Hi! If my cat has another litter, will existing 2 kittens in family (then would be about 7 mos.) attack new kittens?

Willowy

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You could---my old vet used to recommend this---let her get pregnant and then abort the pregnancy. Before 3 weeks it's no different than a regular spay, assuming you don't have a moral problem with ending an early cat pregnancy. Of course that still has the same risks of FeLV and injury, etc., but she'd go out of heat and still get spayed.
 

lutece

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I also want to spare her any additional discomfort from being in heat and not mating.
If you want to spare her from any further discomfort, on balance it would be better to spay her, rather than breed her again and then spay her. Cats yowl a lot when they are in heat, and have passionate emotions, but I don't think they are physically uncomfortable. On the other hand, mating for cats is briefly painful, being heavily pregnant appears uncomfortable, birthing kittens is probably uncomfortable, nursing kittens has many uncomfortable moments I'm sure (if it's anything like my experience as a human mother), etc. And even if she has another litter, she also may have one or more additional heat cycles after the kittens are born, before you are able to get her spayed after that... so you might not even spare her the heat cycles.
 

vyger

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A quick shout out to Di and Bob, as well -- did the existing kittens seem to have any aggrression towards the new kittens?
I am also wondering re the aggression of mother cats that you mentioned bc as I discussed in a prev. post when male returned from vet from being neutered both other female kitten and female cat hissing at him. Now 2 kittens are friends again but mother cat seems to have it in for both kittens, particularly the female. I had noticed her hissing at the female kitten even before the male went to get neutered.
But it's not as if she hasn't been in heat of and on for a few months, now, and this hissing/growling towards kittens has just started.
So if she has a new litter will she full-out attack her own previous kittens or what is the exp. of others?
Also wanted to ensure Di/Bob and others that we found excellent homes for 3/5 litter and had more inquiries than cats for remaining 2; we just decided to keep them. One of homes took kittens to a vet check and vet said they were the calmest healthiest kittens they'd ever seen.
Am sure would find good homes again for a new litter if she has one. And one friend of friend had to wait 6 wks for one kitten from a shelter (and then she didn't even get to pick it herself) in their area post-covid. So it seems there are big reg'l diff. relating to abundance of kittens.
Also, I did a suvey of a few different vets and asked whether cats who had had multiple litters lived shorter lives than those who had been spayed right away. No difference; at least that's what they all said. Any thoughts re 7 mos. old kittens and a new litter? Thanks.
I think I understand what your asking. In my limited experience what I have seen is yes mom's can get aggressive towards their older kittens if they have younger ones but its not really nasty but more just a bat or two and some verbal stuff. But that is often how mom's train their kittens anyway. With the last ones I have had there has been no discord at all. Mom's are protective of little kittens so anything they might think is a threat will get their full attention. I accidentally stepped on a little tail once which was followed by a loud squeal and in an instant the mom was there looking like she was ready to take me on. So if an older kitten got to rough with a younger one mom very well might intervene. But they don't usually go all in crazy. In those cases things can get out of hand because I have found that when the adrenaline peaks cats will go after anyone and anything without thinking about it, even their best friends, because when they go into crazy fight mode everything is an enemy.
Having kittens is a big drain on moms and if done year after year it will take a toll on them. So in general having a few litters will not shorten their lives but if done several times a year for years on end then it will be a big strain on them.
Femals that have kittens do have a personality change. They learn to care about others. At least that is what I have seen. I have 2 older girls that had kittens and 2 that never did. If I play a video of a kitten crying for it's mother both of the moms will come looking for the kittens in distress and one will actually get pretty upset and anxious. The 2 that never had kittens just ignore it all. I think that if they have had kittens they are much more inclined to be watchful of kittens as opposed to cats that have never had kittens who could care less.
 

cataholic07

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I think I understand what your asking. In my limited experience what I have seen is yes mom's can get aggressive towards their older kittens if they have younger ones but its not really nasty but more just a bat or two and some verbal stuff. But that is often how mom's train their kittens anyway. With the last ones I have had there has been no discord at all. Mom's are protective of little kittens so anything they might think is a threat will get their full attention. I accidentally stepped on a little tail once which was followed by a loud squeal and in an instant the mom was there looking like she was ready to take me on. So if an older kitten got to rough with a younger one mom very well might intervene. But they don't usually go all in crazy. In those cases things can get out of hand because I have found that when the adrenaline peaks cats will go after anyone and anything without thinking about it, even their best friends, because when they go into crazy fight mode everything is an enemy.
Having kittens is a big drain on moms and if done year after year it will take a toll on them. So in general having a few litters will not shorten their lives but if done several times a year for years on end then it will be a big strain on them.
Femals that have kittens do have a personality change. They learn to care about others. At least that is what I have seen. I have 2 older girls that had kittens and 2 that never did. If I play a video of a kitten crying for it's mother both of the moms will come looking for the kittens in distress and one will actually get pretty upset and anxious. The 2 that never had kittens just ignore it all. I think that if they have had kittens they are much more inclined to be watchful of kittens as opposed to cats that have never had kittens who could care less.
I have a male cat who is very interested when he hears kittens and wants to be around them as much as possible. We had a temp foster kitten and he was always at the door when she was meowing. He wanted to be around her. I have a 9 month old female kitten who was spayed at 11 weeks old who was trilling at the little kitten when she was crying to. So its not really that those 2 never had kittens its more just their personality. Some cats are just super cat social. Jetty doesnt hiss at all when he saw her and wanted to meet her. They dont really react when they hear them on the tv (probably cause they are used to it (they used to though) but in the home, yah they do lol.
 
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