This has to be the number one question owners ask. After all, you need to know how long it's going to be before you need to start panicking!
Have you any idea at all? Has your cat been pregnant before and previously given birth to kittens?
One thing is for certain, knowing how long a cat's pregnancy lasts from start to finish won't be of much use to you unless you know the approximate date when she conceived her kittens.
Generally speaking, your cat keeps that information to herself!
Just when you think that your life is on track, your cat comes home with more than she went out with.......
So you thought that all that loving behavior and cute rolling around she's been doing lately was just for your benefit? She's been coming into season and was practising her seduction technique for every Tom, Dick or fur-covered Harry that will pass her way.
And now, quite suddenly, you have this niggling feeling that you are going to be a grandparent to a litter of kittens and have no idea just how soon they might be arriving.
So, just how long will it be before you can gaze on your tiny new kittens?
On average, feline pregnancy lasts for 63-65 days but can be anywhere from 58 days to 70 days long. In 'real money', that's around nine weeks.
But as a midwife-in-waiting, it's up to you to make the best guess at the delivery date that you can and unless you happened to see (or hear) your promiscuous puss-cat in action with the local toms, you're likely to be a day or two out.
It's far more usual not to have any idea that your beautiful, pregnant cat is 'with kittens' until she is 35-42 days into her 65 day pregnancy and starts to show certain signs.
By the time you begin to suspect that you need to know how long feline pregnancy lasts, more than half of it will have passed by.
If you know your cat well, you may have noticed a definite pinking up of your cat's nipples. Her milk glands are the first part of her body to undergo changes in readyness for full-scale milk production and this will happen after just 3 weeks into pregnancy.
Around the same time, your cat may go off her food. Could it be puss-cat morning sickness perhaps?
Mind you, most cats go through phases of turning their furry noses up at whatever choice morsels you place in front of them, so it's highly unlikely that you associate a lack of appetite with pregnancy at this stage.
It is very unlikely that you will understand the significance of these subtle changes in your cat unless you have had previous experience of feline pregnancy.
It is only at the five or six week stage of your cat's pregnancy that you will begin to be certain that your beautiful pet is carrying kittens and at this point, you will only have 21-28 days to go before her kittens are born.
You will naturally be anxious to learn all you can about what to expect during your cat's pregnancy and labor so that you can be on hand to give her all the help and care she might need. So make sure that you have equipped yourself with the knowledge you will need by finding a comprehensive ebook that will easily guide you through all the stages of pregnancy, labor, birth and nursing.
But most of all, take the time to savor the anticipation of the arrival of a litter of cute, fluffy newborn kittens!
