Hello. I believe my 9 month old kitten is pregnant. All my female cats before Baby were spayed at about 6 months before her...but somehow I got caught up in family issues & Graduation....my two yr old, my 7 yr old...lets just say its been busy at the homefront wit h 9 chickens, a hamster, a mouse, a betta, 2 cats, a dog and a tree frog to boot. Somehow Baby must have gotten outside. My cats have always been strictly indoor cats. Joey, my senior cat (16) is fixed, so he cudnt have been the one to get her preggie. Im in unknown territory here because I havent let any of my cats get pregnant...until now, apparently. It caught my eye today that her belly was protruding and im thinking, "wow, how'd she get worms?" After feeling her belly and observing her feces...i took a better look-see and sure enough her teets are enlarged as well. I never noticed her in heat either! Ill need suggestions on what to do for both ways-removal and letting her continue. Problem is my 7yr old found out and shes already made a 'box' in her closet for Baby to have her babies in (I still have to ask her how she knew to do that) and of course there would be no way we could give any away because Brook will want to keep them al - which is doable...but Im not sure what all this entails. This has really thrown me for a loop. Never again will I let one of my kittys go past 6months without being fixed...ugh.
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what to do?
- Thread starter rufflicks
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- #2
Oh....if nothing else, I specifically need to know how young can a kitty be to safely have her litter removed. Thank you.
I've never been in this situation, but I think a spay/abort can be done at any age. I believe the bigger issue is how far along she is. Vets normally have different timetables on at what point n the pregnancy they will do this. Give your vet a call and they can advise you.
If you decide to keep the litter, there is a lot of useful information here:
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/249018/...regnant-cats-kitten-care-articles-and-threads
If you decide to keep the litter, there is a lot of useful information here:
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/249018/...regnant-cats-kitten-care-articles-and-threads
I think the question should be reversed. Whichever aspect you do mean here.
Anyway, I agree with AbbysMom. The problem is seldom the spay/abort as such, its really not a medical probelm, and decent vet surgeon does it. The problem here for most people finds them abortions unpleasant especielly if they arent early.
I want to remind here, cats dont manage early delivery. A human baby delivered midways, do survive with help. Delivered two month too early, no problem at all, just some basic home remedies.
A kitten a whole week too early? Practically no chances. So abortion of kittens is unpleasant but not horrible, comparatively.
So consult the vet, if you do have such thoughts. You can tell a white lie to your child; the cat got sick, and it was necessary to abort them to save her live. Or even better, it was a false pregnancy, it was best to spay.
About your child who wants to be a foster mom. It can be still done:
You can be a fostering home for moms with kittens, or high preg moms, cooperating with some nice shelter nearby. So they dont need to be put down.
The child will have as many kittens to play with it wish, and you are doing good deed at the same time. Several flies in one stroke! You may even adopt some of them...
Yes, I agree with you RuffsLicks wholeheartly: spay them all at latest at 6 months age, if you arent a breeder, or at very least, really determined to have this litter... Spay/neuter is the easiest way to cut down a lot of problems and difficulties.
Good luck!
Yes, a spay/abort can be done at any time. . .it all comes down to your and the vet's personal feelings on the matter. You can call your vet to ask about it, and see if he/she has a guess about how far along she might be and how far along they're comfortable with aborting.
If you choose to let her have them, there are numerous sites with advice on raising babies. At least for the first 3-4 weeks or so, the mama cat takes care of most of that, you just have to make sure mama cat is well taken care of! After that it requires more effort on your part. You can post about specific questions so we don't all go crazy with our comprehensive kitten-raising primers :lol3:.
If you ended up keeping all of them, it would be best to spay the females (at least) by 3-4 months, as some of us have had kittens go into heat as young as 14 weeks, and if you have unfixed mixed genders in the home you can't risk that. And of course you'd want to have the boys done by 6 months at the latest so they wouldn't start spraying. But it wouldn't hurt to have them done younger as well. And remember that the mama cat can get pregnant again very soon after birthing, so you'd have to be extra careful to keep her inside until she's spayed (most vets will spay mama cat when the babies are 10 weeks old or so).
If you choose to let her have them, there are numerous sites with advice on raising babies. At least for the first 3-4 weeks or so, the mama cat takes care of most of that, you just have to make sure mama cat is well taken care of! After that it requires more effort on your part. You can post about specific questions so we don't all go crazy with our comprehensive kitten-raising primers :lol3:.
