Spaying a pregnant cat

CookieCat

Author Jan Emslie Kitten Adoption

300,000 kittens will be born in Ireland this year to ex domestic stray cats. 180,000 will die within the fist week of being born.

The indication so far is that the mothers coming in are producing 2 kittens per litter. This is an indication off mothers not sustaining large litters. Eye problems are also prevalent this year as it the weight of kitten's most being very under weight.
We are also seeing genetic problems. These poor mothers are just not sustaining new life.

Our policy is under vets advice to SPAY a pregnant female. With supply outweighing demand to ignore a pregnant cat is resigning her and her kittens to a harsh and short existence.

Different groups/individuals may have varying policies on this as I have just found out.
I cannot believe in this climate of abandoned and strayed cats, that a person is refused a trap because they want to have a pregnant cat spayed and or no help was offered in spaying a pregnant cat.(Actually this is more than one cat.)

If this advice is being given it will only go to perpetuate the current situation and make a mockery of the groups and individuals who are spaying pregnnat cats. We should just give up. Catching water with a sieve is all we are doing.
I was told a vet refused to spay these pregnant cats and it was not policy do spay but to let them have their litter then spay...Then what?
I am so disillusioned at the moment.




Again at this time of year the emotive and ethics of spaying a pregnant female cat comes into the fore.

Rescue groups do not make the decision to spay a pregnant female that is left to the vets. Their code of ethics also need to be addressed when considering spaying a pregnant female, and this is also taken into consideration.
It is a subject that invokes responses in the public and rescues alike. I for one having seen the plight of feral and domestic cats that are left to breed time after time, have no hesitation in seeking advice to terminate a cats pregnancy.

This fact sheet offers some insight.

Quote>>One of the most controversial issues is whether or not to spay a rescued pregnant cat. While some people are repulsed at the thought of killing kittens, others believe the question begs a larger issue, that of the overpopulation problem.
Stray female cats have an uncanny knack of finding shelter immediately before giving birth, and will suddenly appear at a doorstep, seeking human help. Other female strays will find themselves cast out into the streets, punished for getting pregnant, because their owners failed to spay them and keep them indoors. Or the owner, in an attempt to salve their conscience, will surrender the pregnant female to a shelter, as a "found" stray, or summarily dump her at the door of a known rescuer

All too often, these pregnant females are kittens themselves. It is fairly common for a cat to have its first estrus period between four and six months of age, and to give birth as early as at six or seven months. This situation is rife with potential for disaster, both to the survival of the mother cat, and to any kittens that live.

Unfortunately, many veterinarians refuse to spay or neuter cats until they are six months old, which only exacerbates the problem. Guidelines for early spay/neutering are 6 weeks or 2 pounds in weight.

I need to add there are some vets who are willing to spay at 8 weeks so it would be unfair to give the impression that not all vets do.
Spaying of a pregnant cat includes abortion, a word that involves emotional reactions, whether applied to humans or to cats.

Animal shelters approach the issue in different ways:

Spay the mother cat; if late-term pregnancy try to save any viable kittens (this would not happen in a "kill shelter."
Spay the mother cat in all cases, right up until birth.
Observe what has been called the "Gold Standard," and never spay a rescued pregnant cat.

This issue is emotional on both sides. Proponents don't like having to take lives of unborn kittens, but their position is based on pragmatic reasoning. Opponents simply do not like the taking of lives under any circumstances, whether born or unborn.


Background
The larger issue should be addressed first, that of an enormous cat overpopulation problem, primarily caused by cat owners' failure to spay or neuter their cats. Often the resulting pregnant female cats are thrown out on the street, where they and their surviving kittens continue to mate, and the offspring from those matings continue to mate. The horrifying reality is that a pregnant female cat and her descendant's can account for the births of over 420,000 kittens in just seven years.
Animal rescue groups, humane societies, and TNR (trap-neuter-release) groups are overwhelmed in trying to staunch the flow of new kittens, and "kitten season," which extends for a long part of each year is met with dread by these groups. Dread, because they know that this year's kitten crop will be responsible for the deaths of last year's kittens, or older cats, at shelters. There simply isn't enough space to house them all, and something must give. It's a matter of supply and demand. In a world that loves kittens, kittens are a dime a dozen.

While spaying a non-pregnant female cat will prevent the birth of anonymous future kittens, spaying (and aborting) a pregnant female cat prevents the birth of live embryos, a thought that horrifies many people.

Un Quote>> From Kitten Adoption.

Submitted by Claire on behalf of kitten adoption.

doctor evil

I`m surprised at that, it is just an animal (coming from owner of a cat before any one jumps down my throat).

Shewhomustbe...

I can understand where vet's and rescue's are coming from with the no abortion policy, however I think they're wrong.

Milly, our female stray cat, was pregnant when we brought her to get spayed and not being completely heartless we did consider should she be allowed continue with the pregnancy but we had already adopted her and three of her kittens, which we had tried to rehome but with no luck, and our vet agreed it would be better for everyone involved to perform the abortion.

Since then another female cat has strolled into our lives, we brought her to get spayed the other day and were told that there is a strong probability she had a litter within the last month, (vet doesn't think any survived as she wasn't nursing)

That's two incidents in a small rural area (that we are aware of)
How is it okay that people are allowed have pets and not get them spayed/neutered?
We need legislation, desperately.

Ruu_Old

Our cat back in Ireland was also pregnant when we brought her in, she had already had 3 kittens that we took care of.