On 15 Aug, 13:52, "Wendy" wrote:
"Skye" wrote in message

s.com...







On Aug 14, 9:43 am, "cindys" wrote:
"Skye" wrote:

1. Generally speaking, how old can a queen be and still be going into
heat and producing offspring? In other words, please God, is there
such a thing as feline menopause??? :-/

Yes. It's called a "spay."

I'm glad your life is so well-ordered and nothing ever gets out of
your control once
in a while. However, please realize that's not the case with everyone
in the world, mkay?

The older cat is a feral cat who I've been feeding for the last two
years, but has
hung around this neighborhood for at least 10. I've somehow grown
attached,
even though she is wild. She will not come to me nor allow me to so
much as touch her. You tell me how to get her to the vet, Cindy S.,
ok?

You buy or borrow (rescue groups and shelters sometimes lend traps - ask
them) a humane trap. If you've been feeding this cat anyway it should be
quite easy to trap her. Check with the rescue groups for recommendations for
low-cost spay neuter locations where they will do feral cats. Make an
appointment. The day of or the night before the appointment, put some good
smelly wet food in the back of the trap and set it shortly before the time
that the cat usually shows up to eat. Then wait in an out of sight but not
out of hearing place for the unique sound of a trap tripping. Cover trap
with a large towel and take the cat in the trap to the vet for her spay. If
it's the night before, place a large plastic bag on the floor of a garage or
similar place. Put a thick layer of newspaper on the plastic bag and then
set the trap on them. The cat will be fine in a covered trap overnight.







Last summer, some of the neighbors tried to get rid of her. They did
manage to
catch her kittens and most of them were put to sleep. This summer,
we've managed
to get the kittens before they were found, but we had to pull off
commando-type
raids under cat-hating neighbors porches to do it.

She seems to be safe and stays under the radar all the rest of the
year.

I simply wondered how many more summers I could look forward to
worrying about
this. Or do you just think I should stop feeding her? I mean, what
gives with your
attitude???

If you aren't willing to get her spayed, you are doing more harm than good
by feeding her. You are keeping her healthy enough to continue reproducing
kittens when there are already too many kittens to ever possibly home. You
basically are facilitating the birth of kittens so that they or others like
them will have to be put to death. I know people mean well when they start
feeding strays but the truth is that it's better not to and just let nature
take it's course unless you're willing to commit to doing it right and
spay/neuter the cat.







2. I've got another younger cat, first time queen, shows all the
symptoms of pregnancy - more than a month along. However, every
few days, she's spotting blood from the vulva. Not much though, and
otherwise she acts fine. Is this normal, or should I be contacting
the
vet?

You should be contacting the vet about having her spayed. Why are you
allowing your cats to breed?

This cat is my indoor, well-cared-for, beautiful, loved cat. Yes, I
wanted her to
have kittens. OMG! I'm guilty! Shoot me, but not the cat!
Seriously, I'm not sure
since 9/11/2001, but I THINK America is still free enough that if you
want your
cat to breed, you are allowed to do so. Unless there's some law I'm
not aware
of (under Homeland Security, maybe?). I don't even think you have to
ask
permission from, well, ANYBODY. Lol.

Well, thank you for your, um, help and info, Cindy S. I can assure
you, the
world is a much safer and better place. You can sleep well tonight.
Skye

People tend to get a little bent out of shape with people who are willfully
adding to the cat over-population problem. I volunteer for a cat rescue
group. We do adoptions from a Pet Smart store on Saturdays. Last weekend we
had a man bring us a kitten who was obviously on death's door. It appeared
to have injested some type of poison and was having convultions. It was
beyond helping so one of our volunteers took the kitten to the local SPCA to
get it euthanized. When she arrived there the person at the shelter told her
they couldn't help us because they didn't have room. Our volunteer told them
that we weren't asking them to take the cat and house it but to put it out
of it's misery. The shelter person again said they didn't have room. When it
became obvious that they were miscommunicating the shelter person clarified
that they didn't have any room in their FREEZER where they keep the
euthanized animals until they can be cremated. She said that they couldn't
fit a hampster in the freezer if they had to. THAT'S how many unwanted
animals there are out there. And THAT'S why people tend to get a little
short with someone who is exacerbating the problem.

