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So I’ve posted about this before, but I’m having a big ‘ol black feral cat problem in 4 (!!!!) of my colonies.
In one colony I’m working on, I’ve been able to distinguish two via trail cam. One was smaller and slightly fluffy, the other always had a sort of cowlick going on and a differently shaped face.
I can’t always see these features on the camera depending on lighting and angle, but I knew there were at least these two black females, and no other black cats seemed to definitively look distinct.
I noticed one of the black cats was pregnant a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn’t tell who it was. Our feeding schedule has changed, and I don’t have good lighting or space to view all of the bowls/cats anymore. I also can’t tell the black cats apart in person.
Anyway, last week I managed to trap a black female, and the spay/neuter clinic confirmed she had been mid-pregnancy. Whew, we got her in time, I thought.
But no, we’re talking about black cats here, so of course this isn’t the end of it
While she was still recovering, lo and behold, a very pregnant black cat shows up to eat. Again, I really can’t quite tell who this is, but she’s definitely quite pregnant -
(Sorry for the quality, it’s a photo of the trail cam screen.)
So, I go back out trapping as soon as my clinic’s feral day comes around, and I manage to trap a small black female yesterday morning.
Usually, I’d drop her off at the clinic at 6:00 am, then come pick her up at 2:00 pm later that day, but around noon the clinic called and told us a machine was down, so they couldn’t perform any more surgeries. They told us they would keep her overnight and spay her tomorrow (today).
I eagerly awaited to find out whether she had been pregnant. She had been a late catch and I didn’t have a chance to get a good look at her before dropping her off.
Turns out, she’s recently given birth.
How recently is the question...
Her records say “This is an adult postpartum feline ovariohysterectomy. This cat was still lactating and had very engorged mammary glands.” - That last part has me wondering if “very engorged” is a any indication of how recently she might have given birth? I assume it’s just because she was held overnight though and hadn’t breastfed. Is it a little of both? Impossible to know?
Basically, here’s my dilemma - either there is a third black female I didn’t know about, or this is the same cat as in the photo above, which was taken on the 8th.
If it’s the latter, that means she gave birth a day or two before I trapped her, and has now been away from her newborns for well over 24 hours...
I asked the tech if they had any idea how recently she might have given birth and she didn’t know. I also asked if I should release her tonight because of her kittens and not knowing their age, and she just repeated the standard advice of holding her for 3-5 days
I don’t know what to do. If this is the same pregnant cat from the photo, then there’s not really an advantage to releasing her after her being away for so long (I really cannot bear to think about this ).
But if she has some 2-5 week old kittens, then there is definitely a chance they’ve managed to survive, but still urgently need Momma asap.
I hate releasing females early, but my gut is pretty strongly saying that without knowing how old her kittens are, I should release her this evening as soon as it’s reasonably safe to do so (despite what the tech said).
What do y’all think?
In one colony I’m working on, I’ve been able to distinguish two via trail cam. One was smaller and slightly fluffy, the other always had a sort of cowlick going on and a differently shaped face.
I can’t always see these features on the camera depending on lighting and angle, but I knew there were at least these two black females, and no other black cats seemed to definitively look distinct.
I noticed one of the black cats was pregnant a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn’t tell who it was. Our feeding schedule has changed, and I don’t have good lighting or space to view all of the bowls/cats anymore. I also can’t tell the black cats apart in person.
Anyway, last week I managed to trap a black female, and the spay/neuter clinic confirmed she had been mid-pregnancy. Whew, we got her in time, I thought.
But no, we’re talking about black cats here, so of course this isn’t the end of it
While she was still recovering, lo and behold, a very pregnant black cat shows up to eat. Again, I really can’t quite tell who this is, but she’s definitely quite pregnant -
(Sorry for the quality, it’s a photo of the trail cam screen.)
So, I go back out trapping as soon as my clinic’s feral day comes around, and I manage to trap a small black female yesterday morning.
Usually, I’d drop her off at the clinic at 6:00 am, then come pick her up at 2:00 pm later that day, but around noon the clinic called and told us a machine was down, so they couldn’t perform any more surgeries. They told us they would keep her overnight and spay her tomorrow (today).
I eagerly awaited to find out whether she had been pregnant. She had been a late catch and I didn’t have a chance to get a good look at her before dropping her off.
Turns out, she’s recently given birth.
How recently is the question...
Her records say “This is an adult postpartum feline ovariohysterectomy. This cat was still lactating and had very engorged mammary glands.” - That last part has me wondering if “very engorged” is a any indication of how recently she might have given birth? I assume it’s just because she was held overnight though and hadn’t breastfed. Is it a little of both? Impossible to know?
Basically, here’s my dilemma - either there is a third black female I didn’t know about, or this is the same cat as in the photo above, which was taken on the 8th.
If it’s the latter, that means she gave birth a day or two before I trapped her, and has now been away from her newborns for well over 24 hours...
I asked the tech if they had any idea how recently she might have given birth and she didn’t know. I also asked if I should release her tonight because of her kittens and not knowing their age, and she just repeated the standard advice of holding her for 3-5 days
I don’t know what to do. If this is the same pregnant cat from the photo, then there’s not really an advantage to releasing her after her being away for so long (I really cannot bear to think about this ).
But if she has some 2-5 week old kittens, then there is definitely a chance they’ve managed to survive, but still urgently need Momma asap.
I hate releasing females early, but my gut is pretty strongly saying that without knowing how old her kittens are, I should release her this evening as soon as it’s reasonably safe to do so (despite what the tech said).
What do y’all think?