False pregnancy in cats is one of the things that can make the owner feel helpless, many cats are in the state of false pregnancy, but the owner thought that the real pregnancy, after a big circle of preparation to find out that it is an oops. Have you ever met this situation?
A. What’s the deal with fake cat pregnancies?
Simply put false pregnancy is actually a clinical manifestation of a hormonal imbalance in the cat’s body, when the non-pregnant cat shows the same symptoms as pregnancy.
False pregnancy usually occurs after the cat is in heat and mating, with the development of time, the female cat’s breasts gradually develop and swell, and even milk can be squeezed out at a later stage.
Some very maternal cats will even seek out other kittens to breastfeed.
The belly of a fake pregnant cat also slowly gets bigger and eventually looks like it has several kittens in it.
The cat’s behavior also changes, in the early cats will appear anorexia, slight vomiting, restlessness, impatience, etc., and in the middle and late stages, the cat’s appetite gradually recovered, becoming more and more as if it is always full, the temperament has become docile, and finally even appeared to go around looking for things to build a maternity ward; vulva becomes more swollen, like it is about to go into labor.
At this time the inexperienced owner will really be so realistic performance to deceive, the heart is more nervous than the cat, busy for the arrival of the kitten to prepare a variety of things, but wait and wait, but how did not wait for the arrival of the kitten, many owners thought the cat is not difficult to birth it, hastily brought to the pet hospital to prepare for its Caesarean section, the doctor examined the stomach is empty nothing. Simply unbelievable, but the fact is, you can only empty joy.
Second, why do cats fake pregnancy?
This is mainly related to the formation of the corpus luteum in the ovaries after the cat ovulates in estrus.
Under normal circumstances, if the cat is not impregnated, the formed corpus luteum will disappear very quickly, and the time for the corpus luteum to secrete progesterone and estrogen will be relatively short at this time, so the cat will not be pseudo-pregnant.
However, when there is an abnormality in the cat’s body, even if the cat does not conceive, the corpus luteum in the ovaries exists for a long time and continuously secretes progesterone and estrogen, which keeps the two hormones in the cat’s body at a level comparable to that of a normal pregnancy. Progesterone is a hormone that maintains the pregnancy and causes changes in the pregnancy, and therefore, the cat will then have symptoms similar to those of a pregnancy, and this is a false pregnancy.
