You're right. Should've noticed - she is a skinny cat, normally.
However, not so much as an excuse, but... OK, an excuse and a totally improper place to rant about cats, but.....? At least allow me to digress, it's been an interesting month-or-so - I sure can't afford a shrink, at the moment..
Maggie is, ahh... distant? Ah, stand-offish..? Ahhhhh... Mean-as Hell? Yes, that would be it... Maggie is an inherited cat, from my recently deceased Father-In-Law - AND sweet as anythng, RIGHT NOW! Maggie was never "fixed". Maggie is, I don't know, 8 or 10 years old(?) and has never(Far as WE know?) had kittens...... However, Daddy-in-law let her roam around his tiny town anyway, for years and who knows how many little Maggie's there are up there..? So, now she's here, with our other cats and she STILL gets out(I see her at the back door and I open the front door and before I step through the door she's halfway down the driveway! I call her "The Silver Bullet".) and she STILL hasn't been fixed. Yes, I know, no excuse other than cash - the saddest excuse of all, as well as "other stuff", taking care of the estate(Sadly, a very minor "estate",), taking the other cats to the vet with "high" priorities -- Another kitten we have - one of two found by my wife at her workplace, got his little arm stepped-on and broken by our dog(No excuse for any of us there.) and he and his brother have cost us upwards of a grand, in the last month or so. We have one dog and, ahh, 11(Had to call my wife to get an accurate count) cats now(I like cats, but one or two would be fine.). Maggie got, if not ignored, at least not "weighed" too much lately(One does not "pickup and cuddle" with Maggie!)... Yes, we did notice she seemed "more plump", about a week ago(Reason we noticed is that she "started staying in..?" Hummm? - then, my wife said, over the weekend, when I wasn't here, that "all of a sudden she seemed skinny again"... She went looking and, as stated, "there they were", under the rack(And they are "very" small, worryingly small. At least she didn't have them outside somewhere...
So, We're hoping(Why? I don't know...) that they all live through the early-life process. The OTHER two brother kittens had a sister for about a week after we got them, but one morning the sister cat was found, by my wife, to be "almost gone", - she rushed her to the vet at, like, 6AM - someone was actually there, with a vet shortly after(Our vet place is very expensive but good as our own Doc's), who pronounced her "beyond hope" and..... well, you know what had to be done. We were sad. We are still sad. We will always be a little sad, I guess. Combine all of this with the best month(June) that I've had in my entire life, work-wise(Out ALOT!), busy "garden center" season for my wife -- and determining if Maggie was "with children" was...... not done. I know, no excuse.
Anyway, we now have:
Maggie, Saddie(Also not fixed - another inheritance cat(Beautiful, tiny calico with a "Cat Fancy" magazine-cover face.) - would have loved to inherit some money - but we've, so far, been able to keep her inside.), Sassafras(The only one we actually got, at the pound, for ourselves!). L.S.(Little Sweetie - actually Little Shit, as she used to "grab suddenly with all claws", when she was little, prompting an an "OUCH" response, followed by "...You Little Shit!", Poofey - a GREAT BIG CAT!!! with the look of a "Maine Coon", but not THAT big - though Poof, is the most friendly cat. Buster. A story in himself. A beautiful, big black and white cat - gorgeous! Not mean but hates to cuddle. Buster, we found late one night on a dog walk(We have our second Samoyed, this one from the pound, now about 10 years old.), literally on the "double yellow lines" in the middle of our busiest neighborhood street! He was a couple of weeks old, we had to clean him up(He was a mess) and feed him with an "eyedropper" for at least another week. And now there is Elliott and Poindexter, found in a mulch pile - the kind the "tractor-loader" runs over all day long -(Wife works at a garden center), both doing well and being crazy. And NOW the 3 new ones! Whether all or any will survive...??? We'll see. All of OUR cats are fixed(Even Elliott and Poiney, are "on the schedule" at the vets - be awhile.). I'll be looking for a "grant" to help support the others(Finding their Father's to pay??? I doubt it...). And, if history means anything, it may be difficult to impossible to put out that "free kittens" sign..?
There you go, the story, up-to-date of "why didn't we know Maggie was pregnant" - and why it didn't matter much anyway... And, how we hope to prevent such occurances in the future......(Something about a "barn door"???)
Time to fire-up the tube pre(Only thing I turn off), so I'll be reaching under the rack - just above the cats, trying not to disturb anyone - and hope for some work today - and some checks from that BIG month!
TG