I have a few questions for all the pet owners with new litters on here as well as shelter volunteers:?

Question

1) Why did you let your cat get pregnant with the millions of kittens and cats put to death at shelters every year?

2) Why do you think this website is a substitute for vet care? (If answer is "no money" then refer back to question 1)

3) Are you going to spay/neuter the kittens before you give them away? (If you don't they will turn into THOUSANDS more)

And for shelter volunteers:

Do you often feel the urge to reach through your monitor and strangle people posting about their pregnant cats and new litters when you spend all your free time helping get shelter cats homes, raise funds to care for the shelter cats?

So many irresponsible pet owners on here tonight posting about new litters. This is in just in the LAST FOUR HOURS:

"Is my cat pregnant? Please help me?"

"My Pregnant Cat Has A Bloody Discharge. How Long Until She Does Into Labour?"

"Why did my cat abandoned her kitten?"

"My cat, a mother of 3 2 week old kittens has been missing for over a day now, when is it best to intervene?"

"Dead newborn kitten help?"

"Why would mother cat carry kitten downstairs?"

"My cat may only just have got pregnant - would spaying her stop the kittens growing?"

"Expectingg kittenss! ?"

Answer 1

I believe that everything happens for a reason, and the reason is usually to assist people in learning the lessons of life.



I am not one of those who didn't get my cat spayed, so in that respect I don't fit your criteria; however I am one of those who benefited from those cats who were unwanted. One of those discarded kittens grew up and alerted my parents to the fact that the house was on fire, in time to save all of us and the house. Another discarded one grew up and alerted me to the fact that I had a stalker, which enabled me to remove myself from harms way.



As a result of these experiences I no longer criticise those who don't spay their cats, I just make sure that I am responsible for my own actions and let others learn from their own lessons.

Answer 2

A large part of the process is education, although I do understand being frustrated over the questions, if the cat already has kittens, then I try and let them know their responsibilities to the cat and kittens for the best outcome, not for the owner, for the cat and kittens. If they are pregnant, get them spayed... why risk the life of your dearly beloved pet, it was irresponsible to not have them spayed before they got pregnant, why be irresponsible twice?!? People do not like it when I tell them to spay their pregnant cats, but it's the right thing to do.



A lot (SO MANY) are so misinformed by their own vets about "when is the best time to spay and neuter my cat, the vet says 7 mo, etc" that again, they have been wrongly educated, and for some cats, this is too late and a death sentence for the mother. SPAY/NEUTER, in my opinion for cats, should be done as early as possible when they are pets! Juvenile sp/nt is the best for everyone involved. Most do not realize the destruction that happens in shelters, or the harsh living conditions and dangers for outdoor cats. And now we have the newer concerns of people promising them great homes, when in fact their only intention is to feed your adorable FREE KITTENS to a snake or some other form of cruelty. A lot of people do not understand that once the kitten leaves their home,they NO LONGER have any control over what will happen with said kittens (because they don't sp.nt, they don't have contracts, and they don't follow through).



I could go on forever. It makes me really, really sad! I do as much as I can, I repeat as much as I can, and I don't worry about whether someone likes what I say or not! I totally get where you are coming from, and one of the biggest reasons I stopped breeding/showing my Maine Coons. I felt I was better able to help where help was really needed and did not feel it was as helpful to continue to promote or improve the Maine Coon cat breed as much as it was to try and help the helpless.



I sure hope this makes sense, LOL. I do feel frustrated, and angry and sad!



ADD: I totally agree with what RP Cat says on this one, and understand what RP Cat is doing. I understand where you are coming from as well. It gets totally repetitive, and makes you want to bang your head against a wall. Yes I do question people who raise their children to turn to their computers for advice, when it should be the parents the kids should turn to. But if the parent is not going to be of sound judgment when it comes to having the pet, then we should be there to "help" educate and appreciate the fact that they have the wits to ask outside the box. Yes they can be defiant when it doesn't "fit" their way of thinking, but at least it gives them something to consider and maybe it can make that change.

Answer 3

If anything it makes me sad ):

There's one cat at one of my local shelters - not the one I volunteer at, since it's not quite as close - but this poor thing is a 13-year-old, black cat. She's spent the past 7 years of her life in that very same shelter, and she's the sweetest thing.. I just wanna take her home with me, but I'm only allowed 2 where I live ):



On the bright side, all of the local shelters *require* that you spay/neuter now - it's in the contract, and included/covered in the very low $60 cat adoption fee and the $80 dog adoption fee.

