Stray cat, possibly pregnant

Last Friday neighbor kids came to tell me they'd found a cat. She's a
gorgeous tortoiseshell, looks to be about a year old, I think.

We left her out, with food and water, for a couple of days, to see if
she'd go home, but she didn't. So Sunday I took her in. I have her in
a large crate, to keep her separate from my two males.

I suspect that the two males would get used to her, they've already
stopped hissing at her, and she's stopped hissing at them. Pi, who is
always afraid of everything, has actually managed to go into the kitchen
where the crate is, although he won't go anywhere near it if she's
awake.

My problem is that I know *nothing* about kitten births. I'm fairly
sure she's pregnant, as she's getting thicker about the midsection. I'm
taking her to the Humane Society on Friday to find out for sure.

So in general, I guess I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed. I
can turn her in as a stray to the Humane Society, and they'll place her
and whatever kittens she has if they can. After the kittens are weaned,
I might even be able to get her back. I *think* I can introduce her
properly to the other two, slowly. Things looks promising with regard
to that.

The other option is to keep her and try to place the kittens myself.
This is a real problem, as I don't really know a lot of people and I'd
want to make sure the kittens are neutered, but I couldn't afford to do
that myself.

So I guess I'm looking for some general advice and information. For
instance, what should I look for to be able to tell when she goes into
labor? I'd want to keep her in the crate at that time. (Right now, I
shut up the boys in a bedroom and let her out to roam around a bit, a
couple of times a day.) Will she try to hide? There are a couple of
places I wouldn't be able to reach if she decided to hide there.

Is there anything a human has to do during delivery, or does the momma
cat take care of everything herself?

Am I biting off more than I can chew? I have bad knees and it's all I
can do to reach into the crate to remove the litter box to scoop it.
I'm home quite a lot in the summer, so I can be there if she needs me, I
think.

How many kittens are usually in a litter?

Sorry if this all sounds higgledy-piggledy, but I'm really out of my
depth.

Thanks for reading,

Chak

--
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to
seriously re-evaluate your life.
--Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

Chak wrote in
:

.... a long story about a stray cat.

Just an update: I took the cat to the vet clinic Tuesday morning, I
told them I didn't know if she was pregnant, and I didn't even know if
she'd already been spayed. They said to wait while they shaved her
belly to look for a scar.

She had a scar, she's not pregnant, and... she was chipped.

I have to say I was both a little relieved and quite crestfallen at the
same time.

When I called the chip company (Avid? I'm not sure of the name now. I
do miss my memory sometimes. When I remember to.) Anyway, the chip
company said that no one had ever registered the chip, but they shipped
it to Animal Control Chicago.

So Animal Control spayed her and chipped her and someone adopted her,
but the person who adopted her never bothered to register the chip. (It
is a one-time cost of $20, paid to the chip company.) I've been trying
to get more information about the adopter, but so far Animal Control
hasn't returned my calls.

I suspect she's mine, and I'm glad. I'm also glad there are no kittens.
Mostly.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

Chak

--
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to
seriously re-evaluate your life.
--Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

On 7/10/2013 11:27 PM, Chak wrote:
Chak wrote in
:

... a long story about a stray cat.

Just an update: I took the cat to the vet clinic Tuesday morning, I
told them I didn't know if she was pregnant, and I didn't even know if
she'd already been spayed. They said to wait while they shaved her
belly to look for a scar.

She had a scar, she's not pregnant, and... she was chipped.

I have to say I was both a little relieved and quite crestfallen at the
same time.

When I called the chip company (Avid? I'm not sure of the name now. I
do miss my memory sometimes. When I remember to.) Anyway, the chip
company said that no one had ever registered the chip, but they shipped
it to Animal Control Chicago.

So Animal Control spayed her and chipped her and someone adopted her,
but the person who adopted her never bothered to register the chip. (It
is a one-time cost of $20, paid to the chip company.) I've been trying
to get more information about the adopter, but so far Animal Control
hasn't returned my calls.

I suspect she's mine, and I'm glad. I'm also glad there are no kittens.
Mostly.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

Chak

I'm glad she's not pregnant. I don't understand why they didn't
register the chip. But hey, you have a lovely new cat! Congratulations!

Jill

jmcquown wrote in news:b47p9lF9su9U1
@mid.individual.net:

I'm glad she's not pregnant. I don't understand why they didn't
register the chip. But hey, you have a lovely new cat! Congratulations!


