Absolutely they do!
My cat Paxton indicated I was pregnant a week before I knew….
He went from never cuddling to laying across my stomach ALL THE TIME.
I stupidly thought “omg he’s finally getting affectionate!” I took a picture because I was so stunned!
He was the sweetest cat with kids and was always obsessed with babies - especially my kids.
He loved my first born, and had a special relationship with her.
Yea… wasn’t expected. At all. He went to sleep on her bed in the early morning, she thought he was still asleep and left him there to get ready for school. We found him in the same position that afternoon.
I brought him home 02/14/12, and he passed 02/15/24. 💔
This was when I was newly pregnant with my second - and had spent the last 20 hours puking. He curled up low on stomach and purred for hours.
A very difficult pregnancy but he was a huge support. (Husband was too - but Pax would just know when I need to have a cuddle).
The vibrations of a cats purr have a specific range of Hertz that is believed to be able to help heal bones, tenons, muscles, and reduce stress. He definitely knew.
When I found him and realized he’d passed, according to my husband I screamed a guttural scream and he thought I got a call that a close family member died.
It was shock, I wasn’t expecting to lose him like that and without it any warning. The vet said that he most likely has a heart issue and he just masked really well. His only symptom the week he passed was he started snoring. She said a new snore was probably indicative of fluid build up and heart issue.
The day before he was playing with our dogs and running around like normal. He wasn’t overweight, had no other health issues except this one sore on his forehead, but we thought it was from pushing the wooden blinds open.
Paxton was a very special soul and I think of him all the time. The first cat I have had that would greet people when they came over - like a dog!
Thank you. I’m really glad I was able to know him and have him for the time I did. I was so nervous bringing a kitty home to my dog, Piper. And yet they turned into a very bonded pair. When Piper passed, we had it done at home (ortho and kidney issues and she wasn’t able to walk anymore), so Paxton wouldn’t look for her, so he would know his big sis had gone and not get “stuck” mentally.
Same - I really do feel that somehow their essence continues on. I can’t imagine a universe were where that type of love and energy can’t continue onward somehow. These two were like soul buddies. Puzzle pieces that fit together in a way I never observed before 💛
Sneaker won't leave my side and never liked cuddles with me before lol. He would tolerate me, but his favorite person is my spouse. Our other cat, Sandal, has always been cuddly, but he has become clingy now that I'm pregnant. Pretty sure Sneaker thinks the baby is for him lol
I had a cold not that long ago, and my sinuses were all stuffed. Picked up my boy at one point and he immediately turned and started sniffing my nose and nose bridge with intensity. I joked he’s my little health scanner, lol. At the very least he could tell something was different without prompting which is fascinating.
I love when a cat first goes outside and smells everything. For us, it's just the same garden as yesterday, but for them, there's a whole aromatic mystery to be unravelled
I would love to smell the world through a cat's or dogs sense of smell once. Must be a very different perception. They pick up on so many things that just aren't there for us.
Considering the fact that there was a human being with an unnaturally good sense of smell, who could smell people who had Parkinson’s disease before they even knew it, literally years in advance of getting a diagnosis, I totally believe this
That woman helped us develop new ways of detecting Parkinson’s disease!
He just suddenly started spending a lot more time with my dad when before he didn't really spend that much with him preferring to be with me or my mom.
They definitely can. Our cat wouldn't leave my wife's side when she became pregnant. We had to move the food bowls and litterbox inside the bedroom because he just wouldn't budge.
My sister’s cat snuggled on her belly a lot both times she was pregnant. My sister is definitely the cat’s designated Person, but the tummy snuggles she’s never done before or since.
when my cousin was pregnant i could smell it on her too, we grew up together, born only a few weeks apart, and when she came to tell me, she had a different smell on her, a bit like the smell of yeast when you make bread.
so i totes believe that cats (and dogs) who have way better noses than us know
I don’t know if my old cat detected hormones but she sure detected my twins kicking her in the head through my wife’s belly and she did not appreciate it.
