# 4 Months old and she was pregnant ...



## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

I have recently gifted my sofas on Freecycle and the lovely lady in receipt of them does a bit of foster caring for the local cat rescue place.

She was telling me today that this past week has been spent trying to save a litter of kittens born to a 4 month old queen 

The outcome? All the kittens died and the mother is not very well at all, it's touch and go.

The mother cat was feral, but it doesn't change the message.

*Please do not let your cat out if they have not been spayed. But also be VERY VERY careful not to let them escape before hand either.*

If your kitten does manage to escape PLEASE book them in for a spay within a week of their return. Don't wait to find out if they are pregnant or not ... put that out of your mind and look at it as a life saving operation, which it very well could be.

It doesn't matter if your kitten has only been out for an hour, please see the danger she could be in and do the right thing. Kittens are very very cute when born and this makes them irresistible ... but a litter of dead fluffy kittens and potentially their mum too isn't quite so cute.Please think about it!

Here is a thread that might also interest you ... http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-bree...at-pregnant-do-you-want-her-get-pregnant.html


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## Marley boy (Sep 6, 2010)

omg 4 month old  the poor cat i hope she pulls through


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

How terribly sad ,in this case this poor little feral cat, unlike many who are not found in time, has a chance . How many non feral cats is this happening to with folks who shouldnt be in charge of a soft toy never mind a living creature


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## Taylorbaby (Jan 10, 2009)

how the hell did she get pregnant at 8 weeks old??? :frown2:


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

I know! It makes your eyes water thinking about it  Unless she meant the kitten got pregnant at 4 months old ... I hope i have my wires crossed on that, but even still 4 months is still far far far too young 

She was found in a gap between two council houses giving birth amongst all the rubbish 

She also told me that the van doing TNR hasn't been round in my area for years, I wish they would make a return visit


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Taylorbaby said:


> how the hell did she get pregnant at 8 weeks old??? :frown2:


I just assumed you meant was 4 months when mated As it would have to be impossible surely at 8 weeks old.


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## Pixel (May 13, 2011)

It's shocking enough when you hear of a six month old kitten having kittens but a four month old . I do hope she makes it.


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## Taylorbaby (Jan 10, 2009)

oh thats horrible I can just picture her very scared in the rubbish   

who are these bloody people that do this??? just wish we could do it back to them, see how they like it, poor girl, im not surprised that the poor kittens all passed  im surprised that she managed to pass them looking at my kits :frown2:

lets hope that she was 4 months, poor thing


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## Amethyst (Jun 16, 2010)

These things are happenning all around the country, it's heartbreaking and something that could be so esily be prevented 

WHAT is wrong with some owners ... :nonod:


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## Lumboo (Mar 31, 2011)

How awful - what a horrible experience.

However I think OP said this kitten was feral, not owned by anyone. It should serve as a warning for anyone wishing to delay spaying though. Hope she makes it.


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## K337 (May 20, 2011)

My aunt told me a similar heart-breaking story just yesterday evening. She had a little farm cat that she rescued as a young girl. This poor little cat had her first kittens at just over 5 months, and while she was still suckling those kittens she got pregnant again. My aunt took her to the vets to get her spayed as soon as she could and the vet said that it was surprising the first litter didn't kill her and that the second litter almost certainly would have as she was still just a baby herself.

Unfortunately the prevalent attitude back then (locally) seemed to be that the only use for a cat was to reduce vermin. Lucky that the vet didn't share that attitude!


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## missye87 (Apr 4, 2011)

Poor little sweetheart, I hope she pulls through. 
Will you keep us posted?


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

Taylorbaby said:


> how the hell did she get pregnant at 8 weeks old??? :frown2:


Wouldn't four months be 16 weeks? Still terribly young, but a little better. Probably her very first heat, poor baby.


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

Amethyst said:


> These things are happenning all around the country, it's heartbreaking and something that could be so esily be prevented
> 
> WHAT is wrong with some owners ... :nonod:


 If she was feral, there wasn't an owner.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

dagny0823 said:


> Wouldn't four months be 16 weeks? Still terribly young, but a little better. Probably her very first heat, poor baby.


I think the doubt is was she 4 months _when _she became pregnant or 4 months when she gave birth ,though I cant imagine she was 4 months when she gave birth.


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

buffie said:


> I think the doubt is was she 4 months _when _she became pregnant or 4 months when she gave birth ,though I cant imagine she was 4 months when she gave birth.


Oh, yeah---I get it now. I just assumed she was 4 months when she got pregnant. I suppose it's possible in the realm of science to have a heat at 8 weeks---little girls are getting their periods as young as 6 or 7 years now :blink:--but that didn't really even cross my mind.

Poor little mite. I hope she pulls through. We had a similar situation where we used to live. There was a lovely little calico kitten who would stop by and visit. We'd feed her and were going to take her in, but one of the neighbors said they would. Well, little did we know their definition was "oh we'll feed her occasionally and call her ours and let her continue to wander around." She disappeared for a bit, and we thought they'd make her a house cat. She turned up about a month later, looking quite plump. She was barely 6 months by our calculations. She had a couple of kittens who lived.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2011)

Horrible.


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## Cazzer (Feb 1, 2010)

poor little soul. Hope she pulls through.


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## Amethyst (Jun 16, 2010)

dagny0823 said:


> If she was feral, there wasn't an owner.


