Small time Panic

Ok Im in a little bit of a panic..........the lady who is helping us with our cat Snickers, who we were fostering before we decided to keep her set up an appt for her to be fixed this Friday........day after tomorrow!! She told me there is a chance for Snickers to be pregnant and I knew that and was not worried because the appt was going to be Mid May.......well now the appt is much much sooner and Im not real comfortable with knowing they might kill kittens in her womb. How in the world would I be able to tell if she was pregnant? I wouldnt would I??? And I dont know where I would take her to find out without it costing a lot. ** Sigh** I dont know if I should just let her go ahead with her appt. Jeanie said it was an awesome time slot that she got for Friday and she knew I would want it since I didnt want Snickers to go in heat, but now Im having doubts.........
any insite would be appreciated...........Thanks

Ok well I guess no one has any advice.....I called the organization thats been helping care for her and they said I just need to get her spade so in she goes on Friday!!
She said the vet said that she wasent pregnant. Although how they would know that by just looking is beyond me...........

I wonder if a regular store bought pregnancy test works on animals.

Glad she's not pregnant.

Good luck!

My friend says the only way you can tell for sure is for the cat to have an xray.......I would think a blood test as well.

Originally Posted by Heathersfs

I wonder if a regular store bought pregnancy test works on animals.

Glad she's not pregnant.

Good luck!

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No, it would not. A home pregnancy test is specifically looking for the pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG). Cats do not have this hormone.

I have been fostering for two years. If I were in your position, I would have Snickers spayed on Friday. If there are no visible signs that she is pregnant, it is likely that she is not. Especially if the vet has already seen her and said she isn't. It is still very early in the year, and hopefully she has not gotten pregnant yet.

By spaying her now, you also get her vaccinations, which protect her against illnesses. If money is an issue for you, getting x-rays to check for pregnancy would be only a small part of the cost. Having a litter of kittens gets rather expensive . The extra food and litter is just a small part. There are also the vet visits for the kittens. And if anyone has a health problem, either Momma or babies, that adds up, too. In two years of fostering, I have lost 5 kittens, and had an additional 9 that needed extra vet care (besides the usual shots).

If you are thinking it would be fun to have a litter of kittens, you can always offer to foster a fully pregnant kitty later, after Snickers has settled in.

You know, Liz, there are actually others who would also be disturbed by spaying a pregnant cat. For me, it depends upon the circumstances. I try to look at it case by individual case.

I have PM'ed you with a few thoughts.

Best of luck, no matter what you decide to do.

~gf~

I think that you should really go with your feelings on this,as I myself would never have an already pregnant cat spayed but then again that is my opinion.
If you keep her away from other cats while pregnant and weaning kits, and get her done straight after the kits are weaned there shouldn't be any probs and everyone is a winner. you got beautiful babies and a newly spayed momma.

Originally Posted by lucyloo

I think that you should really go with your feelings on this,as I myself would never have an already pregnant cat spayed but then again that is my opinion.
If you keep her away from other cats while pregnant and weaning kits, and get her done straight after the kits are weaned there shouldn't be any probs and everyone is a winner. you got beautiful babies and a newly spayed momma.

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I totally agree with lucyloo!. My Booger was spayed 8 wks after giving birth,and the vet made it a point to tell me that she was carrying 6 babies. It was heartbreaking to me! Had I known or even thought there was a chance of her being pregnant,I would NOT have had her spayed. I even regret it to this day... don't feel guilty if you wait until you are sure! Snickers is very lucky to have such a concerned "momma"!!

I also PM you feel free to email me anytime. I also had to make a decision like that, but when I went back in Skittles had a fever and I had to return in 2 weeks but I returned in 1 because she would not eat. She was pregnant

I'd like to add my thoughts on this...

First, if you're fostering this cat, isn't the decision the responsibilty of the agency you're fostering her for?

That aside, I would really recommend you see if you can reinstate and keep that appointment.

First, you've been told by a vet that's she's not pregnant. You have to go with that.

Second, you're not saving anyone. If for some unforseeable reason she is pregnant, and it's in such an early stage that it's undetectable, it's not like doing it when they'rfe 5, 6, or more weeks pregnant.

I also dont' believe that we, as humans, should put our values on animals. It is a very different situation. In other areas we don't. We will euthanize a sick cat or dog, but we will not do that to a human, and we understand the morality of stopping an animal's suffering.

It's the same here.

You may see it as saving lives. Say she has 4 kittens, and you let them grow to term, and then you get them homes. You think you've done the right thing.

What you're not seeing are the 4 kittens that might have gotten those 4 homes, and didn't because your cat added 4 more to the world, and the other 4 and now left alone abandoned on some street, starved, dying from flea, tic and god-knows-what infestation, beaten by kids, wounded by other animals and left bleeding and to suffer for days on some street somewhere until they mercifully die, crying, starving, alone.

Because I believe for ever kitten that born into a luckier situation, that leaves out one who desperately needs to be saved.

So which is the moral action?

I had to make that decison about my Deja Vu when I found her. The reason I did not have her spayed while pregnant was because she was already 8 weeks pregnant. At that stage I would not do it, it's not good for the mom either.

But if it had been just a week or so, as sad as it would have made me, I would have done it. Then I would have gone to the rescue group and asked to foster a mom who needed a place to have her kittens because she was almost near term

I still think the vet is right, but the longer you wait, the worse it would be if she was.

Sadly, at least for me, it comes down to a decision of am I going to do what makes me feel better, or am I going to do what's best for the cat and the babies, and any other babies it might affect.

I would have a harder time living with a decison that made me feel I acted selfishly by doing what made me feel good. I could live easier with a decision knowing that decisoin not only was the best all around, but it saved some other animals that would have ended up suffering.

Again, this kind of decison for a cat (or a dog for that matter) is a very different issue than it would be for an human.

Your cousin was right, and yes, has probably seen the horrors out there, and wants to save some more babies from having to go through that.

Think about it. Wish I had seen this post earlier.

I think her morals are what led to her decision.

I think all you can do in this situation is follow your conscience; and no one can fault you for making a choice either way.

I am pro-life when it comes to humans; but animals are different; their level of consciousness is much lower... there's much more of a responsibility to ensure they are happy and well cared for than there is to insist they live as long as possible. This is why we eat meat and euthanize sick animals and, yes, use abortions when needed for animals that cannot be cared for if born. We do not have a responsibility to prevent animal death, so much as we have a responsibility to prevent needless or painful animal death.

The cat (and the unborn kittens) would be thoroughly unconscious during the spaying; the kittens would not suffer, any more than a cat does when you put her to sleep.

But I understand your perspective as well; because spaying a pregnant cat means killing healthy kittens that are not in any pain... While cat overpopulation is a big problem, perhaps you do not want to choose who lives and who dies... I can understand this; it does border on "needless death".

Late-term spaying for a female cat abruptly ends the pregnancy and can lead to health issues; in this case it is probably better to do what is necessary to find homes for those kittens...

But enough of my opinion; what I said at first still stands: Follow your conscience.

Originally Posted by Callista

I think all you can do in this situation is follow your conscience; and no one can fault you for making a choice either way.

I am pro-life when it comes to humans; but animals are different; their level of consciousness is much lower... there's much more of a responsibility to ensure they are happy and well cared for than there is to insist they live as long as possible. This is why we eat meat and euthanize sick animals and, yes, use abortions when needed for animals that cannot be cared for if born. We do not have a responsibility to prevent animal death, so much as we have a responsibility to prevent needless or painful animal death.

The cat (and the unborn kittens) would be thoroughly unconscious during the spaying; the kittens would not suffer, any more than a cat does when you put her to sleep.

But I understand your perspective as well; because spaying a pregnant cat means killing healthy kittens that are not in any pain... While cat overpopulation is a big problem, perhaps you do not want to choose who lives and who dies... I can understand this; it does border on "needless death".

Late-term spaying for a female cat abruptly ends the pregnancy and can lead to health issues; in this case it is probably better to do what is necessary to find homes for those kittens...

But enough of my opinion; what I said at first still stands: Follow your conscience.

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You said it better than I did, and clarified some of what I said.

I do agree about late-term spay/abortion not being a good thing.

But in a case like this, when chances are she is not pregnant, and if she would be, it is probably just a few days, when they are not even really "kittens" yet, more like tiny specks, that's why I felt this would not be an issue of morality based on human morals, but one of our responsibilitly to prevent needless suffering in animals, again said by you in a much clearer way.