I'm still waiting to find out if Animal Control can provide records. She's
such a sweetheart, I can't understand why anybody would want to let her go.

Chak

--
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to
seriously re-evaluate your life.
--Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

"Chak" wrote in message ...

Chak wrote in
:

.... a long story about a stray cat.

Just an update: I took the cat to the vet clinic Tuesday morning, I
told them I didn't know if she was pregnant, and I didn't even know if
she'd already been spayed. They said to wait while they shaved her
belly to look for a scar.

She had a scar, she's not pregnant, and... she was chipped.

I have to say I was both a little relieved and quite crestfallen at the
same time.

When I called the chip company (Avid? I'm not sure of the name now. I
do miss my memory sometimes. When I remember to.) Anyway, the chip
company said that no one had ever registered the chip, but they shipped
it to Animal Control Chicago.

So Animal Control spayed her and chipped her and someone adopted her,
but the person who adopted her never bothered to register the chip. (It
is a one-time cost of $20, paid to the chip company.) I've been trying
to get more information about the adopter, but so far Animal Control
hasn't returned my calls.

I suspect she's mine, and I'm glad. I'm also glad there are no kittens.
Mostly.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

Chak
-------------------------------------------------------------------

yay! How far are you from Chicago?

"news" wrote in :

yay! How far are you from Chicago?

50th & Western. Where are you?

Chak

--
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to
seriously re-evaluate your life.
--Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

"Chak" wrote in message ...

"news" wrote in :

yay! How far are you from Chicago?

50th & Western. Where are you?

Philadelphia! I just wondered if the little cat had gone far away from where
she was chipped. :-)

"news" wrote in :



"Chak" wrote in message
...

"news" wrote in :

yay! How far are you from Chicago?

50th & Western. Where are you?

Philadelphia! I just wondered if the little cat had gone far away from
where she was chipped. :-)



Oh, shucks.

Chak

--
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to
seriously re-evaluate your life.
--Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

Chak wrote:

When I called the chip company (Avid? I'm not sure of the name now. I
do miss my memory sometimes. When I remember to.) Anyway, the chip
company said that no one had ever registered the chip, but they shipped
it to Animal Control Chicago.

Shipped what? Not the chip - wasn't the chip already inside the cat?
Or shipped the cat? But wasn't the cat living with her humans at the
time? (I assume she was living with people who'd adopted her, before
she ran away/got lost/got dumped, or whatever happened to her.)

So Animal Control spayed her and chipped her and someone adopted her,
but the person who adopted her never bothered to register the chip.

A *second* person didn't bother to register the chip? That's one unlucky
cat. Well, not anymore.

I suspect she's mine, and I'm glad. I'm also glad there are no kittens.
Mostly.

Congratulations! I expect to see photos soon.

--
Joyce

When you finish, you have a complete (you hope) set of characters. So you call it a "character set". And because you're in a funny mood, instead of calling the numeric identifiers "numeric identifiers", you call them "code points".
-- Steve Ferg, "Unicode Beginners Introduction for Dummies Made Simple"

Bastette wrote in
:

Chak wrote:

When I called the chip company (Avid? I'm not sure of the name now.
I do miss my memory sometimes. When I remember to.) Anyway, the
chip company said that no one had ever registered the chip, but they
shipped it to Animal Control Chicago.

Shipped what? Not the chip - wasn't the chip already inside the cat?
Or shipped the cat? But wasn't the cat living with her humans at the
time? (I assume she was living with people who'd adopted her, before
she ran away/got lost/got dumped, or whatever happened to her.)

So Animal Control spayed her and chipped her and someone adopted
her, but the person who adopted her never bothered to register the
chip.

A *second* person didn't bother to register the chip? That's one
unlucky cat. Well, not anymore.

I suspect she's mine, and I'm glad. I'm also glad there are no
kittens. Mostly.

Congratulations! I expect to see photos soon.

I wasn't making myself clear, I think.

Basically, the chip company sends lots of chips to Animal Control, and
every animal that's adopted gets one, probably at the same time the
animal is neutered and gets shots. Then it's up to the adopter to
contact the chip company, pay the $20 fee, and register the chip.

The chip number is recorded along with all the details of the animal.

I think it's probable that the chip company gives the chips for free to
Animal Control, and makes its money when people register the chip.

I hope that makes sense. Sometimes the things I think most clearly in
my head seem to leave my fingers completely garbled.

Chak

--
I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to
seriously re-evaluate your life.
--Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes