We have two barn cats, both females less than a year old. They both have appointments to be fixed in a few weeks, after they get their booster shots. They have been on house arrest(actually our porch)for the last month, basically ever since we noticed a big male stray skulking around the barn. One of the cats now has a huge extended belly on both sides. She is tiny, still looks a little like a kitten. A friend suggested that she could have worms, but then wouldn't they both have them? If she is pregnant would the booster shots make her abort? I don't want more barn cats, but feel uncomfortable aborting them. We give all shots ourselves, just need the vet for fixing them, so I don't really want to bring her to the vet to figure out if she is pregnant. I've palpated her abdomen and it just feels tight and huge, but then again I don't know what I'm trying to feel for. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

-- Abigail Swanson (turtle@uninets.net), April 28, 2002

Answers

I had a cat that got pregnant the very day we let her out after we thought she was out of heat. When she laid down for a while and then got back up all the babies were on one side, fat wouldn't do that, but I don't know about worms. You could just wait nine weeks and if she has kittens, you know for sure that she was pregnant. :) And if you feel little bulges when you feel her sides.

-- Jessica (jaywig86@psknet.com), April 28, 2002.

We also have barn cats. When we only had 3, I suggested fixing them but was vetoed. When they multiplied to 11, I insisted. Imagine the fun of taking 11 half-wild cats to be fixed. They had to stay in the house over night to prevent eating and drinking. I stayed in the same room to make sure all got along and didn't tear the place apart. Didn't get much rest, needless to say.

Anyway, two cats sounded like yours - big, tight tummies. Thought they might be pregnant, so the vet said that they could be aborted and fixed at once. It's slightly higher cost if pregnant, but much less $, time, and heartache than a batch of unwanted kittens (which you will also need to have fixed). I do NOT believe that booster shots will abort kittens. They may cause birth defects, or increase the risk of spontaneous abortion, but I wouldn't count on it for the abortion.

If you need assistance with the cost, ask your vet if they participate in PAWS. It's a group that helps underwrite the cost of fixing pets and strays. I believe it's national. They helped with our 11 - subsidized almost half the cost per cat. Otherwise I couldn't have afforded to fix them.

Sorry I don't know how to preg test a cat. Unless they are already forming milk, I have no idea how to tell.

-- tabascos (post-here-only@here.com), April 28, 2002.

Gently palpate the cat in the hollows ahead of her hips with thumb and fingers of the same hand, thumb on one side, fingers on the other. If you can touch your thumb and fingers, or come close to doing this (very gently here, we aren't talking squeezing the cat hard at all) through the center of the cat, she's probably not bred. If you feel solid resistance and your fingers don't come close to your thumb at all, there are probably kittens in there. If she's as big as you say, you will have no trouble determining pregnancy this way.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), April 28, 2002.

What you want is an abortive spay. Tell your vet that you suspect one of the cats is pregnant, and that you'd like to get the cat in ASAP.

When they spay, they take out both "horns" of the uterus. (Cats and dogs have two distinct, tube-like sections of the uterus, where the embryos grow, like peas in pod, kinda.) In a pregnant spay, they do the same thing, only there are embryos in the tubes. The kittens never feel anything, and never are "conscious". They merely stop developing, much like a chick in an egg would cease development if the hen stopped setting. Believe me, I don't want to start a debate about whether it's wrong to abort kittens, but I will say that the world doesn't need a single extra feline. If you have those kittens & find good homes for all of them, perhaps 5 others will die in the pound in their place. My vote is that you run kitty in to the clinic now, and avoid the whole kitten scene.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 28, 2002.