stray cat with kittens - possibly pregnant

[cats galore]

hi, i'm new here and looking for a bit of advice. i have always had cats - in fact i have 10 at the moment that are all rescues for one reason or another. on top of these cats i now have a young cat that was dumped at a local nursey school. they have been living rough since half term in may and it took until now to catch them. i fetched her and her kitten yesterday. the other 2 kittens have been re-homed with school teachers. anyway, i have been to the vets today with the mom and kitten as i wanted to check because i think she may be pregnant again. the kitten is approx 6-8 weeks old and still weaning off mom. but mom's stomach is really big and firm. yesterday we saw a 'lump' move across the stomach then disappear. the vet wasn't sure when he palpated her so called another vet in for a second opinion. he said he thought she was definitely pregnant. so we decided to do a scan. this wasn't very successful as the vet first thought he saw a kitten that looked deformed. then after that he couldn't see anything that resembled a kitten. my questions are that if a cat is still weaning the kittens a)can she get pregnant b)would her stomach stay large and hard. she actually looks pregnant c)when would kittens show up on a scan and lastly d)can it be possible to not see the kittens - could they be behind something in her stomach - he did say how her stomach was very large. sorry for such a long question but i have always had my cats neutured/spayed and have never had to deal with this before.
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[yola]

Gosh, that's a horrible situation to be in :( I would be guided by your vet, could they not try another scan to see if they can conclusively tell what's going on? To answer your question, I thinks cat can fall pregnant when still weaning. The other thing to consider is that she may have a tumour, be carrying a dead kitten etc. I think you need to get the vet to verify for sure. xx

[cats galore]

thankyou. i have got to take her back in 2 weeks for another checkup. hopefully they will be able to verify things then.

[angieh]

Poor cat ..... thank goodness she has you to take care of her now. I am sure a cat can get pregnant whilst nursing, but your other Qs are beyond my knowledge. Hope you find out what's going on at the next appointment. If the vet was willing, I think I'd opt for a termination/spay.