Pregnant ferals and Nursing ferals - two part question please.

[feralvr]

This has always weighed on me heavily but I know that spay aborts are a necessary downside of TNR. What are your thoughts on this - spay/aborts? Can you help ease our minds when having to make that difficult decision. I know sometimes we just do not know until the vet tells us when we pick up the newly altered feral cat. Most times we do not even know IF they are male or female.


Nursing feral cats. Can a nursing feral momma cat that has been just spayed still nurse her kittens upon her release back outside? For how long will she still have milk and be willing to nurse her kittens? There was one time my vet called me before he did the surgery saying that the cat was a female and it looked like she just gave birth and was nursing. After a quick discussion, it was decided that I would pick up this female - allow her to wake up - and then release her immediately to go tend to her kittens - then try to re-trap her and kittens when they were weaned. Is this what most TNR vets do, call the caretaker's to come pick up the female nursing cat and return them outside immediately OR do they still go ahead with the spay surgery? This is another part of TNR that causes me much grief. Can you give us some reassurance that we are still doing what is best for the overall goal of decreasing feral cat population by having to take a nursing momma unbeknownst to us into the vet to be spayed.

Thank you for taking the time to answer!

 

[amandaaca]

This is an excellent question, albeit a tough one for sure.  And given that Kitten Season is right around the corner (or perhaps already beginning!), it's a question that many trappers and caregivers will be thinking about.  I want to make sure I address this as completely as possible, because it can be a very emotional issue; let me get my thoughts together and I'll be back to this thread soon.  

-Amanda 

 

[feralvr]

Amanda - yes - a very, very sensitive topic. Thank you for your care in weighing in on this important issue.

 

[amandaaca]

You're right - it can be very difficult to tell if a cat is male or female, let alone if a female cat is pregnant.  The gestation period for a cat is just 63 days (give or take a few days), and they usually don't start showing until a month or so into that.  And even when they do start showing, it can still be 2-3 weeks before they actually deliver!  And even after all that, sometimes a fat cat that you might think is a pregnant female.... is just a fat tom cat.  

What I usually tell people is that because it is often just impossible to tell whether a cat is truly pregnant (let alone close to delivering or not), the best thing is to just proceed with the plan to TNR the cats.  This is in the best interest of the cats, since spaying them will improve their overall individual health, and eliminate the chance of future litters.  It can be hard to think about, but it's so often just impossible to know whether a cat is pregnant and how far along she is!  There are also always plenty of friendly, adoptable kittens waiting for new homes in shelters, so there's no reason to hold off on conducting TNR because a cat might possibly be pregnant.  If you wait to do TNR, they may just get pregnant in the meantime!

For nursing mother cats, they can still continue to produce milk and care for their kittens after they are spayed.  If you KNOW a cat has very young kittens (1 day to 2 weeks) she is caring for before you go out to trap, it could be a good idea to hold off on trapping that particular cat for a week or so, if you can.  Younger kittens need to nurse more often, and if you know FOR SURE that a cat has young kittens she's looking after, and you know for sure that you will be back out to trap her in a couple weeks, then it may be in the best interest of the kittens to have their mom around.  (Older kittens will probably be fine without their mom for a couple days.)

That said, if you do trap a mother cat, do not let her out!  It's not impossible to retrap cats, but it can be difficult, and it's in the cat's best interest to be spayed while you've got her!  Just make sure you tell the vet that you think the cat has kittens, so the vet can expedite that cat as much as possible.  (This may mean performing her spay surgery first, so she recovers as soon as possible, and so you can release her back to her kittens as soon as is safely possible.)

In my experience, once a veterinarian has cat anesthetized they will not stop the spay surgery.  At that point the cat has already been in a trap for probably one night and a morning, and completing the spay surgery and allowing the cat to recover before releasing her is not too much longer, and in the cat's best interest for the long-term!

And again, unless a caregiver or trapper has physically seen the kittens for themselves, you often just won't know that a cat has kittens!  They tend to hide them away, and the kittens themselves probably won't be out and about until they're 4-5 weeks old.  It's often not until after the surgery that the veterinary paperwork will say that a cat is postnatal and caring for kittens.  It's better just to go ahead with your TNR plan than to second guess whether a cat is female and whether or not she has kittens (unless you've actually seen them!).

I hope this helps!  I'm happy to answer more questions about moms and kittens; it's a very detailed topic with lots of potential avenues to go down!  

-Amanda

 

[feralvr]

Thank you very much, Amanda, for taking the time to answer and address these concerns of feral cat caretakers. Kitten season is upon us and I think the spay/abort issue weighs on all of us but you are absolutely right in that we have to think of the overall picture and the reason behind TNR in the first place. Unfortunately and sadly so, we cannot possibly save them all nor allow all female feral cats to go ahead with their pregnancy.

It is good to know that the newly spayed female cat can still return to her kittens and nurse till they are weaned. When trapping multiple feral cats, we just don't know who may be pregnant or who may have a litter out there until we pick up cats from the clinic and they inform if a cat is post-natal. It weighs on me terribly to find that out and part of me always feels so guilty and sad. I always hope that she was able to return to her kittens upon release and that they had survived her absence. We always try to find out where the nest may be and/or keep a look out for the new kittens to emerge from their nest and begin exploring so we can trap them. It is a never-ending process !!! Thank you again for your reassuring encouragement and tips to keep doing what needs to be done.

 

[amandaaca]

It sounds like you're doing all the right things by making sure the moms are returned as soon as possible, and keeping an eye out for the kitten nest.  It can be tough sometimes, but all your hard work for the cats really does make a difference, and positively impacts their individual lives!  For every female cat that you get spayed, it means she doesn't have to support endless litters of kittens, and she can focus on her own well-being.  For every male cat you get neutered, it means he's not out there fighting with other male cats over mates, and he can focus on his own well-being.  Plus, they're vaccinated!  TNR helps the big picture as well, but I find that it's very rewarding and reassuring to think of each individual cat, too.  You're helping them SO much through your TNR efforts, don't forget that!  

-Amanda

 

[feralvr]

It sounds like you're doing all the right things by making sure the moms are returned as soon as possible, and keeping an eye out for the kitten nest.  It can be tough sometimes, but all your hard work for the cats really does make a difference, and positively impacts their individual lives!  For every female cat that you get spayed, it means she doesn't have to support endless litters of kittens, and she can focus on her own well-being.  For every male cat you get neutered, it means he's not out there fighting with other male cats over mates, and he can focus on his own well-being.  Plus, they're vaccinated!  TNR helps the big picture as well, but I find that it's very rewarding and reassuring to think of each individual cat, too.  You're helping them SO much through your TNR efforts, don't forget that!  

-Amanda

touch: I HOPE everyone see this post. Thank you. I just wrote this to another first time rescuer in the Feral forums and believe this wholeheartedly that to save/rescue just ONE cat may not make a big difference to the world BUT does make ALL the difference in the world to that one cat. I do think of them as individuals and how TNRing just one cat CAN make that one cats fight for survival so much easier and successful because all they have to really think about after they are altered is themselves. :heart3:

 

[amandaaca]

Yes!    Thank you again for everything you do.  

-Amanda