If you ended up keeping all of them, it would be best to spay the females (at least) by 3-4 months, as some of us have had kittens go into heat as young as 14 weeks, and if you have unfixed mixed genders in the home you can't risk that. And of course you'd want to have the boys done by 6 months at the latest so they wouldn't start spraying. But it wouldn't hurt to have them done younger as well. And remember that the mama cat can get pregnant again very soon after birthing, so you'd have to be extra careful to keep her inside until she's spayed (most vets will spay mama cat when the babies are 10 weeks old or so).
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- #6
Wow...thank you so much, everyone. I'm really on the fence about the abortion (ugh, what a horrible souding word) especially since I feel responsible for it and the fact that we definitly have the capacity to keep all of her babies. On the other side of that coin...I''ll make a vet appointment & get her in to explore all the options.
I DO love the idea of fostering too! My 7 yr old is amazing with all animals/reptiles and it never occured to me to let her take on that challenge. Lol, she even has tadpoles she's raising at the moment! I'm almost wondering if she's sabotaged our little Baby so she gets pregnant since her best friends cat had a litter last November. It's all she ever talks about since then. Hmm. I sure hope that wasn't the case since I cannot figure out how she possibly slipped out without my knowing - I'm home 24/7!
Ill keep you all posted on our pregnancy decision & will be reviewing those links!
Thank you again....one would think this would be an easier decision than its turning out to be. :/
I DO love the idea of fostering too! My 7 yr old is amazing with all animals/reptiles and it never occured to me to let her take on that challenge. Lol, she even has tadpoles she's raising at the moment! I'm almost wondering if she's sabotaged our little Baby so she gets pregnant since her best friends cat had a litter last November. It's all she ever talks about since then. Hmm. I sure hope that wasn't the case since I cannot figure out how she possibly slipped out without my knowing - I'm home 24/7!
Ill keep you all posted on our pregnancy decision & will be reviewing those links!
Thank you again....one would think this would be an easier decision than its turning out to be. :/
It's such a personal decision based on your feelings, religious views, etc. I always said I never knew what I would do if faced with that decision. About five years ago a very friendly stray showed up in my yard. I brought her to the low cost clinic and they thought she may be pregnant. I didn't hesitate to say spay/abort. It turned out she wasn't pregnant after all. I didn't have the emotional attachment you do to your cat though. It's best to see what the vet feels is in the best interest of your cat, because there can also be complications with pregnancy. Good luck with whatever you choose.
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- #8
Ugh...well......my priest told me during confession that abortion of any life is wrong since every living thing is given life at the second of conception. Apparently, according to my religion, the willful destruction of life on any level, other than for purposes to feed the masses (in assuming he means the slaughter of animals bred for food) is wrong. So...since Baby the cat has been given a clean bill of health (and is more like 1yr old btw, not 9mo's) we will be going ahead with her one and ONLY pregnancy. Guess that made the decision a whole lot easier for me & that in the future it's imperitive to not let a situation like this happen again since I know we'll be reaping the consequences of we don't. I AM however, greatfull & happy for being given the chance to share in her birthing experience and new life. I am anticipating our family to be much larger fairly soon! Thanks for everyone's advice tho...I didn't necessarily think that cats were included in the grander scheme of things - but they are!
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Warning: Semi-religious ethical discussion ahead.
I agree with your priest that aborting kittens amounts to killing them; but I don't agree with the idea that it is always wrong to kill an animal. You already mentioned that your priest doesn't believe it is wrong to kill an animal for food. What does he believe about making the decision to kill an animal when they are sick, suffering, and will not recover? What about killing an animal if there are so many animals that it is impossible to find homes for them all, and the only way they can live is to be housed in tiny cages for their whole lives, in constant distress?
I agree with your priest when he says that all life is valuable, and that "all life" includes fetal kittens. I believe that, as humans, we have the responsibility to take care of other animals, especially those we have domesticated. I believe we have the authority to decide to take an animal's life. But we also have the responsibility to relieve suffering--to kill humanely when we kill for food, to use painless euthanasia when we kill those animals which are sick or cannot find homes. We have the responsibility to preserve life, never to kill without forethought or without reason. It's a huge responsibility, and an irreversible decision. A life you take is forever gone. You have to be absolutely sure that it is the best thing to do.
But it is not something which should never, ever be done. You probably eat meat; even if you're a vegetarian, you've probably stepped on ants without noticing. You may have had to make the choice to euthanize a pet and spare them from having to experience those last painful days. If you run the numbers--cold numbers, but true ones--you realize that only about half the cats born in this country can ever find homes, even if every cat only has one litter. The only thing left for these cats who have been domesticated but cannot find homes is slow death on the streets, or a fast, painless death in the shelters... or a fast, painless death during a spay-abortion.
