fearful mother-to-be

Hello. I got into this extreme situation trying to save kittens
from being aborted. A person I know was going to have a near-wild
pregnant cat spayed and aborted, but I persuaded him to give the
cat to me until six weeks after the litter is born, when I will
give the mother back to him to have it spayed and then return her
to his home and to the company of other near-wild cats that have
already been neutered. I will keep the kittens and try to find
homes for them. Any that I don't find homes for, I will have
neutered when they are six months old. I have four other cats,
all neutered.

That's the plan, but the mother-to-be, named Blackie, has been in
the bedroom where I'm keeping her at least until I get my garage
cleaned out, for six hours now, and all she has done is hide
under the furniture. I prepared a place in a closet for her
hopefully to have her kittens in, but she went there only once,
when we released her from the carrying cage at the door of the
closet.

I expected the cat to be very afraid, never having been in captivity
before, not even in a carrying box. I was aware from the start that
this is an extreme thing to do to the cat, but the helpless unwanted
kittens have no advocate but me, and I'm trying to do everything
I can to save them.

Any advice? Or any guesses about how long before the cat will come
out of hiding and eat and drink and maybe use the litter box?

The cat is under a cedar chest, with plenty of room. At first she
squeezed under other pieces of furniture, but I removed the lower
drawers, exposing her, so now the available hiding places are more
roomy; under the chest, under the bed, and in the closet.

At this point I don't know whether my efforts will succeed, and save
the kittens, or end in tragedy.

-cr

On 28 Jul 2005 14:50:11 -0700, "Calvin Rice" ,
clicked their heels and said:

I will keep the kittens and try to find
homes for them. Any that I don't find homes for, I will have
neutered when they are six months old. I have four other cats,
all neutered.

Do it earlier and place them. 2# +.

That's the plan, but the mother-to-be, named Blackie, has been in
the bedroom where I'm keeping her at least until I get my garage
cleaned out, for six hours now, and all she has done is hide
under the furniture. I prepared a place in a closet for her
hopefully to have her kittens in, but she went there only once,
when we released her from the carrying cage at the door of the
closet.

I expected the cat to be very afraid, never having been in captivity
before, not even in a carrying box. I was aware from the start that
this is an extreme thing to do to the cat, but the helpless unwanted
kittens have no advocate but me, and I'm trying to do everything
I can to save them.

Any advice? Or any guesses about how long before the cat will come
out of hiding and eat and drink and maybe use the litter box?

The cat is under a cedar chest, with plenty of room. At first she
squeezed under other pieces of furniture, but I removed the lower
drawers, exposing her, so now the available hiding places are more
roomy; under the chest, under the bed, and in the closet.

At this point I don't know whether my efforts will succeed, and save
the kittens, or end in tragedy.

Personally, I'd abort the kittens and spay her, per vet
recommendations.

--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album

Janet B wrote:
(when I said I would neuter kittens at 6 months if not adopted)
Do it earlier and place them. 2# +.

A vet told me once that he did not recommend neutering cats
before six months, because the pain medication could cause
problems in younger cats. ("pain medication" is my phrase-
I don't remember the phrase he used) I'm aware that there are
differing opinions about when neutering should be done.
What do you mean by "2#+"?

Personally, I'd abort the kittens and spay her, per vet
recommendations.

I'm not aware of any vet recommendations in this case. But
thoughts about what life is worth saving are not limited to
medical minds.

-cr

"Calvin Rice" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello. I got into this extreme situation trying to save kittens
from being aborted. A person I know was going to have a near-wild
pregnant cat spayed and aborted, but I persuaded him to give the
cat to me until six weeks after the litter is born, when I will
give the mother back to him to have it spayed and then return her
to his home and to the company of other near-wild cats that have
already been neutered. I will keep the kittens and try to find
homes for them. Any that I don't find homes for, I will have
neutered when they are six months old. I have four other cats,
all neutered.

That's the plan, but the mother-to-be, named Blackie, has been in
the bedroom where I'm keeping her at least until I get my garage
cleaned out, for six hours now, and all she has done is hide
under the furniture. I prepared a place in a closet for her
hopefully to have her kittens in, but she went there only once,
when we released her from the carrying cage at the door of the
closet.

I expected the cat to be very afraid, never having been in captivity
before, not even in a carrying box. I was aware from the start that
this is an extreme thing to do to the cat, but the helpless unwanted
kittens have no advocate but me, and I'm trying to do everything
I can to save them.

Any advice? Or any guesses about how long before the cat will come
out of hiding and eat and drink and maybe use the litter box?

The cat is under a cedar chest, with plenty of room. At first she
squeezed under other pieces of furniture, but I removed the lower
drawers, exposing her, so now the available hiding places are more
roomy; under the chest, under the bed, and in the closet.

