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- Apr 10, 2020
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Hello, all. I was reading through a 2014 post re pros/cons of spaying a cat. We took in my kitty -- who seemed to be living in our yard during the rainy months of November and we had twice found curled up on our porch mat last July -- and she accidentally got out in Jan. and had 5 perfect kittens. It was so hard for us to give away 3 that we decided to keep 2. One is male.
I can't tell whether she had kittens before. Before she got out and got pregnant, she had 2 prominent nipples. We think she is a few years old. I've read that the 1st litter is often just a few kittens, and the 2nd is 4-6 kittens.
Because we adopted out kittens to very responsible owners, they'll all be spayed/neutered. That means she won't get to carry on her line -- unless she had kittens before, and no way to tell.
That's one area of hesitation. Another is that all the cat rescues refer me to one low-cost spay/neuter clinic, whereas the local vet is $500. I just don't know about going to an "assembly line" type of place.
It seems that spaying will change her personality. On the other hand, going through heat again is too hard on us and the cat. And we've got to neuter the male kitten very soon because we can't have mating inappropriately.
I know there are unwanted cats. I'm extremely glad she had kittens, however. We could have given all to good homes. We got lucky in that they were all perfectly healthy and wonderful with no problems.
In the 2014 thread, I read about a condition that can occur if cats are in heat and not bred. I would like to find out more about actual evidence -- obviously there can be reproductive cancers (as there could be with any woman or man)but how common is this? I'm looking for actual data.
There are wonderful people in the rescue community but I am the type who thinks for myself. When she got out and we weren't sure if she was pregnant, one rescue volunteer was trying to convince me to spay her anyway. She told me all about how cat penises have barbs, etc. etc. and did I want to pay for a cat ceasarean section (sp)? She said that pregnancy was very hard on cats. I then called around to vets and tried to learn the probability of a cat ceasarean. They said they'd never done one, and that the vast majority of cats give birth with no problems and do everything themelves.
I asked the vets whether cats who had had litters had a lower life expectancy. They said no. I mean, I really researched this because I wanted to be comfortable with my choice. I asked 3 good friends. One said that when she was pregnant with her 4th child, the dr. actually asked her whether she wanted to bring another child into the world, because there were too many.
But the big problem is that if we don't spay her we love her too much to let her out the door to breed. Cars, coyotes, etc. I don't know how other people breed cats without just letting them out.
Any thoughts on above would be much appreciated - esp. exp. with low-cost spay clinics as opposed to private vets. Thanks!
I can't tell whether she had kittens before. Before she got out and got pregnant, she had 2 prominent nipples. We think she is a few years old. I've read that the 1st litter is often just a few kittens, and the 2nd is 4-6 kittens.
Because we adopted out kittens to very responsible owners, they'll all be spayed/neutered. That means she won't get to carry on her line -- unless she had kittens before, and no way to tell.
That's one area of hesitation. Another is that all the cat rescues refer me to one low-cost spay/neuter clinic, whereas the local vet is $500. I just don't know about going to an "assembly line" type of place.
It seems that spaying will change her personality. On the other hand, going through heat again is too hard on us and the cat. And we've got to neuter the male kitten very soon because we can't have mating inappropriately.
I know there are unwanted cats. I'm extremely glad she had kittens, however. We could have given all to good homes. We got lucky in that they were all perfectly healthy and wonderful with no problems.
In the 2014 thread, I read about a condition that can occur if cats are in heat and not bred. I would like to find out more about actual evidence -- obviously there can be reproductive cancers (as there could be with any woman or man)but how common is this? I'm looking for actual data.
There are wonderful people in the rescue community but I am the type who thinks for myself. When she got out and we weren't sure if she was pregnant, one rescue volunteer was trying to convince me to spay her anyway. She told me all about how cat penises have barbs, etc. etc. and did I want to pay for a cat ceasarean section (sp)? She said that pregnancy was very hard on cats. I then called around to vets and tried to learn the probability of a cat ceasarean. They said they'd never done one, and that the vast majority of cats give birth with no problems and do everything themelves.
I asked the vets whether cats who had had litters had a lower life expectancy. They said no. I mean, I really researched this because I wanted to be comfortable with my choice. I asked 3 good friends. One said that when she was pregnant with her 4th child, the dr. actually asked her whether she wanted to bring another child into the world, because there were too many.
But the big problem is that if we don't spay her we love her too much to let her out the door to breed. Cars, coyotes, etc. I don't know how other people breed cats without just letting them out.
Any thoughts on above would be much appreciated - esp. exp. with low-cost spay clinics as opposed to private vets. Thanks!
. To maintain the current cat population, half of females can be allowed to have one litter (well the math is slightly more complicated because males often breed multiple females and of course mortality rates have to be considered but that's the gist of it).
