# Cat help....



## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

Today a beautiful cat walked up to me. There are stray cats around me but all of them are afraid of people and o center you reach out to them, run away. This cat did not run away..In fact when I picked her up she started puring. 

I noticed she was a girl..and started to look for an owner incase she was in heat and just gotten out. Well after a little while of looking...i took her in and fed her, let her warm up. 

She's extremely loving and cuddily...but i think she might be pregnant? I've never had a pregnant cat before so I'm not sure what to look for. Her nipples are longer and Pinker then my cats but she's so skinny I can't tell if there's any extra weight....any tips?


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Monitor her for weight gain using scales while you try to locate the owner. A well fed, friendly cat is rarely without home. You can try posting to your local shelters, Craigslist, local newspapers etc and post flyers around the neighbourhood. Leave out distinctive info about the cat that only the true owner would know so that you have something to ask when someone claims they own her. Signs that she may be pregnant include: enlarged bright pink nipples that may secrete a milky fluid, nesting behaviours and either a voracious appetite or aversion to food. What are your plans should she turn out to indeed be a pregnant stray?


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## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

We are doing what we can to find her owner but if she is pregnant I'm also wondering of that is the motive behind her being dumped. As for monitoring her weight..she is rather skinny, more so then it seems in the picture so I'm not sure how much that will help with her eating regularly now. If her family isn't found my boyfriend said he wants to keep her. There are no no kill shelters around me and she's such a sweetie we would hate that to become her fate. Only problem is my boyfriends two cats really really seem to hate her, even hissing at us if we smell like her. Any tips on how to introduce them? As for if she is pregnant we will do our best to help her and find homes for her kittens. (Hoping she's either not pregnant or a small litter!) 

Is there any special food she should be getting?


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## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

You'll have to keep her separate for a little while. If you have a spare room or bathroom that might be best to let her have her kittens in. When you introduce them (which shouldnt be until the kittens are old enough... I know a cat who took a kitten by the neck and purposely killed it) make sure you do it slowly. Feed them something yummy (canned food) with a closed door between them. Let them get used to each others scents before you even let them see each other. Theres lots of guides out there, look up Jackson Galaxy on youtube he has great cat advice.

A trip to a vet or a low cost clinic will help determine if shes pregnant or not. Also they can scan her for a microchip.


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## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

Right now she is being kept in the bedroom and the other cats are in the rest of the house. She managed to push the door open before I locked it when I was changing her water so they did see eachother. She seemed interested and it was my girl cat who started hissing but I quickly got her back in the bedroom. After my classes today I'm going to call the vet by where I found her to see if I can find any info, and leave a found sign there as well.

She has fleas and I put a flea collar on her, is that okay if she's pregnant?


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## CatsRatsVeggies (Aug 18, 2014)

I wouldn't worry about the hissing. Do you have Feliway in the US? If so, get a plug in of that and then introduce the cats after a couple days of the plug in. Cats aren't supposed to get on really, slow introductions. Eating opposite sides of a closed door then open the door a bit and keep going until its open and they're eating opposite each other. Try to lure them both into play. They'll be fine


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

Honestly I have had some pretty bad experiences with cats that just did not want to get along. Hopefully this isn't the case with your kitties. We did plugins, mutual eating, mutual play, eating through a door for weeks, we tried any techniques we could to get them to like each other. The cat was one we rescued off the streets, riddled with ear mites, fleas and an eye infection so bad we thought he might be blind in that eye. He weighed a mere 5 and a half pounds/ 50% of his estimated healthy medium weight. We quarantined him from the other cats and took him into a vet who microchip checked him and found he had an owner. We spent about 2 weeks trying to get in touch with her and eventually she called and told us she had given this cat to a cat sanctuary and that the cat escaped. Nobody wanted this cat and we were dumped with the $1000+ vet bill. Sadly it didn't work out since our resident cats did not like this cat and the new cat was getting stressed out from our repeated attempts at introductions (he was getting ulcers in his eye). Our cat Jimo just hates all other cats. He only barely tolerates our other kitty Maple (and we think that is because she is too fast/agile for him to catch and fight with). They will often hiss and swat at each other but since Maple isn't interested in confrontations, it does not escalate. My point is that you should anticipate that the introductions might not go as smooth as you think if they are really set on disliking each other. I would also have the vet check for retroviruses the cat may pass on since she may have been a stray for who knows how long - so FIV/FeLV. Good luck.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Can you post a picture of her belly? From the sound of her being skinny and having "longer" nipples it sounds like she had a litter of kittens (likely weaned already if she's not sagging with milk). I grew up seeing at least one litter of kittens every year and moms' nipples usually stay a little more pronounced after having had and nursed a litter. I could be wrong of course.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