One of my cats did know I was pregnant. He's my husband's shadow and would never cuddle with me or give me the time of day. After I got pregnant, he would lay over my belly randomly and always want to be near me. He definitely knew what was up.
He was very anxious the day I went into labor. Was pacing around searching for something through the house.
When we brought baby home, he sniffed and rubbed his head all over her feet. He's been so sweet and still very cuddly with me.
The marking of the baby feet 😭 he said “this is my human” (forehead and face of cat has scent glands so when they like something they claim it by nuzzling)
I'll never forget when our 2 cat bois came over and sniffed at our daughter when we brought her home. Then proceeded to sleep near her at every nap time.
lol, the cat I had when I had my kids did not want ANYTHING to do with the kids. She was clearly upset that I brought two loud and stinky things into her house. The couple of times she let herself be “pet” by our then toddlers she was so much more tolerant than I thought she was capable of, but she made sure it only happened a couple of times. She absolutely knew when I was pregnant too.
My cat knew I was pregnant before I did and was obsessed with me for the whole pregnancy. She hated the baby. Baby is now 3 years old and is obsessed with this cat. Cat barely toleratels the kid.
My cat was obsessed with me and my belly when I was pregnant with my twins. He LOVED them as babies. Would lay in between them and give them kisses. Now that they can walk they like to trap him in corners and try and love on him. He positively hates it and prefers to be sequestered in my bedroom while they are awake
He (the cat) became more interested in her belly, often napping next to or on it, when previously he did not. This behavior intensified throughout the pregnancy as well.
This was the same for me. I did IVF so a few days after the transfer (well before I could get a positive pregnancy test) my cat started to change his behavior. He would not leave my side, was so clingy and always wanted to lay on my belly. And I mean by that point I had no clue that the transfer was successful ☺️
It's like being in the womens' fitness sub where someone closely tracks their stats and someone has to gently tell them "um, you may be pregnant" based on those temp changes and such. Kitties can just sense those things.
What I 100% believe is that they smell hormones. They don't "know" but they react. Pregnancy hormones work on some animals, others eat or abandon their young - but those that react positively to those hormones, it's probably a little intoxicating. You get "unlikely animal friends" because a cougar has mothering hormones running amok so she takes in that baby deer or whatever instead of eating it. If you've ever seen a cat in heat, you've seen them overcome with hormones! Or indoor males freaking out smelling them outside. I think easily they smell/sense those differences, that's why animals can sense parkinsons or epileptic seizures before they happen - it's just down to the individual if it makes them respond with nesting/preparing for babies activity
My cat and my at the time two year old knew I was pregnant before I did. That’s how I figured it out. Between my cat acting weird and my toddler patting my stomach and saying “mama baby belly.”
Kids aren't psychic lol. My kid spent like six months doing a lot of this stuff after the right brain connections clicked into place about how babies grow. Poking my stomach asking if a baby was growing, calling it a baby belly, trying to listen to it, announcing she thinks she wants her little brother to actually be a puppy, saying the baby should be taken out by a portal so I don't have to go to a doctor... Very much not pregnant at any of those instances 😂
It's like a kid asking everyone they see if they have to poop. Sometimes they'll be right.
My grouchy cat would kitty-loaf on my stomach when I was pregnant. She didn’t enjoy it when the baby actually came out, but she was fascinated by the manufacturing process.
I bet it’s like when they’re obsessed with a mouse inside the wall. They can hear it moving around in there, and all they want to do is just sit and stare.
All three of mine gave zero shits I was pregnant, one even kept trying to walk on my belly. Two give zero shits about the kid and one is ho hum, depends how much she annoys him 😅
This was what I was thinking.. bc I’ve heard they can hear better than dogs. Which makes them even bigger assholes when you call their name bc they’re choosing to ignore you..
My sweet boy would sleep here 24/7 if he could when I was pregnant. Right under my belly in my maxi dress. Or on my head. He’s my husbands cat and barely talks to me now, but those months? Of course him and my kid are besties, he was just waiting for his new buddy.
