My neighbor took in a cat about a month or so ago, its an outdoors one, and it quickly became pregnant. He has the kittens in a box inside.
I think they are about 3 or 4 weeks old now. He doesn’t like the cat to get out, but she does at times. yesterday i saw her in another yard with two other cats, one of which she tried to chase away. i am wondering if she would mate again, as he sure doesn’t want that. But I think she is still nursing.
The vet can tell him how soon she can be spayed. I believe (but I’m not certain) that if the cat is found to be newly-pregnant when they open her up, they can terminate the fetuses and then go on to remove her ladyparts.
If he doesn’t want her to mate again, he needs to get her spayed. My uncle started with feeding one stray cat and ended up with something like 22 of them in his studio apartment. It wasn’t pretty, especially since only her first pregnancy was from an outside agency*…
*Two of our little (spayed!) fuzzy girls are from that first (non-inbred) litter.
Cats come into heat very quickly after giving birth, and will mate regardless of whether they’re feeding kittens. Unless your neighbour wants more kittens, it would be a good idea to keep the cat indoors till she can get spayed.
A pregnancy can be terminated by spaying, but most vets would be reluctant to spay a heavily pregnant cat or one that is still lactating (YMMV).
I had not known that. She gets out when he goes back inside, even when he tries to block her. He says he doesn’t care.
A list of low-cost spay/neuter clincs affiliated with SpayUSA
ASPCA’s searchable database of low-cost spay/neuter programs
searchable list of low-cost spay/neuter clincs
If he doesn’t care about her getting out, will he care enough to get her spayed?
If not, can we get him neutered?
There are a lot of low-cost S/N clinics that will spay for $20 or so. Maybe an extra charge if she’s still lactating or pregnant again because it makes for a longer surgery and more care has to be taken not to nick an engorged milk duct, but if you’re going to one of the low-cost places, they shouldn’t have a problem with doing the procedure in just about any circumstance save for if she was actually in active labor, believe it or not.
Depending on how involved you really want to get, would the guy just let you take her and then bring her back? Seems like not a huge price to pay for your own peace of mind.
Yeah, it’s hard to get much more “irresponsible pet owner” than allowing a fertile cat to go outdoors when one doesn’t want kittens, even with the spectacularly lame excuse of “she gets out even when I try to block her.” As has been said, that neighbor needs to get his cat spayed.
Hes told me someone is going to take the kittens and possibly her, but there should be a way to block her when hes outside from coming out when he goes in.
Yes. It involves locking the cat in an interior room befor he leaves the house in the first place.
My cat likes to scamper out into the hall when I leave my apartment. There’s this magical process called “not opening the door all the way” and this magical thing called your “foot” that you “you use to gently shove the cat away.”
My understanding is that the fetuses are removed along with the uteruses, uteri, whatever the hell they are. I’m under the impression that cats have sort of a split uterus, that joins to a single cervix, but I Am Not A Veterinarian.
Anyway, Momcat needs to get fixed, NOW, or as soon as a vet will operate on her. Otherwise, she’ll become yet another Feline Overpopulation Provider. I love kittens, I think they’re adorable, but the world has enough kittens. Also, it’s not good for Momcat to get pregnant again so soon, even if her human CAN find homes for all the kittens…and she won’t have quality kittens, either, but scrubs.
I’m convinced that female cats are actually in distress when they’re in heat, as well as when they’re having sex. Tomcats have barbs on those peckers, you know.