young pregnant cat

Question
hello i have a 8 month old pregnant cat and i think she may be pregnant we think she may have mated but we don't know. she is showing symptoms though. we are worried she may die in pregnancy or her kittens may die

Answer
Becky,

The first order of business is to contact your vet and tell the vet about your situation.

About 21 days after breeding, if she is pregnant, her nipples will turn bright pink and protrude.  This phenomenon lasts for only a couple of days.

Feline gestation is, normally, 65-67 days after being bred, with 63 days being a normal minimum and 69 days being a normal maximum.

Pregnancy is always a risky business (in any mammal species), so, yes the mama and/or kittens may not fare very well.  However, in many cases, with proper care and diligence, problems can usually be avoided.  This is why you need to contact your vet.

Eight months is a bit too young for kittening, but, if the female is otherwise healthy, it should not pose too much of a problem.  We prefer to wait until our females are at least a year old before they are bred.

If you are worried about problems in pregnancy (and they can get very, very expensive), if she is not pregnant, by all means have her spayed.

If she is pregnant, please follow up and I will give you some guidelines.

Best regards... Norm.