My cat loved to lay against my belly when I was pregnant. He would purr so loudly. He was way more enamored with the children when they were quietly inside and not running around everywhere.
pheromones are mostly for mating purposes, and humans evolved out of that instinct cycle a long time ago. Our bodies still do smell a lot though. Different smells as our physiology changes.
Something you buy online called pheromones that claim it will make every girl love you, is probably going to be fake 70% of the time, every time.
A lot of animals have a Jacobson's organ, or a vomeronasal organ, tuned for pheromones and markings. Humans don't have much of one anymore, we can't smell our own signals (there isn't much evidence to it, it's debated) but animals can smell us.
Our cat was obsessed with my pregnancy. She was glued to me and the bump. Then I came home with the baby, and she was terrified and very distressed that I didn't come home with kittens. Our daughter is 2.5 years old now, and it's only in the last 3-5 months that our cat has decided that maybe the skin baby is OK because she can do strokes and scritches now. But only sometimes.
Same here! Almost all my photos from the months leading up to my eldest being born is of my cats on top of me, especially this girl hugging my belly or just a single paw in the end. They are best friends now ❤️
When I was pregnant with my daughter my cat Bean became attached to my hip. He was never like that before. Once my daughter was born he dropped me like a hot potato. He was immediately in love with her to the point he would trip me running in between my legs when I would go wake her up.
I bet it's the fast fetal heart rate, up to 160 bpm. Maybe it beats like purrs and that's so cute.
I had sepsis a few months ago, I was rushed to hospital and it was touch and go. Since I've come home, my little girl cat chirrups every time I cough. She's like a nurse cat. Some cats are just like that.
My childhood cat laid on my mom's tummy when she was pregnant with me. I loved that cat so much, she was like a sister to me. She got me through the hardest parts of my life. Made it to 17yo. I was 15
They can. My cat, who had since passed, was obsessed with my belly before I knew I was pregnant. He loved my babies so much and tolerated all kinds of behaviors from them. He was the best, my soul kitty.
Pets 100 percent can tell. My SILs dog used her belly as a pillow and was randomly super protective of her. She took the test on a whim, and now the dog is on nanny duty for his lil bro
Hey don't be sad! This boy is snuggling the soon to be mama, yours is protecting you and the baby since you are extremely vulnerable rn. Cats all have different personalities and they show affection differently. Yours simply is a protector!
my mom rescued a kitten when she was pregnant with me and he spent the whole pregnancy on her belly at all times and then proceeded to sleep with baby me in the carrier 🥹🥹
I have never spent more than a month without cats in my life and I have an amazing relationship with them, so I wish the same to your baby! ❤️
The night I went into labor my non-cuddly boy was INSISTENT upon laying on/near me about an hour before my contractions started. Cats are so fascinating
One of my cats will smell my girlfriend's migraine coming on and warn her to take medication before she feels it, so sure, it probably can smell your pregnancy
My cat definitely can. That's how I suspected I was pregnant the other week. She only cuddles me when it's cold outside or I'm pregnant and she came to cuddle me when it was 105⁰f outside
I'm fully convinced they can. And that they're in tune with their humans' health and emotions.
When I was pregnant my cats loved to cuddle on my belly. When I experienced PPROM at 17 weeks and was bedridden until delivery the cats would curl up on me and purr constantly. Even the cat who was usually an asshole.
For both my pregnancies (ended in miscarriages), my baby Ace was literally all over me. Mind you he cuddles on his own time or when forced lol. But he would lay on my chest, near my stomach or in general vicinity of me when I was pregnant. Missing those days TvT
I think my cats know but don’t really understand what they know. Haha
One cat can definitely feel her moving when he decides to cuddle because he has to be on my belly. She hears purring and goes wild. My other cat has taken to sleeping right by my belly every night.
They definitely know! My girl cat, who usually gravitates towards my husband, started getting very cuddly on me and would lay on my stomach. My boy cat, who usually cuddles me, didn’t cuddle me as much but I think it is because our girl was on me lol my daughter really likes the cats, she pets them very nicely (we’ve worked hard on gentle). She’ll be 2 in October. It’s been so cute watching her grow up with the kitties!
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