If they're old enough and still intact, they get sent to the local vet, fixed, and then you're responsible to pick them up and take them home from there.

If you adopt a kitten or a puppy that's too young, you're given a paper stating the surgery is already covered. If you fail to get them fixed by the time they're about 4 or 5 months old, not only are they taken away from you, you have to pay the shelter a fee. Every time the shelter has to take an animal away, the fee goes up, until the third or fourth time, when they decide you can't have any pets.



I love my local shelter. More of them should have these rules.

Answer 4

I feel fortunate I grew up in a family that spayed/neutered pets as one of the first things that happened when a new pet was brought in. I never actually saw newborn animals until I started fostering them for the humane society. I understand some people don't know any better. Then there are some that refuse to believe it, or just don't care. Those are the ones that bother me. I've seen the shelter employees trying to decide who will be killed to make room for the fresh batch of strays. Sometimes I think if ignorant or selfish people could see that, they would start to care. I wish shelters made it more public that they have to kill cats and dogs. Maybe people would realize and do something, instead of contributing to the problem.



I do think we are making progress. The figures I've seen from a few decades ago were around 17 million euthanized each year. The last figures I saw put it around 4 million. That's a good start :)

Answer 5

Our rescue picked up yet another abandoned stray yesterday - pregnant and getting spayed first thing this morning. Why? This is in a city that offers free or very low cost spay/neuter services, so that's not an excuse. There is quite frankly no excuse to allow cats to breed like this, and even more so when there is no money to take the cat to the vet.



I personally think that prior to letting a cat get pregnant that they people should be required to go to their local shelter and watch the shelter workers euthanize the current day's batch of kittens. Just a dream I know, but I'm entitled.

Answer 6

I am neither of the people you addressed but we only adopt from shelters because of what you're talking about. There are so many that are going to die in shelters because people just let their cats breed without thinking. They only care about cute little kittens and once the kittens grow up and lose their cuteness then off to the pound they go, or another pet owner who will do the same thing. I'm going to be honest though, I can no longer get really perturbed by these questions. There is nothing I can do to stop these people and as many times as we will tell a person who wants "cute little kittens" to spay their cat, they won't do it. Maybe someday it will be required or something where so many innocent cats do not have to die! I know you kind of have a negative opinion of me but I am with you on this one Cafe'.

Answer 7

Hi there, I have volunteered at my local animal sanctuary for 21/2 years now with the adult cats. I know what you mean - it is very frustrating that people will just not neuter their cats, very irresponsible indeed but what can we do?? All we can do is to give advice or take the cats we do get in to a vet. Most of the time it is too late. unfortunately this problem will not go away because there is not enough advice and information out there unless these people specifically look for it, and for some unknown reason they dont think to look!!!

Answer 8

First of all people are dumb... I used to get into it with a coworker of mine about the subject. He thought it was morally wrong to take away animal's "Manhood". My best friend growing up mother almost always had kittens. My mom said it was because she wanted to give her children the same experience growing up that she did and that meant caring for kittens. Mom had the same type of life as my friend's mom but she found out when the farm had too many cats and dogs my grandfather would shoot the dogs and drown the cats. My aunt had issues with fixing her pets for a while but after trying to get rid of so many cats she finally started getting them fixed.



My mom was always adamant about having the pets fixed before they go into heat for the first time. And I'm all about adoption. The SPCA of Texas does not allow any pet to leave without being fixed. Unfortunately, a few of the shelters around here do allow pets that are too young to be spayed to go home with people. However, all of the shelters immediately fix animals as soon as they are of age. My cat was fixed at 8 weeks old. Does he have any problems from it? No!



Education is important. You have to admit that there are a lot less cats and dogs up at the shelters. Many of the shelter's in the nicer neighborhoods have become no kill. I hardly see them in the street either. So it's getting better. But there's also still a lot of ignorance going around. I remember one lady on here (lady not child) was having issues that the solution was to fix her cat. Her response to me? "I can't even afford dental insurance for my kids. I can't afford to fix her!" Then you can't afford to own a cat.

