Hi guys!
You may remember from last August when I took in a pregnant stray named Charity. She gave birth to 3 beautiful babies, Winnie, Tobey and Tubby.
You guys were great about offering me advice on potty training, bottle feeding, bathing and now I'm back to ask for your help once again.
One December evening while walking my dogs at night, I came upon a stray cat. She meowed at me and eventually followed me home so of course I fed her
Since that time I've seen her sporadically and was even able to capture her once and take her to a neighbor's house. Said neighbor had inquired about the cat when I mentioned I had been feeding a stray and she seemed excited when "Lola" (as she named her) and I appeared on her doorstep. She quickly went to the store and purchased all the necessary cat supplies. I left her house that night feeling really good that I had found a stray a forever home.
Less than 24 hours later that *Expletive deleted* called me up and told me to come get that *itch of a cat. Apparently Lola was hiding in the house and my neighbor was freaking out. She took Lola's behavior to mean that she didn't like her new owner. This uninformed woman wouldn't believe that Lola was probably just understandably frightened. She went from being a stray to being an indoor cat with an owner that traveled around the house in a motorized wheelchair and whose daughter had been over vacuuming in the afternoon. The neighbor, however, acted as though it was my fault that Lola liked me and not her.
I sadly went and picked Lola up (it only took me a couple of minutes to coax her out from under the couch) and had to release her back into the neighborhood because I had no where else to take her. I felt awful doing it but I was out of choices. I continued feeding her when she came around and kept contacting rescue groups but no one was willing to accept her. Some nights she'd sleep in my flowerbeds and other days I wouldn't see anything of her.
This past couple of weeks Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve noticed her stays becoming longer and longer and her belly becoming rounder and rounder. I snagged her and took her to the vet for a checkup and vaccinations (I still can't believe they don't offer discounts for strays/ferals) just an hour ago. Of course it was as I expected…a belly full of babies.
Some of you may recall the struggle I went through with my boyfriend last time when I wanted to bring Charity into the house to have her babies so Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m definitely writing this with a heavy heart. I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to go through all of the conflict in my relationship again but Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not turning my back on a pregnant cat. As far as the vet could tell, “Lola†is about 2-3 weeks from her due date. She offered me the option of simply having her spayed now and aborting the babies, which would solve a number of problems but I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know in my heart if I could do that. I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to turn this into a debate about abortion, but after researching what such a procedure would entail I think itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s something I would feel a lot of guilt about.
Is allowing her to have her kittens the selfish thing to do? She passed her tests today with flying colors, so I know she would be healthy enough to bring into the house, itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s just a matter of getting my boyfriend to agree to it. If I was able to set up the old nursery again thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s the dilemma of this cat and these future kittens not having prospective homes. Is allowing these unwanted kittens to be born irresponsible? I am so torn about what I should do. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve contacted as many rescue groups as I could find in the area and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m waiting to hear back from them. Boyfriend willing Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d be happy to care for Lola and her babies until they could enter a rescue program or find potential adopters. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m also currently the webmaster for a local dog rescue group so I have no doubt I could use that site and a number of other sites to advertise these new arrivals.
Can anyone tell me what the moral thing to do is?
You may remember from last August when I took in a pregnant stray named Charity. She gave birth to 3 beautiful babies, Winnie, Tobey and Tubby.
You guys were great about offering me advice on potty training, bottle feeding, bathing and now I'm back to ask for your help once again.
One December evening while walking my dogs at night, I came upon a stray cat. She meowed at me and eventually followed me home so of course I fed her
Less than 24 hours later that *Expletive deleted* called me up and told me to come get that *itch of a cat. Apparently Lola was hiding in the house and my neighbor was freaking out. She took Lola's behavior to mean that she didn't like her new owner. This uninformed woman wouldn't believe that Lola was probably just understandably frightened. She went from being a stray to being an indoor cat with an owner that traveled around the house in a motorized wheelchair and whose daughter had been over vacuuming in the afternoon. The neighbor, however, acted as though it was my fault that Lola liked me and not her.
I sadly went and picked Lola up (it only took me a couple of minutes to coax her out from under the couch) and had to release her back into the neighborhood because I had no where else to take her. I felt awful doing it but I was out of choices. I continued feeding her when she came around and kept contacting rescue groups but no one was willing to accept her. Some nights she'd sleep in my flowerbeds and other days I wouldn't see anything of her.
This past couple of weeks Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve noticed her stays becoming longer and longer and her belly becoming rounder and rounder. I snagged her and took her to the vet for a checkup and vaccinations (I still can't believe they don't offer discounts for strays/ferals) just an hour ago. Of course it was as I expected…a belly full of babies.
Some of you may recall the struggle I went through with my boyfriend last time when I wanted to bring Charity into the house to have her babies so Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m definitely writing this with a heavy heart. I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to go through all of the conflict in my relationship again but Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not turning my back on a pregnant cat. As far as the vet could tell, “Lola†is about 2-3 weeks from her due date. She offered me the option of simply having her spayed now and aborting the babies, which would solve a number of problems but I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know in my heart if I could do that. I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to turn this into a debate about abortion, but after researching what such a procedure would entail I think itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s something I would feel a lot of guilt about.
Is allowing her to have her kittens the selfish thing to do? She passed her tests today with flying colors, so I know she would be healthy enough to bring into the house, itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s just a matter of getting my boyfriend to agree to it. If I was able to set up the old nursery again thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s the dilemma of this cat and these future kittens not having prospective homes. Is allowing these unwanted kittens to be born irresponsible? I am so torn about what I should do. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve contacted as many rescue groups as I could find in the area and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m waiting to hear back from them. Boyfriend willing Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d be happy to care for Lola and her babies until they could enter a rescue program or find potential adopters. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m also currently the webmaster for a local dog rescue group so I have no doubt I could use that site and a number of other sites to advertise these new arrivals.
Can anyone tell me what the moral thing to do is?