There are no studies or scientific evidence of whether cats feel pregnant. Numerous discussions of this topic on the forums nevertheless provide an opportunity to answer this question and to trace how fluffy pets behave during women's pregnancy and whether their attitude to such an important process is the same.
What do they smell?
Pregnancy is a complex, constantly changing process, when the metabolism and work of the whole body of women are rearranged, and changes in the composition of their urine and blood begin from the first days. Can the cat feel the hostess’s pregnancy from these changes and how? First of all, for most animals, the main information is contained in smells, and the cat has an incredibly sensitive sense of smell. Almost immediately from the moment of conception, the production of some hormones accelerates and increases, while others slows down and decreases. As a result of this, the chemical composition of biologically active substances produced by the glands of not only internal but also external secretion changes. The conversion of the chemical composition accordingly changes the smell of sweat and pheromones, now they contain substances that are unique to pregnant women. And if a person is not able to smell the substances, then the cat’s sense of smell will accurately determine them.
When will they find out?
How quickly do animals catch these smells and do cats feel pregnant in their early stages? Every woman’s body is different. The hormonal process and the development of external secrets in some may occur sooner and more actively than in others. You can read the stories of women whose cats, by their behavior, reported a mistress’s pregnancy before she knew about it by doing a test. It should also be borne in mind that the sensory organs in animals, as in humans, have different sensitivities. Someone's cat will immediately catch a changed smell, and someone's a little later.
Manifestations of tenderness
Do cats feel pregnant in addition to smell? Most often, women say that their pets strive to lie down on their stomach, while purring loudly, even if this behavior was unusual for the pet before. Such interest in the stomach of pregnant animals is shown not only in relation to the hostesses. A cat can behave in a similar way in relation to a guest in a position. The desire to lie down on the stomach or nearby, so as to come into contact with it, is characteristic not only of cats, but also of cats. Sometimes the wayward and not too affectionate animal begins to show special tenderness to the abdomen of its mistress. Another area that arouses the interest of furry pets is the breast of the expectant mother, on which cats can also express a desire to fit, clasp their legs and purr.
But why exactly these areas so attract animals? If interest in the breast can be easily explained by the fact that its increase and swelling causes a slight increase in temperature, to which cats are very sensitive. In addition, the transformations taking place in the mammary glands, in order to adapt them to the production of milk, also contribute to the appearance of special smells, elusive to others, but attractive to animals. But how to explain the cat's interest in the stomach of pregnant women? Perhaps they feel changes in pressure, temperature, muscle tone, some elusive vibrations, or energy that no equipment has yet captured? One can only guess about this. There are quite a few assumptions as to whether cats can sense a housewife's pregnancy at the energy level. Sometimes these animals are endowed with extrasensory qualities, but there is no direct evidence for this.
Excessive custody
Some owners say that when they get pregnant, their cats or cats do not leave them without their attention for a minute, constantly accompanying them around the apartment. And if the hostess needs to go to the restroom or bathroom, then the pet remains at the closed door and meows continuously. What is it, caring for the mistress and her offspring or cats are so attracted to smells or other sensations that animals are ready to follow them everywhere? And in this case there is no explanation, because with cats it is always like this: there are more questions than answers.
Aggression, leaving home
Stories about how cats react to the hostess’s pregnancy are not so sweet either. So, there are stories about the unequivocal zeal of animals for the future offspring of the owners. The pet strives to scratch or bite his stomach, while he can grumble and wave his tail. His actions do not resemble a game, the animal is clearly unhappy or annoyed. Pets rarely behave this way, but such cases do happen. The cat is afraid of something. Perhaps he was once picked up on the street, and he is afraid of losing his place in the house, the food and the attention of the owners. Or the animal does not like strangers in the house, it always takes guests away with difficulty, and therefore shows hostility to the upcoming replenishment in the family.
It also happens that shortly before the birth of the mistress, the cat leaves the house and does not return. And this happens quite often, but where the animal can freely leave the house - in a private house or in the country. Prior to this, the pet could not show anxiety, nothing unusual happened in the family, and the owners paid no less attention to it than usual. And it remains a mystery why cats do this.
Indifference
A more frequent reaction of cats to the pregnancy of housewives is behavior without any changes. They write, as a rule, about the extraordinary actions of animals and much less often talk about their ordinary habits. Nevertheless, many owners of cats note that their wards do not show any interest in the pregnancy of their mistresses. They fit in the same places where they usually like to doze off, and if it's the stomach or chest, then they get no more attention than before. Most likely, this is the most natural reaction of animals, but owners are much less likely to talk about it than about unusual pet behavior.
However, do cats that feel no behavioral changes feel pregnant? At least they catch the smell, but perhaps the animal does not correlate it and other changes of its owners with pregnancy or this phenomenon does not interest them.
Castrated cat and mistress pregnancy
And will the behavior of the animal depend on its age or whether it is neutered or not? Statistical data are not available, but, thinking logically, we can expect that very young or neutered, never mating pets will be indifferent to the hostess's pregnancy. However, there is an example of an incredibly demanding adult sterilized cat, who did not want to leave a place in the belly of its owner from the fifth month of her pregnancy. The same behavior with constant escort around the apartment was also observed in a castrated, never tied cat. A very calm domestic cat who did not reach puberty left and did not return a week before the birth of the mistress.
After exploring thematic forums in more detail, you can probably find much more such examples. Therefore, it is hardly possible to deduce any pattern in feline behavior during pregnancy of their owners. Only animals themselves know the answer to this question, but they do not reveal their secrets to anyone. After all, there is no mysterious creature in the world than a cat.