stray cat with kittens?

Question
Hello,
My daughter lives on a farm and has found a stray cat (or should I say it found her).  When my daughter first saw it about a week ago, her friends made the comment that they thought the cat must be pregnant b/cse her belly was quite large.  For a couple of days after that, my daughter couldn't seem to find the cat after much calling, so she figured it was just passing through and had gone on to someone else's place. Today, however, it appeared in the barn and seemed to be much thinner than the last time it was seen. (She fed and watered it right away)  She called me to come over and look at it and it appears to be a young cat, not over 9 months.  Having grown up with cats and kittens, I thought I would be able to tell if she had given birth.  From what I remember about nursing cats, their teats are swollen, but when I felt this cat, she had tiny bumps and they didn't appear to be very full.  So we don't know if she had kittens or not and we are wondering if there is any way to tell, short of taking her to the vet.  She is very affectionate, does not appear to be afraid of humans, and is an adorable cat, but did not appear to be in any hurry to get to her kittens if she had them stashed somewhere.  We tried to listen for any type of mewing, but perhaps the kittens would be too young to make much ruckus yet for they would be less than a week old.  Any insight you could give us would be greatly appreciated.  My daughter is considering adopting this cat as a housecat, but we don't want to take her away from any kittens.

Answer
Hi Lisa, newborn kittens can last several hours without mom with them. It is possible she does have a litter stashed somewhere, or it is possible that the litter died. If she is nursing a litter she should have moisture on her nipples and she would be cleaning them a lot. She may still have some vaginal discharge if the kittens are only a couple of days old. I would try to keep an eye on her for a few hours straight and try to follow her when she leaves. The other thing you can do is to bring her inside for a couple of hours and see if her milk fills in and if she is anxious to get outside again and then follow her.
Teresa