I'm not going to say you should choose one thing or the other. Honestly, I think your priest probably simply doesn't understand just how bad the situation is with feline overpopulation, how inevitable it is that some will die, how necessary it is to neuter cats and how often it isn't done. He may not realize that the sheer numbers mean that until people start to neuter their cats, there will always be those for whom no place can be found, that even the barns and no-kill shelters are full and overflowing, that sometimes death is the best thing we can give an animal. It is sad and horrible and we need to work to change things so that it doesn't need to be done... but we don't yet live in that ideal world where every cat can find a family, and until we do, we'll have to do the best we can for them, no matter how meager that turns out to be.
I agree with your priest that aborting kittens amounts to killing them; but I don't agree with the idea that it is always wrong to kill an animal. You already mentioned that your priest doesn't believe it is wrong to kill an animal for food. What does he believe about making the decision to kill an animal when they are sick, suffering, and will not recover? What about killing an animal if there are so many animals that it is impossible to find homes for them all, and the only way they can live is to be housed in tiny cages for their whole lives, in constant distress?
I agree with your priest when he says that all life is valuable, and that "all life" includes fetal kittens. I believe that, as humans, we have the responsibility to take care of other animals, especially those we have domesticated. I believe we have the authority to decide to take an animal's life. But we also have the responsibility to relieve suffering--to kill humanely when we kill for food, to use painless euthanasia when we kill those animals which are sick or cannot find homes. We have the responsibility to preserve life, never to kill without forethought or without reason. It's a huge responsibility, and an irreversible decision. A life you take is forever gone. You have to be absolutely sure that it is the best thing to do.
But it is not something which should never, ever be done. You probably eat meat; even if you're a vegetarian, you've probably stepped on ants without noticing. You may have had to make the choice to euthanize a pet and spare them from having to experience those last painful days. If you run the numbers--cold numbers, but true ones--you realize that only about half the cats born in this country can ever find homes, even if every cat only has one litter. The only thing left for these cats who have been domesticated but cannot find homes is slow death on the streets, or a fast, painless death in the shelters... or a fast, painless death during a spay-abortion.
I'm not going to say you should choose one thing or the other. Honestly, I think your priest probably simply doesn't understand just how bad the situation is with feline overpopulation, how inevitable it is that some will die, how necessary it is to neuter cats and how often it isn't done. He may not realize that the sheer numbers mean that until people start to neuter their cats, there will always be those for whom no place can be found, that even the barns and no-kill shelters are full and overflowing, that sometimes death is the best thing we can give an animal. It is sad and horrible and we need to work to change things so that it doesn't need to be done... but we don't yet live in that ideal world where every cat can find a family, and until we do, we'll have to do the best we can for them, no matter how meager that turns out to be.
So onward we go.
. Best of luck to you and your cat. . We'll be here to answer questions when panic sets in closer to delivery. 
. :lol3:
Interesting. So he probably also means cats do have immortal soul and thus also, some rights and privilegies. Now, for us cat lovers it is no secret, but priests very seldom admit it. Nothing peculiar with it. Jesus, in all His greatness, was into salving humans. Thus, so are His followers, the priests.
Animals was another story for Him, probably not needing salvation. The problem is, most priests dont realize this, being so focused on their own (narrow) thruth.
I could proceed with some nice religious argumentation, but I abstain from it for now.
Im just saying, as he said A, it would be nice he would say B to.
As he did said directly or indirectly he firmly believes cats do have immortal soul, and as it is every christians duty to stand for life, even if it is a unborn not yet able to live foetus.
So let him himself stand for his own words and beliefs. An absolut minimum demand is:
Let him, for his own earned and taxed money, adopt a couple of cats from a high kill shelter, and give them a nice live in his home. And he shall do so the rest of his life.
Saving them, AND saving his own immortal soul this way. He can make a nice sermon about the good shepherd saving the shep who got astray, if he wants and get some extra personal glory. We do admit him this little privilege, if he does and fulfills his moral duty.
So it is written. So should it be.
Amen.
Animals was another story for Him, probably not needing salvation. The problem is, most priests dont realize this, being so focused on their own (narrow) thruth.
I could proceed with some nice religious argumentation, but I abstain from it for now.
Im just saying, as he said A, it would be nice he would say B to.
As he did said directly or indirectly he firmly believes cats do have immortal soul, and as it is every christians duty to stand for life, even if it is a unborn not yet able to live foetus.