Plenty poor cats with stupid owners are allowed out to get pregnant ...


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## vicisthebest (Nov 10, 2010)

I totally agree. My Poppy wasn't well for quite a while when we first got her and so she didn't get spayed till she was 9 months old - her brother Sam was neutered around 5 months and had been going out since then, it was blooming hard to try and stop her dashing out some days when I opened the door for him, but we kept her in. We didn't want babies, especially as the problem she had was passed on from HER mum and we didn't want her to do the same thing, so she only started going out around 10 months.

She's not overly keen on going out to be honest, presumably as he started going out younger, whereas Sam loves it. She'll go out but will always be ready to come back in pretty soon, while Sam can be out all day.


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

I will ask the lady in a few days how she's doing ... I hope it will be good news 

Yes she is feral BUT I think I need to point something out. Being feral doesn't necessarily mean she has come from generations of 'feral' cats. She could well have been 'acquired' by her owners then turfed out at 6 weeks old herself. The area she came from ... well it wouldn't surprise me 

She was lucky to survive to 4 months old herself, let alone survive the birth of a litter of kittens.

Feral cats don't have to come from generations of ferals like I said. Some can become feral after only a few weeks of being outdoors with no human home. It's the fight for survival that makes them that way.

Another note ... PLEASE never let your kittens go outside until they are at least 10-12 months old. Even then you have to think carefully about whether you think your kitten is mature enough to do so. If they are small keep them in longer ... That is if you really must let them out at all.


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

Aurelia said:


> I will ask the lady in a few days how she's doing ... I hope it will be good news
> 
> Yes she is feral BUT I think I need to point something out. Being feral doesn't necessarily mean she has come from generations of 'feral' cats. She could well have been 'acquired' by her owners then turfed out at 6 weeks old herself. The area she came from ... well it wouldn't surprise me
> 
> Feral cats don't have to come from generations of ferals like I said. Some can become feral after only a few weeks of being outdoors with no human home. It's the fight for survival that makes them that way.


I always took feral to mean either kittens born to a mother on the streets who have no human contact or a cat that's been on its own long enough to want to avoid people---hence my earlier comment--if the cat is feral, there's no owner to let it out. Certainly there are lots of stupid owners who don't think about the consequences if they let their intact cat out. Heck there are lots who just figure it's what cats do and the kittens will just sort things out and wander the neighborhood as well. They probably figure, if they figure at all, that at least it controls the rodent population.


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## kelly-joy (Oct 14, 2008)

poor darling thank goodness she is safe now, I actually know of a few kittens that have started calling at 14 weeks of age and in those cases the vets did spade them early. We have kittens coming out of our ears at the moment we helped with with a very large number of kittens last week, helped a pregnant cat being advertised to for free on the classifieds been asked to help with another 15 kittens in one home why don't people get their cats neutered?
( off to bang my head against a brick wall, does anyone want to join me?)


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## lizward (Feb 29, 2008)

Sorry, I don't believe that. I don't mean I don't beleive that's what you were told, Aurelia, but for kittens to be born to a 4 month old, the cat would have to be mated at 2 months. Not physically possible. Besides, how on earth would the lady know the age of a feral cat? The far more likely scenario is that the cat was very small.

Liz


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## Cat_Crazy (Jul 15, 2009)

I worked in a trap, neuter, release program for feral cats for many years and whilst we did see many young cats with kittens none quite as young as that!

I think there is possibly an aging mistake and the cat is a little older, when it's feral cat the vets judge their age by teeth / size and like LIz said most likely a small young cat rather than a kitten.

We had one mum and kittens come in once that were so tiny I couldn't believe it. I would have guessed this mum to be about 4-5 months old by her tiny size but seeing as she had been micro-chipped a year earlier by her original owners we knew she had to be older.


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

Any update Aurelia?

I just cannot believe what this poor wee thing has gone through.

Everyday I look at our little Abby and even at 10 months (guess-timate) she is just teeny. I can't imagine her having given birth at 8 months so falling pregnant around six.   

Half of me wonders what her first months on this earth were like before she got to the rescue centre, the other half of me is glad I don't know otherwise I might be in court for GBH or murder.....


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## Taylorbaby (Jan 10, 2009)

I wonder if she had a home first and was just let out and never went home?

some people just dont seem to then act surprised or have 'it escaped' or someone openned the door, or it can now open windows, and pick locks now its pregnant! 

just neuter as soon as you get the cat, no problems them, its not even expensive.


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## koekemakranka (Aug 2, 2010)

My youngest female was picked up off the streets, 6 months and pregnant. She lost several kittens at birth and soon thereafter and the few remaining really struggled to thrive. She also took over an orphaned litter. A brave and wonderful mother who never had a decent kittenhood. The toll this took on her little body was very high. She has now been with me (spayed of course) for several months and only now starting to fill out a bit, looking slightly less like a balding sewer rat. I wish she had never had to undergo this horrible experience.:sad:


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## Kitty_pig (Apr 9, 2011)

this is awful  wish Aurelia could give us an update


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## jordebony (Jun 22, 2011)

Aw the poor little cat! This is exact reason I had my male neutered as soon as. There are too many cats having babies when they shouldn't be! My little adopted one is pregnant and she should never of been allowed to be at her young age either. I'm a big believer in spiritual healing and will be sending healing thoughts to the little cat. X


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