Several people asked yesterday how long Koko has been here. I got her on January 19th, but someone had her for a week before that, so the very latest she could have gotten pregnant would have been January 13th. That means that the very least she could be pregnant – like, if she were found and brought inside while she was still smoking her post-coital cigarette – is 28 days. If you subtract 28 days from 65 (the average gestation period for a cat), that leaves us with 37 days. So I guess by St. Patrick’s Day we’ll know one way or the other, right?
In the meantime, there is no doubt in my mind that that girl is in heat. She’s doing the marching, the constant calling, the presenting. A Google search turns up a thousand people saying “Cats can’t go into heat when they’re pregnant!” and another thousand saying “Of course cats can go into heat when they’re pregnant!”, so there you go.
On the up side, she went from “Don’t touch the belly!” to “Here is my belly, and you shall rub it” in the past couple of days, so when there’s movement I should be able to see and feel it.
If you’d like to feel our pain, put this video on repeat in a central location in your house, so that you can’t get away from the sound, and turn it up. That’s what she does alllll night long. She does take short breaks just long enough for me to start to fall asleep before she starts up again, the brat.
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She has such strikingly pretty colors, doesn’t she?
Batting at the feather teaser.
Sweet girl.
“Bring that hand over here, lady. This belly ain’t gonna rub itself.”
That FACE.
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“You gonna come in here and serve up those snacks, lady?”
Having eaten his fill, Stefan settles down for his day-long nap.
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Previously
2015: “Okay, lady. Time for the belly rubbing!”
2014: “They have really pretty kittens in there,” thinks Dennis.
2013: No entry.
2012: Alice Mo approves of Everett’s form.
2011: Okay, so, the story on Reacher.
2010: Oh, M’Lynn. Break my heart, why don’t you?
2009: Miz Poo will put up with the kittens as long as they don’t get TOO much in her space.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
She sounds like my boy cat….all night long!
I feel for you with all the meows. But my burning question is.. Where did you get those slippers?!?!?!?! I have been looking for kitty slippers and those are great! I ordered some from china, two months later they show up and are, surprise surprise, too small, rats! And I’m not about to pay postage to send them back to china! So… Where did you get those and please tell me it’s not china!
Faker/non-faker issue? I’m going with not faking, unless her meows get a whole lot louder and demanding and her tail is hiked up and to the side all the time. Oh, another heat sign, if she gets an unhealthy attachment to Fred’s feet. My last seriously in heat girl kitty was nuts for men’s feet.. could not leave them alone. So, is Fred willing to test that one out?? (the stinkier the better in the case of my previous kitty..)
I got those slippers at Kohl’s, back in the Fall. I took a look at their site, and don’t see them listed; unfortunately, I think you’re out of luck. 🙁
(I doubt Fred would be willing to try that out – but she is 100% in heat, I can tell you that!)
Aw rats, guess I’ll have to sneak into your house and steal your! 😀 Do you think I could get past all the cat watchdogs? LOL
I guess Fred doesn’t need to do the foot test after all, lol I guessed wrong.
I have those same exact slippers plus ones in tan. I got mine at Kohl’s but it was months ago. Not sure they still have them.
I didn’t know cats could go into heat while pregnant. For why??
Does your vet do ultrasound. We had a stray the we didn’t even consider if she was pregnant but they could she the kittens at about one month on ultrasound.
Stefan!!! His face in that first picture of him is going to make me laugh all day long!!
Also, Dennis’ little round baby face in the 2014 entry… so unbelievably cute!
The “Ask a Vet” search result suggested that pregnancy hormones could be responsible. If she has milk in her mammary glands she probably is pregnant.
http://www.askavetquestion.com/answer_np.php?id=2362-pregnant-cat-question
Robyn, would you check that for us?? LOL ROFL. 🙂
such a tough life those cats live….. 🙂 we’ve had a couple of momma cats (post kittens) with this issue….ugh!
btw – went back to 2012 (cause I love going back and reading everything) and saw the note about calling Fred during the day to ask how he cut the holes in the litter box containers. cracked me up – I can imagine him at work all “what?”
Fred’s so used to those weird questions that he doesn’t even ask me why I’m asking! 🙂
You made me go look at 2012. Loved Everett’s dive picture. 🙂 The shelf comments by Robyn made me laugh. “Shaddup” was used a lot! hahahaha
Koko’s calls definitely caught the interest of my (neutered) mancat. He was quite curious. (the others didn’t seem to care) 🙂
Newt sat next to me as I was editing that video together and looked entirely annoyed the whole time. 🙂
He’s always been the most sensitive to cat sounds on videos. 🙂
Question: How did you know Koko was pregnant when you first got her? I mean, I know someone probably told you, but did the vet palpate her and feel kittens at that point? I think I read somewhere that vets can feel the kittens starting around 17 days. 17 + 28 = 45, which would mean if she is pregnant, she’s probably right around that 6-week range.
Anyway, here’s what I can figure out:
If she is pregnant, then she would be between 4 – 6 weeks pregnant, with 3 – 6 weeks to go.
Signs that she’s pregnant:
An intact female that has had access to intact males is likely pregnant.
Pregnancy only starts to show around 5 weeks gestation, so if she’s only 4 weeks in, her stomach won’t be very big.
It’s possible that pregnant cats can go into heat.
The vet thinks her mammary glands are starting to fill (correct?)
Sign’s that she’s not pregnant:
It’s an odd time of the year to be pregnant because it’s so cold.
Her stomach is definitely not as large as the other pregnant cats you’ve had.
She’s in heat.
