Everyone in my home has suspected that my cat Vera is possibly pregnant. After checking a bunch of sites I am now pretty sure she is. I do have one major concern though. Will my other cat Echo be okay with the babies? Vera will be a year old on March 14th and Echo is about 3 months behind. They are the best of friends but the last few days they have been fighting a lot. Is this because of Vera being pregnant?

I have been looking all over the place but every time I find a site with info on cats killing or hurting kittens they are about the mother or the father or another tom cat. It doesn't say anything about other cats in the home.

Second question. When the kittens are born, IF Echo has a problem with them. What can I do to protect them till they are older?

Do your cats have an established hierarchy? That is, does one seem to be more the boss than the other?

If so, and it's vera, then there probably won't be any problems. Her being alpha means that she has the right, within their little 'pack', to give birth in order to expand the pack.

If so, and it's echo, then she might see it as a challenge. They will hopefully work it out before the kittens are born, and vera will take over the alpha spot (an automatic right she is entitled to by becoming pregnant).

If not, then it's really a toss-up. Most females won't attach kittens unless they see them as a threat to the survival of their own litter. Since echo doesn't have any kittens, then she probably won't bother them.

They may be fighting because of the change in vera's scent and status, from becoming pregnant. Keep an eye on them until vera is ready to deliver.

Regardless of anything else, it would be best to make sure echo has no access to vera during the birthing process, and a few days afterward. She will probably see any other cats in the area as a threat, and stop labor (which cats can do for up to a day if they feel threatened or unsafe during the birthing), attack echo to make her go away, or keep moving the kittens in an effort to hide them.

Introduce echo to the kittens at about a week old, after their eyes and ears have opened, and keep a close eye on her with them. For the first week or two, only let her around the babies when you're able to be there to watch. It's better to be safe and over cautious than have her hurt the babies (accidentally or on purpose) or have vera hurt her for being around the babies.

Once the kittens are mobile, at about 4 weeks, and start exploring on their own, it should be safe to let echo around them all the time.



Side note: make sure you start kitten proofing your house, now. Block off the bottom of anything you don't want them crawling under. Make sure to keep strings and plastic and anything else they might eat off the floor. Put breakables in cat-proof areas. Even if vera and echo don't climb on shelves or counters and knock things over, kittens will only see it as a challenge to get to new toys.

Thank you so much! Really the alpha between the two of them tends to change. When we first brought in Echo you could tell Echo was the alpha cause Vera would wait till Echo was done eating before she would go eat. Then it switched, and now Vera will eat at the bowl and Echo will just reach over the water dish to the food. Your advice is greatly appreciated. I was so worried about this.

With only two cats, they may not have a clear hierarchy. It's not always needed in a pack that small. And, not all cats form a pack mentality, especially if they've never had experience living in a pack (rather than just a group of cats). Not all cats have the innate instincts to seek out a hierarchy.

Just an update ^.^. The kittens were born about a week ago and they are adorable! Echo does seem to have a problem with them but she is slowly getting over it and accepting them.

we love pics. Just a hint ^_~