Answer 9

I am with a rescue group and have worked/volunteered at shelters YES some people need to be strangled.at my shelter in chattanooga if the kitten weighs 2lbs its fixed before it leaves, if it doesn't then it don't leave till it does weigh 2lbs, unless it goes into foster till it weighs enough to be fixed.I don't understand why people LET their cats get pregnant.It pisses me off because they say it was a accident Grrrrrrrrr / If they would have fixed it, It wouldn't get pregnant.With all the rescue groups around everywhere that offer low cost/sometimes FREE certificates their are no excuses why people don't fix their animals! I guess people are too lazy to pick up the phone and call around to even get a certificate.I ended up having a pregnant cat dumped on me(found on my porch) and of course before her spay appt she had 5 kittens I'm glad I found her, her 4th kitten got stuck and i had to assist if she had of been anywhere else her and her little family would of died,and whoever dropped her on my porch didn't even care,so now when they get big enough they will be altered and adopted to inside homes only.Of course mama kitty will be spayed so she will never have to go through that again.SO YES I WANT TO STRANGLE ANYONE WHO DOESN'T FIX THEIR KITTYS AND THEN GET ON HERE WITH THEIR QUESTIONS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF THEY HAD OF MADE A PHONE CALL AND GOT A CERTIFICATE!Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Answer 10

Historically, most of these types questions are from children. These are children whose parents don't understand that a pet is a responsibility. You can't help but question the parenting skills when a child has to come to a site like this to get support.



With that being said - by the time these messages are posted, the deed is done. All we can do now is provide support. Lecturing never changes anyones mind, Take the opportunity to educate a young mind - there is a chance that they can influence the irresponsible parents.

Answer 11

Hi Mocha,

I don't fit in any of those either. I breed Maine Coons and have for over 12 years. I show my cats to Champion and Grand Champion titles. I vet check all my cats and have testing done. I vet check the kittens and they have their vaccines and spay/neutered when they leave here. I do not place many breeders. I still am learning and will keep on learning about feline husbandry and feline health. I have my breedings planned and have rooms set up as a nursery, as a stud room and so on. I do not cage my cats the girls have free roam of my home and the boys have a nice big room and my enclosed porch. I am in the process of spaying a couple of girls. Health, standard and temperament are very important to me. My contract with the new owners has vet treatment will not be with held, the kitten will be indoor only, no declawing, and so on. I do explain they love to jump up on counters or anything else high, I recommend tall scratching posts and more. I do call later and to find out about the kitten and I also put in my contract that the kitten will not be re-homed or given away they must contact me and I will take them back.



It breaks my heart when I read vet not an option, can't afford a vet, and so on. My cat gave birth and the kittens are dead. Any way I am for spaying and neutering. I am for educating pet owners, this is most important. I understand wanting a cute and adorable kitten, who wouldn't but they have to realize that with a kitten they are playful don't listen, need a vet and more. I give my pet owners a lot of info before they pick up the kitten and then print out a copy of it all when they pick up the kitten. I wish they taught pet care 101 in schools and give them the facts of life. Take them to see cats and kittens being taken to be put down because they need room for more that they just got in. I like that you are straight forward with your answers and tell it like it is. LOL!



R P CAT



Mocha I do all I can to educate kids to because they are our future. I have always talk to any one at shows and done the same at schools. I get so frustrated at some of these questions and no one has any common sense about taking a cat to the vet or spay and neutering their cats. The one question about adopting cats from a shelter and not breeders was a little touchy. I have had strays and rescues all my life till I met the Maine Coon. The shelters would not be filled if people would spay and neuter. It is not just pedigree breeding cats that are causing that problem. I like your the way you think and your answers. You put it out there, I am not as bold as you are. I enjoy reading your answers.

Answer 12

Just wanted to say that your question has raised all the questions and irritations which have gone through my mind since becoming involved in this website. However, looking at many of the comments, it seems that there are many very young contributors who have not been guided by any responsible pet owners prior to taking on the responsibility of an animal.

Answer 13

You have no idea how much I'd like to sometimes.

Whatever happened to being educated and responsible? How hard is it to pick up a book on cats and learn how much happier everyone is in the end when you spay/neuter them? I just don't understand.



What really gets me are those people that think of their cats/dogs as people. "If I get him neutered, he won't be a MAN anymore."

Are you kidding me?



@ Jasmine: They usually don't "learn" anything until it's too late.