A cat has been hanging around our rural house for a few days. Finally managed to get a good look at it tonight, it has a lot of hair loss around its abdomen, and looks to be very pregnant.

I chucked some food down for her and she scoffed it immediately. She is very very timid.

Whats the best thing to do? Try catch her? Put more food out? Leave alone?

If you think you might want to adopt her or can find her a home, I would put some more food out and see if you can slowly get her to trust you.

I would keep feeding her If she is pregnant. maybe you could get her to come inside but It's important not to stress her . She might have a microchip or something that could possibly locate her owner. If not though id maybe contact the local animal rescue? If you knew she was a stray then you wanted to keep her I suppose that would be ok but shes pregnant and If you have cats already might be too stressful on them all unless you have a house big enough to keep her entirely seperate until she's had her kittens etc. She would also need to see a vet If shes a stray too. good luck

I would feed her, she must be starving. If you can catch her you can bring her in to be fixed. They can abort the babies. I know that sounds cruel, but if she is homeless, chances are her babies will be ferrel and unwanted too. It's a sad cycle and it sounds like she is not getting enough nutrition which may make nursing difficult living on her own with out health care. If she does deliver, you will need to later round up all the kittens and have them fixed too. One cat and her offspring can produce many, many cats in a short time.

A pregnant cat is going to need all the nutrition she can get. If you know she is a stray and doesn't have a home in the neighborhood, I would trap her and take her to the vet. They will check for a microchip, make sure she is indeed pregnant and healthy. It would be up to you whether she had the kittens (which would need homes) or have her spayed, depending on how far along she was. Naturally, you could surrender her to a shelter -- preferably a no-kill shelter. My vet will take in stray kitties and find them homes. Just know if you decide to keep her and let her have her kittens, she will need to be brought inside. If you have other pets, that could become a problem as she would need a very quiet, remote spot in which to give birth.

It's wonderful that you want to take care of this little thing ... hopefully things will work out for you and the kitty.