So let him himself stand for his own words and beliefs. An absolut minimum demand is:
Let him, for his own earned and taxed money, adopt a couple of cats from a high kill shelter, and give them a nice live in his home. And he shall do so the rest of his life.
Saving them, AND saving his own immortal soul this way. He can make a nice sermon about the good shepherd saving the shep who got astray, if he wants and get some extra personal glory. We do admit him this little privilege, if he does and fulfills his moral duty.
So it is written. So should it be.
Amen.
I do think some people have a knee-jerk reaction to the word "abortion". I wonder how he feels about the killing of animals in shelters? Because, of course, it's the same thing, except that unborn kittens have not yet experienced anything in life. About 75% of cats who enter shelters are killed, so if there's any chance at all of kittens ending up in a shelter, it's better they be killed before being born, IMO. But, of course, if you're able to care for them and make sure they don't end up in a shelter, more the better! But I think it would be interesting to question your priest about his take on animal shelters and other animal euthanasia issues . Of course, I do think it's wrong to kill animals without a very good reason, but it's the method of dealing with overpopulation that our society has chosen, so sometimes we just have to choose the lesser of the evils :/.
So, time to read up on having kittens! And make plans with a vet now on having the babies spayed/neutered at a young age so you don't get stuck with many many more! Can you imagine if the mama cat and, say, 3 of her daughters all got pregnant at the same time?
. Of course, I do think it's wrong to kill animals without a very good reason, but it's the method of dealing with overpopulation that our society has chosen, so sometimes we just have to choose the lesser of the evils :/.So, time to read up on having kittens! And make plans with a vet now on having the babies spayed/neutered at a young age so you don't get stuck with many many more! Can you imagine if the mama cat and, say, 3 of her daughters all got pregnant at the same time?
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- #13
Boy did I open a can of Prince Albert....:-)
I probably should have explained more thourougly (im typing on a cell phone so I made it short) but I didn't have much time to talk to him in depth (i was in a confessional booth & allotted a whopping 10 minutes, lol) so I didn't get any answers in depth...I think he was more giving me answers geared toward my personal situation and the fact she was my responsibilty and by not doing what I should have done (spaying her) it was my responsibility to see it through... and the fact I would be willfully taking life. My sniveling over it probably didn't help either, lol. We are all country folk out here...our parish is even across the way from the pig farmer (so it really smells during mass, lol) but we're all fairly accustomed to life and death on a farm was probably why he alluded to the 'feed the masses' thing. As a newly baptised gentile, in my recent 6 months of classes I do remember a class about pro-life and him saying it was wrong to kill because I asked the stupid question 'what about killing ants when you accidentally step on em' and his response was 'all life is precious'. It would be interesting to know his take on the details tho. I do think his response was geared to my short review of the situation and his quick response. I'm also fairly sure he wouldnt let an animal suffer and in the animals best interest would see euthanasia as an alternative...he's not a monster. () Like I sed...I didnt get details... just an answer to my particular scenario for the moment. I didnt mean to get ppl stirred up....
I probably should have explained more thourougly (im typing on a cell phone so I made it short) but I didn't have much time to talk to him in depth (i was in a confessional booth & allotted a whopping 10 minutes, lol) so I didn't get any answers in depth...I think he was more giving me answers geared toward my personal situation and the fact she was my responsibilty and by not doing what I should have done (spaying her) it was my responsibility to see it through... and the fact I would be willfully taking life. My sniveling over it probably didn't help either, lol. We are all country folk out here...our parish is even across the way from the pig farmer (so it really smells during mass, lol) but we're all fairly accustomed to life and death on a farm was probably why he alluded to the 'feed the masses' thing. As a newly baptised gentile, in my recent 6 months of classes I do remember a class about pro-life and him saying it was wrong to kill because I asked the stupid question 'what about killing ants when you accidentally step on em' and his response was 'all life is precious'. It would be interesting to know his take on the details tho. I do think his response was geared to my short review of the situation and his quick response. I'm also fairly sure he wouldnt let an animal suffer and in the animals best interest would see euthanasia as an alternative...he's not a monster. (
) Like I sed...I didnt get details... just an answer to my particular scenario for the moment. I didnt mean to get ppl stirred up....- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #14
Just thought I would lighten this up a bit & show you a pic of my queen, Baby, while I'm at it...and Mr. Awesome, my senior cat who's 16. My daughters hand and our dog Cuda are also in there, lol.
And Joey, aka Mr. Awesome:
And Joey, aka Mr. Awesome:
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Very cute!
