Any way of telling if a cat is pregnant without going to a vet ?

bullets

As well as my house cat I have 10-11 kittens/cats that
are feral (or most were feral to start with)
I wrote in before asking about neutereing. I cant afford my mortgage going
up 20 bucks a month yet the little furballs are costing me 40 euro a week on food.

At the moment we have one of the females getting Neutered at the local vets.
65 Euros it costs very expensive.
We got a PinkSlip from the SPCA which covers half the costs.
(I dont know if the Vet will want to vacinnate the cat too and who pays for that)
we have to collect her at 4pm today so hopefully a taxi will let us
have the animal in cage in the back seat.

Now the vet wont do the snip snip if a cat is pregnant as far as I know.
The next cat in line to get neutered is gaining a little weight and we suspect its
own father may have mated with it. But we dont know as the cat is less than
a year old and small. (The Father is the main man in the neighborhood
and it totally feral and has already been dad to two batches of kittens)

Anyone know if there are ways of telling if a cat is pregnant? without a vet visit.
As we dont have a car we dont want to organize an appointment and lift
etc only to have the cat refused if it is pregnant.

We are going to attempt to get one neutered a week and only do the females.
The Main Breeder is totally feral so we cannot catch her and cat traps are no good
as they will only catch the other cats and not her.

Next on the list of cats to get the snip!!
We have The Main Queen. (I reackon she is preganant)
3 Kittens we cant tell the sex yet.
2 other females (one could be pregant)

If we wait any longer the cats will become pregant.
If they are already pregnant and cant be neutered immediatly
what to do then I have not got a clue.

Nala

You can't tell without a vet until they are actually showing, in which case they will have a wide belly and their nipples will become bigger.

peasant

I know this is a) off topic and b) a touchy subject ...but ...
Have you ever considered that you might actually be part of the problem for these cats?

By feeding them regularly you're creating the perfect environment for them in which to breed. None of the cats need to worry about food so they can devote themselves exclusively to their other preoccupation, to go forth and multiply.

I know, it is heartbreaking to see all these hungry little kittens appearing on your doorstep, season after season. But unless you can actually take them in (inside that is) and have them neutered, please don't feed them anymore.

Also that tomcat NEEDS to be caught and neutered.

This whole situation seems to be somewhat out of control.
I do not know who to turn to exactly, but if I was you, I'd contat the SPCA and/or a cat rescue near you and ask for professional help and advice.

nando

Just to say that cats are routinely spayed while pregnant unless they're obviously about to give birth ie past 6 weeks pregnancy. This happens regularly as diagnosing pregnany in cats is more of an art than a science and so it is often only discovered once the operation is underway.

Diagnosing earlier pregnancy without ultrasound or an xray is basically reduced to looking for obvious signs - weight gain, mammary enlargement, behavioural changes (but these often only occur very late on), or by palpation - which in my experience is tough at the best of times and downright impossible for the most part.

OP this does sound like an impossible situation. Try and discuss the whole situation with SPCA or a local cat rescue so they are aware it's not just one cat they need to arrange neutering for. As for the feeding - if you stop feeding these or they are removed it's unfortunatlely likely that more feral cats will arrive in their place. Trap-neuter-return could limit the number to what's there now but feeding them will remain an issue. I have been in a similar situation - with 7 kittens and 2 feral females. I had them all neutered - females first then males when I could afford it - tamed the kittens and kept them as pets. I still had to feed them but that's where it ended - 9 years later I have 5 of the kittens (the female adults disappeared and the two kittens died of an illness when still young). It's definitely costly whatever way it works out.

bullets

I agree with the poster that I am part of the problem
but the thing is I am a sucker that cannot resist.
I only hope I dont end up like those old people that you see
on the life of grime that have 50 million animals and cant look
after then.

I tired ignoring them and not feeding them. I ended up seeing two lovely
kittens get weak and start to give up on life on a cold wet windy night.
I kept an eye on them hopeing they would live and tried not to get involved.
bur eventually I ended up (after watching them all night) with two die from
the cold/hunger (one died in my arms after I tried to feed it with a syringe
and keep it warm with a jar)

I think the best way to control the existing problem that I am a part of :-(
is to try get the females spayed so the population does not increase! that waythey will keep any additional cats in the neighbour hood from entering the area.

Wondering if its more important to get the Tom done or the female Queen
that has had two litters already.

The first kitten/cat we got spayed today is fine. The side that got shaven
is weird/scary looking and now that she is less groggy (we kept her inside)
she is trying to bite out the stitches!! We gotta bring her back the 30th
to get stitches removed.

Nice to know about the cats can get done if they may be in the early stages
of pregnancy. If I manage to get the next one done that only leaves the main queen
and possible some of the new batch as soon as I know what sex they are.

~B

Sigma Force

Only thing I can think of is mabey catching 3 cats at a time and see if the vet will do you a deal doing multiple spays/neuters.
If the vet won't spay the pregnant or possibly pregnant cat try and find out if there is another one in your area that will.
If you neuter the tom the females will become prenant again by possibly their own kittens so it's best to have the females spayed but if you can get the toms done too all the better.

With so many that is costly.

Why not (if not already) log on to irishanimals.ie and petsireland there might be people living in your area on those boards that do or help out with trapping and neutering strays and mabey a group of you could get together, organise a fundraiser for it. Or at the very least might be able to lend you cat traps or give you more advice on what to do.

Hope that helps.

twh

these guys will also offer a reduced price on neutering cats . you really need to trap and have them all neutered asap before this becomes a major problem. Kitten adoption are up to their eyes at the moment but can offer fantastic advice. There is also a clinic in =Inchicore who I believe can helkp you out with mass spays and may even be able to offer you a payment scheme to pay it off bit but bit. They do fantastic work there!!! My advice take the pregnant cat to a different vet and get her spayed now!!!! we have a major overpopulation problem with cats and kittens at the moment. It is just not possible to rehome them all it is a harsh reality but the longer i am in rescue work the more i realise that having that cat neutered means that you will only have to rehome 1 cat rather than 1 cat and her 6 kittens.