I am fully aware of that, I tried to call the vet a few hours afterward and
they did not return the call until this morning. I have two cats, 1 male and
1 female both siamese, this is why she was not Spayed. We were happy she was
pregnant, not to witness child birth but to keep their blood lines going.
And yes I totally agree their is a terrible over population and it needs to
be handled. However, I only popped in here while looking up the information
on line regarding the birthing process, because although my cat has had vet
visits while pregnant, the vet never told us how long the process should take.
And out of just ignorance we assumed it would be like any birthing process
and it could take time. She did not appear to be in labor still after the
first kitten was born. She resumed normal activities, such as eating,
drinking, jumping on to our laps. And appeared to have no contractions. I
just thought thought possibility to get a bit of advice at that time of night,
although slim, might be good. In the long run we found and emergency vet
whom saw her at 1am and they did a sonogram, she did not have anymore babies.
And we made an appt. to have her spayed since it was very heart breaking to
see her have to go through that. I went through it myself years ago, so can
imagine her pain and suffering.

MaryL wrote:
That response is neither ignorant nor nasty. First, we can't possibly know
if anything is wrong, but a delay of 7.5 hours clearly calls for a visit to
the vet ASAP. Second, the response may have been abrupt, but most of us on
this group have seen the heartbreaking results of people who continue to let
their cats breed. We have a dreadful problem with overpopulation of cats
and dogs (at least in the US), and only an aggressive spay/neuter program
can help. Even if a person has the best of intentions and finds homes for
all of the kittens produced by his or her cat, that means that there are
other cats that will probably be euthanized in shelters because there are no
homes for them. By coincidence, I attended a press conference last week at
our local shelter. The conference was set up for interviews by members of
the Humane Society and several rescue groups and was intended to call
attention to this very problem. The local shelter had to close its doors
(temporarily) on Tuesday because there was no room available. Forty-seven
animals were euthanized Tuesday. Employees opened the doors again at 10
a.m. Wednesday, and the shelter had already taken in 59 new animals (37 cats
and 22 dogs) within and two hours -- and closed again. This is a continuing
problem. Moreover, a larger shelter will not solve the problem. Only
spay/neuter can solve this problem. Our little town averages about 5,500
animal surrenders annually -- 4,000 of which had to be euthanized last year.
And that does not include the large number of cats and dogs that are simply
abandoned and suffer a far more painful death than humane euthanization.
Moreover, this town is not unique with the problem I cited. Far from it! I
might add, spay/neuter has beneficial aspects for the cat because there are
certain medical conditions that the procedure will prevent or reduce (such
as ovarian or uterine cancer, reduction in breast cancer, and reduction in
prostate cancer). Whenever I read that a parent says that he or she wants
their children to witness "the miracle of birth," I wonder if they are also
prepared for their children to witness "the miracle of death" because that
is what happens to an incredibly large number of animals as a result of pet
overpopulation.

So, we are not being cruel when we tell someone to have their cats spayed or
neutered. I do understand your pain at seeing the stillborn kitten and your
concern about what to do now. The advice may have sounded heartless under
the circumstances, but the advice was actually sound. First and foremost,
of course, is to get your cat to a vet because people on a newsgroup cannot
have any way of knowing if there is still a medical problem.

MaryL

Well this message board is supposed to be helpful not ignorant, keep your
nasty attitude to your damn self.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
How would we know? Take her to the vet and have her checked, and get
her spayed.

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