Here in the Mid-Atlantic US, this past winter was relatively mild. It was very mild until February but even then the real cold lasted a week or two but not months. This means that cats living here impregnated females in the early part of winter; by the time the temperatures really fell most of those kittens were old enough to survive.
I got involved in spay/neuter clinics last year as a volunteer--I generally work in recovery and as a runner between recovery and the OR. I spend a good bit of time in the OR, and I see things. I was warned when I first posted here that spay/neuter clinics during "kitten season" would be depressing and potentially disturbing--not places for the faint-hearted.
Our clinics are at Philadelphia Animal Control, so I see many animals and some of them are badly injured and/or in really bad shape. Two clinics in a row featured dogs with an eye popped out of its head. I'm not exactly "used" to such sights, but I've enough discipline to put them aside and focus on the mission at hand. And for the past two clinics I've needed that discipline.
For those of you who haven't "been there" a kitten, while part of a multiple-birth pregnancy, develops in the womb with its own placenta and fetal sac. When a female cat is spayed, any embyonic or fetal kittens are removed along with her reproductive organs. When I first saw this I thought it looked like the cat was being eviscerated. Later, I looked at a tray with about six sacs on it. Each one of them would have been a cute, fuzzy kitten instead of pod-looking bags of fluid and dead meat. But those who survive today will most likely be those we trap and neuter tomorrow, and the mission is reducing the number of cats needing such intervention. And so I soldier on, but now I've seen The Elephant.....
P.S. Because of transportation issues, I haven't trapped this winter. I now see new cats in the neighborhood. Tonight as I was feeding I saw two copulating. Busy year ahead....
I got involved in spay/neuter clinics last year as a volunteer--I generally work in recovery and as a runner between recovery and the OR. I spend a good bit of time in the OR, and I see things. I was warned when I first posted here that spay/neuter clinics during "kitten season" would be depressing and potentially disturbing--not places for the faint-hearted.
Our clinics are at Philadelphia Animal Control, so I see many animals and some of them are badly injured and/or in really bad shape. Two clinics in a row featured dogs with an eye popped out of its head. I'm not exactly "used" to such sights, but I've enough discipline to put them aside and focus on the mission at hand. And for the past two clinics I've needed that discipline.
For those of you who haven't "been there" a kitten, while part of a multiple-birth pregnancy, develops in the womb with its own placenta and fetal sac. When a female cat is spayed, any embyonic or fetal kittens are removed along with her reproductive organs. When I first saw this I thought it looked like the cat was being eviscerated. Later, I looked at a tray with about six sacs on it. Each one of them would have been a cute, fuzzy kitten instead of pod-looking bags of fluid and dead meat. But those who survive today will most likely be those we trap and neuter tomorrow, and the mission is reducing the number of cats needing such intervention. And so I soldier on, but now I've seen The Elephant.....
P.S. Because of transportation issues, I haven't trapped this winter. I now see new cats in the neighborhood. Tonight as I was feeding I saw two copulating. Busy year ahead....
