Can a Five Month Old Kitten Get Pregnant?

Can a five-month-old kitten get pregnant, the answer is yes. The small 5-month-old kitten that I rescued yesterday had a miscarriage today inside my garage.  

This young kitten was left by people on the side of the road a few weeks ago.  While outdoors she needed to learn how to forage, find shelter and save herself from being chased by dogs.  My neighbors and I tried to catch her by trapping but she was frightened and ran into the woods toward the feral cat colony.  We did not see her for a week and then one day she appeared on my front lawn.   

The kitten was skin and bones and had a scratch on her nose and a bite wound to her ear.  I fed her and gave her water but could not get close enough to her to grab her.   From that day forward I fed the kitten every day at the same time and on the third day she allowed me to pick her up.  Once I had the kitten in my arms she snuggled up close to me and purred loudly.

 I put the kitten in my garage and provided her with a bed by the window, fresh food, water, and a litter box.  I checked her at 9:00 pm and then told her it was lights out and time for bed.  The following morning I went out to check on her and heard her meowing loudly from behind the sofa.  I needed to move the sofa away from the wall and that is when I discovered that this very small, malnourished kitten had a miscarriage. The kitten fetuses were very small and looked to be less than a few weeks old.

This little kitten seemed very frightened and she came to me and showed signs of wanting to be helped. I wrapped her in a towel and brought her indoors.  There I cleaned her and held her in my arms to comfort her. 

My husband used an antibacterial cleaner to scrub our enclosed front porch so that there would be no germs.  He then fixed a bed for her and installed a window seat for her.  Then he added a litter box and a feeding station with kitten food and fresh water.  I brought her to the room and she went right to her bed  

I watched her for signs of distress or for blood discharge as that would be an indication that there were more kittens and she would need to be taken to the veterinarians for emergency care. 

I spoke to a veterinarian technician and she advised me to provide regular feedings with fresh water and to allow the kitten to recover indoors, with no access to outdoors.  The kitten must heal for the next several weeks and then she will be spayed, wormed, vaccinated, and tested for Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS.


Note:  It is normal for a cat to go into heat at five to six months however sometimes a kitten will go into heat when they are four months old.  A four-month-old kitten is not developed enough to carry the kitten full term, they may miscarry or have stillbirths.  There is also a high risk of a complicated birth as the kittens may be too big for the mother cat.  

My veterinarian said that 4- 5-month-old kittens are not good moms as they do not have maternal instincts.  It is better for the cat to breed them when they are mature adults; a year old or older.