About 6 months ago, a kitten started showing up on our doorstep. She was maybe 4-6 weeks old then, and VERY feral, but she obviously needed food. I swear, I think the neighborhood kitties are talking, "If you need some grub and a warm bed, go to this chick's house...."
...Anyway, she's been around since October or so, and was quite young then. All attempts to establish physical contact with her were denied with a fierceness, but she stuck around. I tried to trap her with a live trap to get her spayed, but every other neighborhood cat but her fell for it. I wasn't sure she was a female, but I didn't want to take that chance as we already have a huge problem with feral kittens in the summer/fall.
Fast forward to now. "That Baby" as we lovingly call her, has finally decided to grace us with her presence. She's in our home and she won't leave. That's fine with us, but she's pregnant. Ugh. That's not fine with us. We're some serious spayers around this house.
On top of that, she's VERY small for her age. Upon looking at her, you'd probably guess her age to be somewhere around 3-4 months, but she's probably at least double that, given the time I've known her to be around.
I do quite a bit of fostering/rescuing of feral and semi-feral kittens, so I'm confident I can, and committed to, caring for the kittens, getting them altered and finding them appropriate homes when they are born, but I am concerned about her birthing given her age and size.
Does anyone have any experience with younger mothers and/or very petite cats?
Our vet can spay now, but she's only got about 3 weeks left to go, and the vet said it would be quite expensive at this time, but couldn't guarantee a healthy or problematic delivery.
Thoughts, experience, or advice much appreciated
...Anyway, she's been around since October or so, and was quite young then. All attempts to establish physical contact with her were denied with a fierceness, but she stuck around. I tried to trap her with a live trap to get her spayed, but every other neighborhood cat but her fell for it. I wasn't sure she was a female, but I didn't want to take that chance as we already have a huge problem with feral kittens in the summer/fall.
Fast forward to now. "That Baby" as we lovingly call her, has finally decided to grace us with her presence. She's in our home and she won't leave. That's fine with us, but she's pregnant. Ugh. That's not fine with us. We're some serious spayers around this house.
On top of that, she's VERY small for her age. Upon looking at her, you'd probably guess her age to be somewhere around 3-4 months, but she's probably at least double that, given the time I've known her to be around.
I do quite a bit of fostering/rescuing of feral and semi-feral kittens, so I'm confident I can, and committed to, caring for the kittens, getting them altered and finding them appropriate homes when they are born, but I am concerned about her birthing given her age and size.
Does anyone have any experience with younger mothers and/or very petite cats?
Our vet can spay now, but she's only got about 3 weeks left to go, and the vet said it would be quite expensive at this time, but couldn't guarantee a healthy or problematic delivery.
Thoughts, experience, or advice much appreciated