I think my "spayed" cat is pregnant.

This picture really doesn't do it justice:

I noticed a couple of weeks ago - and it had happened really suddenly - that Xena was looking rather...round. I figured we were feeding her too much and made a mental note to cut back on the food amount we were giving her. But as the days went by, I noticed that she doesn't look like a normal fat cat. When cats are fat, you can kind of see the fat hanging down toward the ground when they're walking around. But with her, it's not hanging. It's out. It looks like she has a small ball in her stomach. Like, when you're looking down, a bird's eye view, she goes out.


Here's the thing - when we adopted her from the Humane Society, they assured us that she was spayed. It says so on her paperwork, which we still have. We paid $70 for her to have been spayed. They didn't tell us that she's declawed, but we have found out that she is. So I wonder if they mixed up the paperwork between her and another cat or something. I don't know. But we trusted in the "spayed" thing when we let her out for the first time a few weeks after we brought her home.


That "letting out" situation didn't go so well. We had 30 mph winds during that time, and I think she got scared. One of my naughty neighbor kids found her in some old pail in a different neighbor's backyard, where he is specifically not supposed to play. She had been gone for a couple of days. She was huddled in the bottom of this pail, totally scared. I think she had gotten disoriented in the wind. And she really is still a kitten - only like nine months old. If we can trust the paperwork. Which we can't.


So we brought her home, gave her a bath and food, and decided not to let her out again for awhile. At least not until we can afford to get a collar and a tag. So, if she's pregnant, and I think she is, the little hussy got knocked up her first time outside. Sheesh.


Her little... nipples... have gotten bigger and pinker, and the hair around them has been thinning out. I think she's totally preparing to have kittens. Ugh. What if she has them in my BED??? On my white sheets????? Brianna says I need to make her a "nest." A little box with old towels in it, and then kind of a canopy made of a box above it, so that it feels safe. And she says that Xena will definitely go to the nest and have the kittens there and take care of the placenta and all that crap.


I did not sign up for this.


I've had a busy couple of weeks, but I'm calling the Humane Society tomorrow and saying, "Um...we paid for Xena having been spayed, which never took place. We need you to adopt out the kittens when they come, and we need you to then pay to have her spayed for REALS." What a pain.


Ben wants to keep one of the kittens. Sigh.