Sad for an abortion

[Mushandthefamily]

Hi everyone, I got my feral outside cat spayed when she was heavily pregnant.
I didn’t anticipate how horrible I’m feeling right now, but I just terrible about it. I know it’s for the greater good, but I still feel sad.

I rescued a heavily pregnant cat recently and was going to get her an abortion but she had the kittens right after I rescued her. She didn’t give us a chance, and I’m sitting here looking at these 2 month old bundles of joy, and imagine the kittens that could’ve but didn’t. Is it normal to be feeling this awful?

 

[Jcatbird]

I know what you mean. I have been in that situation too and I think it is normal. I did a lot of pregnant rescues and some were too far along to abort. Some weren’t. The thing that helped me was seeing the kittens born to ferals that I could not catch in time. Some got caught later but the numbers of ferals got out of hand so quickly that I felt I was fighting a losing battle. Then I found a little kitten with no mother. It was out in the open and exposed. The baby was not going to live and I knew it. I had seen the mom briefly but missed trapping her. She was sooo young, not more than a kitten herself. It was that moment that made me know that it would have been kinder to have gotten the mom and saved all the suffering that followed. That was much worse to me and I did everything in my power to make sure it did not happen again. Please know that you did the right thing. You stopped what could have been a difficult life or ending. Sometimes the kindest and most unselfish thing is the hardest to do. My heart is with you.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I know how heartbreaking that must be. However, it is far less heartbreaking than if she had hidden away to have those kittens, and there was no one to see that they found homes. She will recover and live a much happier life, and those kittens never knew pain, they slipped from one warm haven to another, That Place Where All Things Are Known.

Rest you gentle, Little Ones, dream you deep. Though you never drew breath, your very existence had meaning, and you are mourned.

 

[Norachan]

It is very sad, but I fully understand your reasons for going ahead with the surgery and I think you did the right thing.

Whenever I've had to have a feral rescue spayed and they've turned out to be pregnant our vet gives us the aborted tissue wrapped in surgical paper and ask us to bury it. He gives us a stick of incense to burn too. I live in a Buddhist country and it is believed that the smoke from an incense stick nourishes the soul's of the departed and helps them on their journey to a happy rebirth.

Maybe you could plant some flowers or a little shrub to remember these little ones by. I hope the mother recovers quickly and has a happy life from now on.

 

[Mia6]

Norachan has a brilliant idea!!

Love,
Mia XXXX

 

[di and bob]

I just took a pregnant feral in, she was pregnant with her THIRD litter that summer before I finally trapped her. Of course, I felt terrible, I had her other two litters to look at and wonder about what might have been. Her other two litters were ALL female, one male! I had them all spayed and him neutered at 150.00 each! That was 30% off for volume. But it is done and I am so happy to see mama running and playing with her babies, not so thin and tired from litter after litter. Females will almost ALWAYS be pregnant intil they are caught. Ferals do NOT have a good life unless they find a human to take care of them. Predators, cars, and dogs kill many before their first year. Unless you yourself are taking in every kitten that mama had, you don't know what kind of home they will go to. ALL kittens are a joy and deserve good safe homes and love. Those sweet little kittens you have now are extremely lucky to have you. Try not to dwell on the past but concentrate on giving those now in your care the best you can. Those mama cats have NO choice in getting pregnant. You gave that cat a better life and a happier one. Humans have thought processes that let us think what if and into the future. Cats live in the present and cannot. Do not mourn the might have been, celebrate what you have right now. My heart is with you, I know the pain of what you are going through.......RIP little ones. You will always have a secure place in loving hearts. May the good Lord gather you in his arms and give you peace.

 

[catsknowme]

Mushandthefamily I am deeply touched by your kindness and compassion I have also made the difficult decision to do spay/aborts & it troubles me at the time but, as Jcatbird says, consider the suffering that the kittens and sometimes the Mama Kitty (hypocalcemia; maternal distress; prolonged labor that suffocates the kitten, etc) often endure, especially for pluriparous moms and you can rest assured that you did the right thing, done out of love and for all the right reasons. For myself, I find comfort in making a little private ceremony of facing the 4 directions & asking for angelic escort to the Night Sky Trail (aka Milky Way) while recalling Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 which concludes "but better [off] is he who has never been born because they will not see the evil that is done under the sun" (I paraphrased).

 

[Mushandthefamily]

Thanks everyone. I’m feeling a lot better especially seeing how much happier Figaro is now