PaigeRose said:


> Theres lots of guides out there, look up Jackson Galaxy on youtube he has great cat advice.


I second looking up Jackson Galaxy. He knows his stuff.
I'll be following this thread!


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## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

Well right now we have signs out and a few other posts about her, hoping to find her owner. Saddly landlady says we can't gave another cat... so I'm really really hoping we find her owner, she is just so sweet. I'm trying to get pictures of her belly now but when I try she just wiggles around and try to be pet.

I had her checked for a chip and she saddly didn't have one :c they also said she could possibly be pregnant (because of her nipples) but they couldn't really tell for sure without a check up.


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## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

Here's one of her nipples








And here is the best she will let me get right now she's trying to sleep and is all fidgety with being moved!


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Ah those are definitely not post-mommy nipples lol. Unfortunately, pregnancy may still be a possibility. She looks like such a sweetheart too, it's a shame that you found her the way you did and can't keep her.


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## Effy (Oct 11, 2014)

*Eating next to closed doors can make things worse occasionally. Cats who are friends don't even like eating near each other, it's a very personal thing to a cat, when they're eating and they're happiest when they can't even see another cat at meal time. You can tell when they're not as happy as they could be while eating if they have their ears back whilst doing so, as they're on high alert.

I'm not saying don't do it...if it comes to it, it may be the best way, but it doesn't always help, so I thought I'd say.

Swapping bedding (highly used bedding) can help, as can catnip! xD
Make sure once you let them in the same spaces, that you have LOTS of hiding places. A lack of retreat options causes more stress on all sides and can be the main factor in a lack of friendship.

Hopefully she's not pregnant...her nipples just look like all my cats' do and they've all been spayed/neutered, so no prior kittens.

Good luck, anyway!*


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## sarah424 (Sep 11, 2014)

Here is a photo of my old stray, Riley, when she was pregnant and about to burst. No other photos, sorry  I don't remember her nipples being long and pink as much as I remember each "breast" being very swollen and firm. She also was very touchy about her belly, and ate a TON. She didn't get very big until the end, but she did have the teardrop shape you can see in the photo just not as big. That's all I can remember about her being pregnant!


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## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

If there's anyone any wear around me who could take her. I'd be very great full. There are absolutely no no kill shelters around me. Of course it would be in a few weeks as she is still on pregnancy watch and if she is pregnant it would be after the kittens are weaned.

I'm in the metro detroit area and willing to drive.


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## MOA (Sep 7, 2014)

Effy said:


> *Eating next to closed doors can make things worse occasionally. Cats who are friends don't even like eating near each other, it's a very personal thing to a cat, when they're eating and they're happiest when they can't even see another cat at meal time. You can tell when they're not as happy as they could be while eating if they have their ears back whilst doing so, as they're on high alert.
> 
> I'm not saying don't do it...if it comes to it, it may be the best way, but it doesn't always help, so I thought I'd say.
> 
> ...


It's funny you mentioned cat nip! I gave my boy cat Zed alittle and sat in the same room with him petting mama cat or Poppy and Zed didn't care what so ever, I was afraid to give poppy any tho and Avacyn
my girl hates it.


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