Day 52

lulu's appetite has diminished immensely. and she has been constantly tired.

Day 51

Lulu is massive , she has been eating lots and also has put on heaps of weight 

the kittens are due with in the next 10 days !!! her nipples are massive and she has been very irritable.

Day 29 -

Lulu has expanded over night. The growth of her belly this morning from the night before was very noticeable. I think Lulu was until recently completely unaware of what going on. It is her first pregnancy so for the first few weeks she has been irritable but as of now she seems more relaxed a lot more affectionate and will now let me rub and touch her belly.

I have now increased her feeding to three times a day. A small cup of biscuits in the morning, another cup at lunch and wet food for dinner ( The dry food I'm using is generally made for kittens but is much more nutritious for your pregnant cat as it is high carbohydrates and protein needed for your cat).

As a footnote - I have done quite a bit of research so if you desperately need an answer to a question just comment and I will be happy to help out. 

3: Four Weeks Later

After browsing the wonderful internet, it became obvious to me that to have any idea if Lulu were pregnant I would have to wait or spend ridiculous amounts of money on a vet. 

And me being a poorly student I opted for waiting.

This meant that all my questions and facts came from numerous sources.. Google Search. Hours of reading, looking and in some cases watching, I felt a bit more at ease with the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVGbvjgUOWk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaSpFPrWyxU&feature=related

These are a few thing I found important/ interesting:

• Gestation period for a cat can be anywhere from 57 to 69 days (averaging around 65 days)
• It is definitely possible to have numerous fathers to one litter of kittens
• Cats can get pregnant from as young as 4 months
• You can have cat ultrasounds after 15 days
• Cats usually purr during labour 
• Kittens are always born with blue eyes. The true color won’t start showing through until around 5 or 6 weeks.
• A kitten will usually open its eyes between 5 and 10 days old.
• You can try  self diagnose pregnancy by an increase in appetite, swollen nipples and a change in the cats behaviour
• Cats can have anywhere from 1 to 19 kittens ( 19 being the record for one litter )
• A quick way of calculating the birth date if u know the mating date is by checking this calendar (  http://www.cat-pregnancy-report.com/cat-pregnancy-calendar.html )
• Very informative sites ( http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/cat-pregnancy.html ,  http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/stage-of-cat-pregnancy.html)

As I reached week 4 it was very clear that lulu was going to be a mother. After much research and from photos posted above and below Lulu had what seemed to be a pot belly and very pink, swollen nipples. So the kittens are on there way,

  

according to many websites here are a few characteristics of the unborn kittens as of 4 to 4.5 weeks.

kittens by this stage have claws and most organs, they have some small bones and they have developing ears  and eyelids have formed.

2: So you Caught her in the Act

As a cat owner when my friend went away it was me she asked to look after her two cats, this is where Lulu met Puff.

When Lulu met Puff it was horrid, she hated him and he loved her. I believe its because he could already smell that she was soon to be in heat , but to her he was a big smelly cat that was cutting in on her attention. She was not impressed.

However after a week or two I noticed that they were getting along fine and was relieved as keeping them separate had become time consuming.

One afternoon, on a particularly affectionate day I came around the corner to a very cute lulu and  Puff in a stalking position, I sat down in front of lulu to see how this would play out, expecting a very humorous swipe to Puff's face by Lulu.

Well after a little while Puff directed himself to the back of Lulu's neck holding her by the neck he made his way on top of her. Lulu was in the strangest of positions tail pointed to the side with her bum lifted high, treading her back legs constantly. Puff started to massage Lulu's sides with his back legs and then the noise, though not very long, the scream that left my tiny cat was quite monstrous.

After this first encounter for two days lulu's screams could be heard. Though Lulu continued randomly treading her legs, Puff became disinterested, to him the job was done.

1: Before that Night

So your cat got out and you forgot that all important trip to the vet. Well don't despair it happens to everyone.

The responsibilities of a young pet owner can be tedious at times. When asked by a friend if I would take one of her kittens I of course said yes, I would be helping a friend and kittens are cute... little did i know. for 6 weeks I visited my soon to be kitten and fell in love she was quite an adorable thing, the leader of the group she was the first to eat solids and to make little messes everywhere. It soon became time for my adorable baby girl to come home. 

Gifted with a warm bed and some food she was use to by the all to pleased mother of my friend, we started the trip home. Me being forever home decided to do a quick Google search on the average cat.

Fact 1: General domestic cats can live any where from 10 - 20 years !!!

Wow....that is a really long time, after this thought processed I decided to consider all the things I would have to purchase to make this baby's life pleasant and mine easier. Of course all of this was happening underneath my overall love of the precious furry lump sitting in the box on my lap. 

After the initial 10 minutes of driving my lovely baby had fallen asleep but now, Lulu was determine not to stay in the box. So after a very... very long drive we arrived home, that's when the fun began. 

 ( Lulu is a female, calico coloured Russian Blue cross Domestic cat - DOB 22/02/2011)