Cat Care, Breeds and Resources Blog

Little Poppy, our foster cat, is doing just fine as are her 4 kittens. They are 1-day old in these pictures. Judging by her size, this has to be her first litter but she is a very good Momma. She is very protective of her kittens and is a joy to watch — at a distance of course as she will not let me very close. Below are a couple of pictures of them at 1-day old:

Look at the little stripped kitten in the middle. When my husband saw this picture he said, “Wow, we don’t have one like that.” LOL A true cat lover if I’ve ever heard one.

I love the look on Poppy’s face in this one. Sort of a resigned look, don’t you think?

Cat Pregnancy Facts
1. Pregnant cats give birth between 57 and 70 days after conception.

2. There are usually no visible signs of pregnancy until after 5 weeks (35 days). It was very hard to tell that Poppy was pregnant at first. Since she is feral, she stayed no one could pick her up to see. By the time she was captured in a heart trap and I started fostering her, she was too far along for an abortion. Yes, I would have considered abortion because millions of cats and kittens get killed in shelters every year.

3. Cats can be impregnated by more than one male, which is why kittens can look so different from their moms and from each other. I’d have loved to see the male that sired the little stripped kitten.

Come back for more pictures of Poppy and her kittens. I’ll also include info on TRN (trap, neuter, return) programs, caring for mothers to be and kittens, and lots of other info about pregnant cats, new moms and kittens.

If your cat is pregnant and you don’t know what to do, who to turn to for expert advice and information, then this is a must read How To Take Care Of Your Pregnant Cat.

Purrs, Frankie

CoCo here. Poppy is pretty cool. She runs up to me whenever she sees me. She doesn’t let me near her kittens either. But that’s okay. I’ve got lots of brothers and sisters to play with. CoCo out.

P.S. For funny cat pictures and facts, click Cats Just Wanna Have Fun

P.P.S. For dozens of articles on cats and cat breeds, click Cat Articles

We’ve been fostering a feral mom-to-be cat for about 2 weeks. Actually, she is only about 6 months old herself. So, she’s a kitten having kittens. We named her Poppy because it looked like she was ready to pop.

She was part of a feral colony. She was used to being fed by a volunteer so she was fairly easy to catch in the heart trap. The goal is to at least to get the babies socialized, tested, spayed/neutered, and get them forever homes. I hope we can socialize Poppy too. She’s still fairly young. If she can’t be socialized, we’ll spay her and return her to a feral colony to live out her life. Below are a couple of pictures of her:

Poppy actually looks bigger in these pictures than she looks in person. She has a tiny face and tiny paws. The only thing that was big was her belly.

We have her in a old utility room between our kitchen and garage. Initially there was a window seat in front of the window, a cat bed on a board covering the large utility sink, a cat condo, a table, scratching post, a litter box and water dish.

Days 1 - 3: She hid in the little cat condo and would not come out in our presence.
Days 4 - 6: She came out to get the food we tried to entice her with — hissing until we left, then she’d eat.
Days 7 - 10: She came out and ate with us sitting there. Sometimes hissing but not all the time.
Days 11 - 12 She would actually come to the door when I called my other cats for their afternoon treat of soft food. I would open the door, she’d hiss and run back in and wait for me to give her food.

During this time we discovered that if we had the door open and one of our cats would come to the door, Poppy would come out immediately to greet them — ignoring us. She would talk to them and walk right by us to get to them. She forget she was feral and even rub up against our legs and we could pet her. She’d arched her back and rub then suddenly, she’d look up and hiss and run off.

She had her litter yesterday morning. There are 3, maybe 4 kittens. Poppy hisses now every time we enter the room. And, she’s eating a lot. I leave water and hard kitten food out 24 hours so she gets all the nutrients and protein she needs. Since she loves soft food, I take her some every 3 or 4 hours. She comes out quickly to get it hissing all the way. Even though she will eat it with me there.

I have been taking pictures from the door with a zoom and will begin posting them in the next post so come back and see how Poppy and her kittens are doing.

Purrs, Frankie

Lee here. I like that little Poppy. She’s a little fat, but Mom’s says that’s because she’s going to have kittens. I wonder how that happened? Lee out.

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P.P.S. For funny cat pictures and facts, click Cats Just Wanna Have Fun

P.P.P.S. For dozens of articles on cats and cat breeds, click Cat Articles