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You buy or borrow (rescue groups and shelters sometimes lend traps - ask
them) a humane trap. If you've been feeding this cat anyway it should be
quite easy to trap her. Check with the rescue groups for recommendations for
low-cost spay neuter locations where they will do feral cats. Make an
appointment. The day of or the night before the appointment, put some good
smelly wet food in the back of the trap and set it shortly before the time
that the cat usually shows up to eat. Then wait in an out of sight but not
out of hearing place for the unique sound of a trap tripping. Cover trap
with a large towel and take the cat in the trap to the vet for her spay. If
it's the night before, place a large plastic bag on the floor of a garage or
similar place. Put a thick layer of newspaper on the plastic bag and then
set the trap on them. The cat will be fine in a covered trap overnight.

Yes, I found that heating the food up attracted them straight to to
the bowl because their sense of smell is so superior to our own. I
couldn't find any society that was willing to lend me a trap, but I
did find a private american citizen on a USAF base that was willing to
lend me one. I was no expert on trapping cats, believe me- In fact, I
had never tried trapping a cat before, but with advice from Phil, I
managed to catch Lucy(fur!!) first time, so please @ least have the
confidence to try it out?
The vet was good enough to come out to us, & treated her immediate
needs, & we took her in the following day to have her spayed.
Lucy(fur!) was the only one that was so shy that we simply couldn't
catch her though. The rest, we were able to entice with food alone.

If you aren't willing to get her spayed, you are doing more harm than good
by feeding her. You are keeping her healthy enough to continue reproducing
kittens when there are already too many kittens to ever possibly home. You
basically are facilitating the birth of kittens so that they or others like
them will have to be put to death. I know people mean well when they start
feeding strays but the truth is that it's better not to and just let nature
take it's course unless you're willing to commit to doing it right and
spay/neuter the cat.

I wonder if you have a society in the USA that will pay towards the
cost of spaying a cat? In the UK we have a society called the Cat
Protection League, & their main objective, is to spay, neuter & advise
on how to catch cats that need fixing. They also rescue cats too, but
are totally reliant on volunteers who are willing to help for nothing.
If you do, these might be the best people to contact? Over here, they
are willing to pay half the cost towards spay or neuter fee's, which
is very helpful if you face the charge personally for a cat that you
don't own & intend to release.I was wondering if you have any similar
programs in the USA that you can go to if you need help like this?


People tend to get a little bent out of shape with people who are willfully
adding to the cat over-population problem. I volunteer for a cat rescue
group. We do adoptions from a Pet Smart store on Saturdays. Last weekend we
had a man bring us a kitten who was obviously on death's door. It appeared
to have injested some type of poison and was having convultions. It was
beyond helping so one of our volunteers took the kitten to the local SPCA to
get it euthanized. When she arrived there the person at the shelter told her
they couldn't help us because they didn't have room. Our volunteer told them
that we weren't asking them to take the cat and house it but to put it out
of it's misery. The shelter person again said they didn't have room. When it
became obvious that they were miscommunicating the shelter person clarified
that they didn't have any room in their FREEZER where they keep the
euthanized animals until they can be cremated. She said that they couldn't
fit a hampster in the freezer if they had to. THAT'S how many unwanted
animals there are out there. And THAT'S why people tend to get a little
short with someone who is exacerbating the problem.

OMG Wendy, I have never heard such a sad story in my entitre life. I
used to wonder why people got so out of shape when they heard of our
community bowl, but having heard this story, I now understand why. Our
community bowl has two objectives. The first was to stop them
starving, & the second was to see that they were fixed. I end up
paying around $30 for a male, & $40 for a female. It's not a huge
amount of money to find, & well worth the hassle of catching them. It
is also worth having a word with your regular vet, to see if they are
willing to do cheaper rates if you take more than say, one a month to
them too.

I knew that things were bad in the USA regarding feral & unwanted
cats, but I had no idea exactly how bad. I hope that story serves as a
reminder to others as to why it is so important to get them spayed &
neutered. I have to say that I am very shocked to hear your story.
That is absolutely horrific!! I can only assume that we lead very
sheltered lives in the UK, or the problem is not yet quite at crisis
point.
Thank you for sharing this story with us.

Sheelagh "o"
( Nice to see you too;o)