At this point I don't know whether my efforts will succeed, and save
the kittens, or end in tragedy.

-cr


Sorry but, as someone who is involved in cat rescue, my advice would be to
have the mother cat spayed and the kittens aborted. Yes it's sad, but there
are soooo many kittens out there in need of homes, and ones coming from a
feral mother are going to be that much harder to place. The mother cat is
not going to grieve the loss of her kittens, she will go right back to
normal.
Female cats can get very stressed out and not act themselves when pregnant
anyway. Throw on top of that the fact that she's probably feral, and this
is one difficult cat. It doesn't sound like you have any experience with
feral cats or fostering mother cats and kittens. Chances are if you do let
her have the kittens, you won't see them for quite a while. And then, the
kittens are going to be initially afraid of people and you are really going
to have to work with them in order to get them adoptable.
Do both you and the cat a favor and have her spayed.

-Kelly

On 28 Jul 2005 15:13:35 -0700, "Calvin Rice" ,
clicked their heels and said:


What do you mean by "2#+"?

Animal shelters routinely spay/neuter kittens as long as they are over
2#.

Personally, I'd abort the kittens and spay her, per vet
recommendations.

I'm not aware of any vet recommendations in this case. But
thoughts about what life is worth saving are not limited to
medical minds.

-cr

absolutely true. With millions of perfectly nice and non feral cats
needing homes, bringing more little lives into the world doesn't make
sense to ME. If it does to you, have at it. I wish you luck. S/N
before 6 months, if you choose to have the kittens be born, is very
possible and very safe, and a reasonable thing to do - you can place
s/n kittens and not have to worry about their future reproduction.

--
Janet B
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bestfr...bedience/album

Please tell me what "2#" means. Just a translation is what I'm
asking.

-cr

"Calvin Rice" wrote in message
oups.com...
Please tell me what "2#" means. Just a translation is what I'm
asking.

-cr

Two pounds in weight, or 0.9071848 kilograms.

Hugs,

CatNipped

On 28 Jul 2005 15:13:35 -0700, "Calvin Rice"
wrote:

Janet B wrote:
(when I said I would neuter kittens at 6 months if not adopted)
Do it earlier and place them. 2# +.

A vet told me once that he did not recommend neutering cats
before six months, because the pain medication could cause
problems in younger cats. ("pain medication" is my phrase-
I don't remember the phrase he used) I'm aware that there are
differing opinions about when neutering should be done.
What do you mean by "2#+"?

Personally, I'd abort the kittens and spay her, per vet
recommendations.

I'm not aware of any vet recommendations in this case. But
thoughts about what life is worth saving are not limited to
medical minds.

Nice job keeping your cool. Janet is a nasty human being who loves to
be the first to respond so she can ruin someone's day. You are the
second person she has iced in the past 48 hours. The other one didn't
handle it as well.

Anyway, this group is actually very useful for your situation. Others
here will give you good information as opposed to judgements. There
is no shortage off freaky cat-ladies here, as you will quickly see,
but they do in fact know the ins and outs of cat care.

I suggest you get the group involved in placing the kittens once they
are born. These gals love to grab hold of a problem and run with it.
Where do you live, anyway? Maybe I could take one of those kitties
off your hands. I almost got a second cat recently, but the deal fell
through, so I've got an opening.

Charlie

"Calvin Rice" wrote

I'm not aware of any vet recommendations in this case. But
thoughts about what life is worth saving are not limited to
medical minds.

-cr


I understand where you are coming from. When I first got involved in
rescue, I felt sick about having a pregnant cat spayed and the kittens
aborted. Then I started to see just how many kittens are in need of homes.
I always thought "oh kittens are easy to adopt, there are enough homes to go
around." No there are NOT! And even though kittens can be easy enough to
place, it's all the work that is involved before they are old enough for
adoption (8 weeks by law, better at 12 weeks, IMO) that is the real strain
on shelters and rescues. Kittens get euthanized. I bet most people don't
realize that. They think "I'll take these cute and fuzzy kittens to the
shelter and they will all get homes!" Well, if they are under 8 weeks
and/or ill in any way, they may very well get put down.
Please rethink this. If you really want to save some kittens, go to your
local rescue and foster a litter that have already been born.

-Kelly

Calvin Rice wrote:
Please tell me what "2#" means. Just a translation is what I'm
asking.

-cr

The # on your phone is known as the "pound button". Therefore, logic stands
to reasong that 2#+ means "two pounds or more". Also, in mathmatical areas,
# does mean Pounds, x or * means times, / means divide, +, -, and = all mean
exactly what they mean (plus, minus and equal respectively).