Pet cats, as like other mammals, could reach pregnancy state to produce offspring. As a cat owner, you must know the signs that may occur on your pets when they are 1 week pregnant. As in humans, recognizing the 1 week pregnancy on your cat could help you prepare for the coming of the new kittens, as in preparing the right nutritious kitten foods, or if you’re planning to give your kittens to adoption center or to your friends.
Signs of 1 week pregnant cat could be hard to observed, unlike humans who tends to have cravings. But this doesn’t mean you can’t notice the signs at all. You could also try the change of your cat’s behavior to know the signs of 1 week pregnancy.
Knowing the signs of 1 week pregnant cat
Female cats would get pregnant when they reach 4 months in age, eventhough at this age female cats are considered too you to have pregnancy. The ideal age for female cats to be pregnant is when they reach 1 year old. The pregnancy phase of whether a domesticated or stray cats are around 60 to 67 days, or about 9 weeks. Aside from this, your cat could aslo reach 70 days of pregnancy.
If you intend to breed your cat, you need to know the signs of a pregnant cat to make sure that the offspring come out healthily. Here are the signs of 1 week pregnant cats that you could observe:
- Swollen and red nipples
This sign usually occur when your cat is at day 15 or 18 on its pregnancy. The reddening and swelling of the nipple, also called pinking up, is a sign that your cat is preparing its body to feed the future kittens. But it’s needed to know that this signs is not only indicates that your cat is pregnant. It could also means that your cat is in lust cycle.
- Curved back
Cat’s back usually looks normal and flat, but when it is pregnant, you could observe that its back looks a bit curved. This sign would make your cat looked like a mini donkey, especially with its swollen tummy.
- Swollen tummy
Check too if your cat’s tummy is a bit swollen and bloated. If it does, chances are your cat is pregnant. But you should be careful when observing this. If you pressed to hard at the tummy of a pregnant cat, you could potentially cause miscarriage. That’s why instead of checking on your own, you should probably take your pet to the vet. While you’re at the vet, be sure to check for signs of flu too while your at it.
- Fur easily falls out
Cats that are in 1 week pregnancy usully experience falling out of fur. You could also observe if your cat’s fur is thinner than usual. This is because while in pregnancy, the hormone it produce affects the oil production in its skin. This falls out of fur usually would stop after one or two weeks.
- Increased appetite
If your cat’s appetite has significantly increased, chances are that your cat is pregnant. In general, cats that are pregnant would eat more when they reach 3 weeks of pregnancy because they feel that they should get more nutrients.
- Morning sickness
It turns out that cats could also experience morning sickness when they are pregnant. Even though it doesn’t look so obvious, some cats would feel nauseous and reluctant to eat when they are on the early 1 week pregnancy.
- Vomiting
Cats could also vomit as the cause of morning sickness that they experienced. If this happens, make sure to bring your cat to the vet to get more accurate check. Because it could also be a sign of food poisoning.
- Quiter than usual
If your cat is usually a cheerful and playful cat, this sign should be easily observed. Cats that are pregnant tend to be calmer than usual. They would also sleeps more and rest compared to playing with you. It may seems like your cat is lazy, but this is a normal behavior if your cat is pregnant.
- Like to seek more attention
Cats basically is a spoiled animal. But when your cat is pregnant, it will become more spoiled that usual. It may like to be near you just for relaxing and asking for a pet. As a good cat lovers, you should know this sign and give your cat a generous pet. If you’re not sure if your cat is pregnant or just seeking for attention, go read our article on signs of cats looking for attention.
- Lust cycle stopped
You may notice that there’s a time where your cat enters lust cycle. But this cycle that you observed suddenly stopped. When this happened it means that your cat’s lust cycle has stopped and it is pregnant now.
- Being defensive
A pregnant cat usually also changes behavior into a more defensive and protective state, so it mat seem a little fierce to other cats. This is depicting the mother’s love and protection for its future kittens. Your cat just don’t want itself and its kitten to be disturbed by other cats.
- Nomadic
Have you given a personalized sleeping bed for your cat? If so, when your cat is pregnant, it may doesn’t want to sleep in its regular place. A pregnant cat would tend to be nomadic and moves from place to place to find a comfortable place. This is solely to prepare the safest place for its future kittens. If you don’t have any type of bed for your cat, be sure to check our article so you can make minimalist cat house by yourself.
- Starting to look for nest
At the end of their pregnancy phase, cats would start to look for nest to prepare for giving birth. Usually cats would choose a warm and calm place where they will give birth to their kittens, and that place would eventually become for their kittens to spend their early days. At this time, you could help by preparing a comfy place for your cat. For example, by stacking warm towels at the edge of the cupboard. Anything comfy is good, but you should never let your cat sleeps in your bed.
- Start producing milk
This is clearly a sign that your cat is in old pregnancy phase. The producing of milk in your cat indicates that your cat definitely is pregnant. If this sign occurs, it is predicted that your cat will give birth in around 2 or 3 weeks.
- Positive USG result
Tto get more accurate prediction, surely you could bring your pet to the vet to get checked. The vet would do USG to check your cat’s belly accurately. Usually, this is done when your cat has reached week 3.
After you finds out that your cat is pregnant, it’s better for you to start considering whether you would tend the kittens or not. If you’re not intending to be a breeder, it’s better to start to sterilize your cat after it gave birth late. But it is better to let your cat get pregnant and follows its natural cycle.
And that is all the signs of 1 week pregnant cat. Be sure to read our other article on how to keep your cat from bothering your sleep and how to step them to sleep in your bed. See you on our next article!