How can you tell if a cat is pregnant which her ear is tipped?

Question

A female feral cat in my neighborhood looks like her ear has been tipped (cut 1/4 inch of her left ear) but she looks like she is pregnant too. Her stomach is out? Can there be a chance that her ear is not tipped or did I misread the situation. I felt her stomach and it is somewhat hard you can't press in too much. If she is pregnant I would like to trap & release her (TNR) but I don't want to do that if she is already neutered. I seen her in the summer and her left ear wasn't tipped. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Cat ears can get ripped in fights and look like the "tipping" or "notching" that trap and release programs do for feral kitties. If she looks pregnant, there's a good chance she actually is. I would trap her anyways, better safe knowing for sure, than 5 or 6 more feral kittens.

Answer 2

To explain the significance of the ear tip to those who are puzzled - when a feral cat is spayed the vet will often cut off the tip of one ear as a sign that she has been spayed. If the cat is taken to a vet afterwards he will know that the cat has already been spayed. Well done for your concern for this cat. If you can get her to a vet he could confirm if the cat is pregnant. A vet's ear tip removal should look like a clean cut, not torn or jagged like a cut from a fight. A vet check is really the only way to be sure. Thank you for being caring & concerned.

Answer 3

For those posters who don't know--

Cats get their ears tipped (tip is cut off on one ear) so that anyone else seeing or encountering that cat knows it has been through a TNR program and has been neutered/spayed and given basic shots.

You might need to catch that cat and see. A vet will shave it's belly and see if it has a scar already. This just happend to me yesterday with a new cat in my yard I captured. Turns out it was already spayed but hadn't been ear tipped (it was a stray, not a feral).

thank you for catching cats in your neighborhood. I wish everyone took the time to do that, so we wouldn't have this huge avoidable overpopulation. It makes me sick that perfectly healthy dogs and cats are euthanized because there just aren't enough homes.

Answer 4

If you are that concerned, have her trapped and taken to the vet that does the TNR spays. They can just shave her belly and see if there is a spay scar.
Sometimes from fighting, or an injury, the ear can look tipped.

Answer 5

I've never heard anything about tipped ears having anything to do with cats being pregnant. But female cats don't get neutered :) female cats are spayed. The only way to tell if a female cat has been spayed, is to feel for a scar on her underbelly. What's so bad about catching this cat and at least taking her to the vet so that she isn't putting other cats at risk of disease.

Answer 6

She could have worms, or FIP (Peritonitis)
If she is ear-tipped she must have been speyed by Cpl or another. She sounds as if you can handle her. Seek help from you nearect branch of Cat Action Trust-they specialise in ferals.
Keep looking after the strays!
regards
dawn

Answer 7

nicely, the female cats might desire to be spayed or saved interior, so as that they won't have anymore kittens. whether you do do away with the male, there'll finally be a yet another one to return around.. I say shop the ladies contained in the living house or get them spayed. in case you basically get the male neutered, yet another one will come and get them pregnant.). you will possibly desire to seize the male, and notice if all of us needs him yet they might desire to get him fixed(with the aid of fact the adoption requirement).

Answer 8

the point is not whether she is pregnant or not but that it looks like she needs a trip to the vet so go ahead and trap her.

Answer 9

I didn't know ears had anything to do with being pregnant.

Answer 10

Are you worried the father is your fella?