If the vet was able to feel kittens, she must have been at least 17 days, which meant that 28 days later, the kittens should have shown up on the X-ray.
With all that delicious baby food three times a day, of course she’s starting to fill out a bit. 😀
I don’t know, but I think she might be a faker.
She was at a vet’s office for a week before she came here, so I think she was examined, but can’t swear to it. I do think it’s earlier than usual, but I checked back through my mama kitties I’ve had in the past, and one of them gave birth on March 1st, so it’s not completely out of line (especially in Alabama, with our milder winters – and especially this year, since it was super mild right up until recently.)
BUT – we’ll know for sure in a few hours, because I’ve located a vet with an ultrasound machine, yay!
You rock! Just to satisfy all of our curiosity! 😉
Dorothy, ha – more like I got maybe 1 1/2 hours of sleep last night, and if she’s not pregnant, she’s going to be spayed pronto! (And if she is pregnant, I’m going to buy a white noise machine!)
OHHHH… if preggers, put the ultrasound on youtube!!! TINY BABIES!!!
Ah, so she could have been examined any time during that week. Anyway, that’s great that you found a vet with an ultrasound! Keep us posted, you know we can’t wait to find out!
FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKER.
Zero babies. I didn’t even take her home, I took her directly to the Challenger’s House vet. They’ll keep her overnight and spay her tomorrow.
TONIGHT I SHALL SLEEP.
Ahahaha… I called it! 😀 So… no baby kittens, at least not yet. 🙁 I was so curious to find out what they would look like!
Awwww…in some ways I’m so disappointed no KITTENS, but they will be along soon enough via other mamas. We have a ways to go before that tide is stemmed.
And I am bummed that we will see no more of that gorgeous faker! But I am so happy for her – no kittens and very soon, a forever home.
And Robyn gets to sleep!
Win/Win/Win I’d say!
(Although we know if there had been kittens, they would have been beautiful and charming!)
Actually, she’ll be coming back here – she’s not up to date on her vaccinations, so she’ll be with us for a couple of weeks ’til she’s ready to go. So you’ll be seeing her for a while longer! 🙂
YAY!!!! That makes it a Win/Win/Win/Win. I adore this beautiful girl!!!!!
Aw, shoot! And yay! She’s a spectacular cat, I’m sure her babies would have been too. But this is better all around, I have to admit.
Seriously, she’s the prettiest calico I’ve ever seen.
Please keep us posted!!!
I think our southern mild winters do cause earlier litters. Jinx was probably born around Valentine’s Day, given his estimated 5-6 weeks age when I rescued him, and I took Samantha in around late January when I guessed she was pregnant – and Sabrina and her sisters were born on March 11th.
I saw a post on Facebook earlier this week that talked about the trend in warmer winters possibly resulting in more and earlier kittens… More reason to encourage spay and neutering!!
Don’t necessarily have to have mild winters! Last winter, the semi-feral cat that lives in my parents’ backyard in Colorado had kittens on March 12. (Mama has since been spayed. :))
One kitten we adopted back when we lived in the New Orleans area was born mid-January. This was back in the late 90’s.
She’s definitely not a feral cat as I understand they don’t make sounds and boy does she talk. When you said, “There’s nothing out there for you sister” it sounded as if she said “No?”
Can’t help hoping she is pregnant. Oh well we will eventually find out.
Oh yeah – there’s not a feral bone in that girl’s body!
My neutered male was sleeping at the foot of the bed when I played the video. At her first call, he jumped up and ran around searching for her.
I saw the announcement in the comments and cracked up laughing, quite loudly, at my desk at work. You lot have been faked out three times! *gigglefits*
Seriously though, first a spay, then I’m sure a swift adoption for pretty calico Koko!
Almost unrelated, there’s been a tiny stray kitten hanging around in the bushes outside one of the offices at my work. It initially looked grey to the person who saw it and alerted the rest of the company (and a few others who subsequently spotted it), and it ran off when people tried to get close. No chance of my getting to be the kitty catcher of a lovey stray, darn. It also took refuge in the underbits of one gal’s suburban, only to dart free and narrowly miss being run over by the front wheels when she started the motor–yikes! Well, long story short, two cat people coworkers (married couple) brought a live trap around. The first time they tried, no success. The second, gotcha! kitty is safely inside and out of the bitterly cold and windy local weather. Not only that, but kitty has a home with that same critter-loving couple. And kitty is not grey after all. Turns out, she’s a pretty calico girlie! I guess grey was actually white fur with a smattering of dust, and when seen against local snow, oops! I suggested they name kitten Zander, or Sandra since it’s now known kitty is a girl, after the person who saw her and started this whole thing off. I doubt that’ll happen; there are names of Greek goddesses floating around in serious contention.
Marvelous rescue story, activate!
Well it’s sad we won’t see any pretty kittens from Miss Kokomo, but at least she’ll be spared from having any in the future. She’ll probably find a home soon.
I had never heard anyone say a cat can go into heat while it is pregnant so I had to look it up. (man that was hard reading all of those people letting their cats out to get pregnant over and over again)
the only times I saw people say yes were on non-reputable sites..
Knowing feline anatomy, and the fact that they do not actually ovulate until they are mated, TECHNICALLY they can be ‘pregnant’ and still in heat, which can result in a little of kittens that are born from different fathers and conceived at different times, meaning often the ‘runt’ is actually a few days younger than the others..
It makes no sense biologically for a cat to go into heat while she is pregnant, because no babies could survive being conceived more than a few days past the initial implantation.
Since we already have confirmation that she’s faker, I’ll just end with my waxing poetic right here.