unless you have a draught lock, and not even very high up ones.

Thank you, that’s good advice! I may have to rethink then and try to get them into a shelter locally instead. My husband is very allergic to cats so I can’t take them into my house.
any idea what might have happened when the kitten disappeared@thecatneuterer?