You may have heard someone say that, during her pregnancy, the behavior of her cat or cats changed. It may also be that you yourself have experienced these changes if you have been or are pregnant and do not understand what they may be due to.
Cats are animals with highly developed senses and, although there are few scientific studies in this regard, everything we know to date about the perceptive abilities of these felines seems to show thatCats are capable of feeling the pregnancy of a woman. Now, a cat cannot understand the emotional implication of a pregnancy, so if your furry behaves with you in an unusually affectionate or attached way, it is not because he is very happy for you, but because he notices certain changes in his environment and respond to them. But what are these changes and how is a cat able to detect them? In this article on our site we tell you all that and more, don't miss it!
How do cats perceive a woman's pregnancy?
To know that a woman is pregnant, cats use their highly developed senses, especially smell, although they also use sight, hearing and even touch to perceive certain signals of which not even the woman herself is aware. These signs appear at different times of the gestation period and are mainly the following:
- Chemical changes: the woman's body undergoes many chemical changes during pregnancy, especially at the hormonal level, since, among other things,, increase your estrogen and progesterone levels. Human beings have no way of perceiving these hormonal changes through our senses, but cats are able to smell them, even before the woman has taken a pregnancy test! So your cat may know you're pregnant before you do.
- Temperature Changes: The basal temperature of a pregnant woman is higher than that of a non-pregnant woman, since her blood flow increases considerably, and cats can also perceive this small detail.
- Changes in her guardian's habits and behavior: Have you ever caught your cat staring at you? Cats are very observant animals and have a very good perception of movement, which means that they take in everything you do and "study" your body language, so when your routines vary or your usual way of behaving changes, they notice bill. In this other article we share more reasons why your cat stares at you.
What does it mean when a cat purrs or kneads a pregnant woman's belly?
When sensing these signs that something strange is happening in the animal's environment, and more specifically in its guardian, the cat can choose to respond in different ways. Of course, not all cats have the same behavior in this situation, since each individual has its own personality and experiences that make it unique and different from the others. However, some behaviors are quite frequent and can be observed with some ease in a large number of cats that live with pregnant people.
For example, the fact that the animal decides to spend more time with its guardian, kneads its belly purring or sleeps on it could be due to the increase in temperaturethat we mentioned earlier. Cats have a higher body temperature than ours and they like to rest in warm places , so it is possible that they seek physical contact more frequently with a people who are pregnant than with one who is not. If, in addition, these signs of affection are reinforced, the animal will tend to repeat them more often, increasing their intensity or duration. So, if you're pregnant and your cat doesn't come off, it could be as simple as she's more comfortable with you than with other people. In this sense, you may be wondering if you can touch your cat and the answer is yes, as long as it is he althy. We talk about it in this post: "Can I touch my cat if I'm pregnant?".
On the other hand, some cats behave in the opposite way, moving away and avoiding contact with their owner. Cats are animals that are very sensitive to change and it is likely that those cats that behave in a more surly or evasive manner are more likely to become stressed or frightened by the novelty and variations in their environment. In this case, you must be patient, never force the animal and try to make it feel comfortable and safe, trying to keep its routines as stable as possible.
Do cats feel the birth of their guardian?
Moments before delivery, the signs listed above may intensify. Both the hormonal discharge and the temperature and changes in the woman's behavior become more evident to the cat, who may begin to respond in a nervous and altered manner, although he is not able to predict what is going to happen. In the same way that cats feel a woman's pregnancy, they can feel labor, despite, we insist, not knowing exactly that it is a birth.
Keep in mind that the arrival of the baby at home supposes a huge change for the animal, since from that moment it will begin to receive a series of stimuli to which he was not previously accustomed (smells, sounds, etc.). To prevent the cat from becoming stressed and developing emotional and/or behavioral problems, it is highly recommended to contact, before the arrival of the newborn, a feline ethologist specializing in coexistence between animals and children who advises future parents about the needs of the animal and how to make it feel comfortable in the presence of the new member of the family. We also talked about it in the article on Coexistence between cats and babies.
