DOES MY CAT KNOW IF I AM PREGNANT?
Have you ever heard that cats smell when a woman is pregnant? Eh yes! And in this ANIMAL WORLD article, we explain how they are able to do this.
How do cats perceive a woman's pregnancy? To find out if a woman is pregnant, cats use their developed senses. They particularly appeal to their sense of smell, but they can also use sight, hearing and even touch to perceive certain signals of which the woman herself is not aware. These signals are a plethora and they appear at different times of the gestation period. we will mention a few here:
Chemical change
A woman's body undergoes many chemical changes during pregnancy, especially at the hormonal level, since, among other things, her estrogen and progesterone levels increase. Humans have no way of perceiving her hormonal changes, but cats are able to sense them even before a woman has taken a pregnancy test. So yes, your cat may know you're pregnant before you know it.
Temperature changes
The basal temperature of a pregnant woman is higher than that of a woman who is not, because her blood flow increases significantly, and cats are also able to perceive this small detail.
Changes in the habits and behavior of their guardian
Have you ever caught your cat staring at you? Cats are very observant animals that study you all day, so when your habits change, they notice. Why does a cat purr or massage a pregnant woman's belly? Because he spotted all these changes in their guardian. Your cat is aware that something strange is going on and may react in many different ways. Of course, not all felines behave the same in this situation, but certain behaviors are quite common and most cats adopt them. For example, the fact that the cat decides to spend more time with its pregnant guardian who massages its belly or that it purrs on it are behaviors that could be caused by the increase in temperature that we told you about above.
Cats have a higher body temperature than ours and they love warm places, which is why they seek the company of pregnant women. However, due to toxoplasmosis, you may be wondering if you can touch your cat if you are pregnant and the answer is yes if your cat is in excellent health.
On the other hand, some cats behave in the opposite way and they prefer to avoid contact with their pregnant guardian. Cats are very sensitive to change and it is likely that felines who avoid their pregnant guardian are rather stressed cats by nature.
Moments before delivery, the symptoms mentioned above may intensify. The release of hormones, temperature and changes in the female's behavior becomes more apparent to the cat who may begin to stress out, even though she is unable to predict what is going to happen. In the same way that cats sense a woman's pregnancy, they can sense childbirth, although, as we've said before, they don't know exactly what it is.