Pregnant Kitten?

[Bailey_]

I know that the best way to really rule this out is going to be taking our newest foster addition, Loca (little white & tabby female with no tail) to a vet; which we are doing this week - she has an appointment Thursday.

We started having suspicions on Friday that she might be pregnant - previous to Friday, she was eating her food much faster than normal, going through it very quickly and seeming hungry even still...looking for food, going to our fridge, meowing at us when we were eating.

The rescue adoption coordinator came over on the weekend to say hi and check up on the kitten and another dog we have here as a foster, and we brought up our concerns. She took a look at the kitten and sure enough, thought she might be pregnant as well; however she is not experienced in this and so made a vet appointment with the clinic.

Since then, we've been really watching her stomach and it seems very round and firm. I can't feel any movement, but it is definitely much different than when she first came to us.

Loca has been dewormed and the adoption coordinator didn't think it was bloat.

This kitten is literally just over four months, and I was appalled to find out that they can STILL get pregnant that young. :sad:

If she is pregnant, we will obviously go through all the options with the vet....weigh pros and cons of everything. Loca's safety and wellbeing are at the top of the list right now.

I guess I'm just really shocked and confused...has anyone delt with a pregnancy this young before? Anything we should look for?

[14+kitties]

A four month old kitten being pregnant is highly doubtful. Not impossible. Just doubtful. IMO IF the kitten were pregnant she would be aborted faster than a trip to the litter box. If the kitten is literally just over four months old that would mean she mated at around 3.5 months or younger in order to be showing now.
Do you know when she was dewormed, what was used, and how often? A cat needs to be wormed more than once to ensure all of the worms are gone. Also, depending on what meds were used, they may not have killed all of the worms. There are many types of worms which react differently to different meds. Some meds will only work on tape worms. Some will only work on round worms. Not to mention hook and lung worms.
I'm glad she is going to the vet to be checked out.

[Bailey_]

Thanks 14.

I just wish the vet trip was yesterday, but anyway....

I have no idea what kind of dewormer they gave her at all. I'm assuming it was just for round worm, and to my knowledge she had one dose of it right before she came to our home. I am sure this will all be investigated at the vet appointment, is there anything else I should have the vet check into while we are there?

[Bailey_]

Here are some pictures of her tummy that I took right now. It's hard to see b/c of the crappy lighting and the webcam quality, but you can sort of see here that her nipples are getting dark. This was one of the things that the AC didn't like to see...apparently this happens to pregnant females?

[14+kitties]

If they only dosed her once she will probably still have worms. She needs to be dosed at least twice with an all around worm medication to get rid of all types of worms. I'm sure the vet will be able to give you a good one for her. Meanwhile you could check her BM's to see if there is any evidence of roundworms. They are long spaghetti like uglies. Also check her butt to see if you can find any tape worm segments. They literally will break off in segments and stick to her fur. They resemble a grain of rice or a small flat whitish segment. The kitten may throw up roundworms too. You won't miss them if she does.
Other than that the vet will know what to look for. A pregnancy seems unlikely at her age but weirder things have happened. I would be booking a spay pretty quickly if she does turn up pregnant. At that age she would never survive a birthing.

[14+kitties]

Are they sure she is only four months old or are they guessing? Is it possible she is older?

[Bailey_]

Yes 14, I imagine she could certainly be older. I was told 4 months from the rescue, but they are not vets. I am really looking forward to this appointment, I'm sure we will find out a lot more information there.

I am going to check her litterbox now. I haven't noticed any wormy things in her stool, but then again, I never checked. Thanks.

[Magsie]

We got out cat when she was around 3 or 4 months old. Fat belly and 5 kittens later we realised she was pregnant ! So it is possible that she is pregnant it happens that young at times !

[rjesak]

One of my cats was mis-aged by the shelter as well. I had her first vet's appointment scheduled for Friday (I got her on the weekend) when she went into heat - she was supposed to be only 3 months old). The vet said that since she was probably already preggers (I got her un-neutered bro at the same time), the spay didn't really need to be rushed anymore. When he did the spay, he aborted what he thought were probably 3-4 fetuses.

Similar situation though - he didn't think she'd survive the pregnancy and the kittens might've been off since they were brother and sister parents (we have since come to suspect that THEIR parents may have been brother and sister too although maybe they're just really dumb cats.