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A Mother's Day Wish: No More Mothers, Please.

Motherhood is a sacred institution, but not if you're a cat. Motherhood means that the cat will likely be given to a shelter. Not many people want to deal with a cat's offsprings as well as the mama-cat. What's worse, are those who have cats, never get them spayed, then wonder why they're always pregnant. They pay little attention to kittens being born, they're just animals, after all. Did they see four in the shed and now there are only three? Do they wonder where the other one went or what happened to it? Most likely, it's a passing thought at best, while those animals are struggling to survive.

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©2010 Maria Sandoval. Tansy with daughter, Pattycake. Patty and her brother, Moonpie were adopted by a big family who spare no expense on their care. They are so lucky. Tansy is loving life with her Mamas in North Carolina.

Motherhood is the worst thing I could wish on a cat that isn't a purebred show cat (and I won't get into what I think of THAT right now). It pretty much means they're going to die soon if they're in a shelter. Most shelters aren't equipped to deal with pregnant cats, especially because their offspring can so easily and quickly get sick, then spread that virus through the shelter. They treat the newborns like hot potatoes-MUST get them OUT of the shelter BEFORE it's too late! My own foster cats are a very good example of that. They were born in a shelter and by the time they were 3 weeks old, they were so sick, it will effect the rest of their lives. If we hadn't gotten them out the day we did, they all would have been euthanized.

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©2009 Henry Co. Care & Control. Cupid with “Santa's Team.” By the way, Cupid, gained 5 pounds after rescue-she was almost killed by over-nursing kittens. She is adopted and with a family who loves her dearly. Her best buddy is her Nanny, yes she has a Nanny and she's pals with the family dog.

There's no heart for a mama cat within the concrete walls of animal control and the people that work their have their hands tied. I KNOW they want those cats (and dogs) out, but the numbers are rising so fast—especially this time of year, how can they keep up? Where's the town budget to add a quarantine room for newborns? Who would happily see their Property Tax go up to make this happen? Where are the guards at the doors that tell people with pregnant cats they shouldn't even step foot inside a shelter!

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©2010 Henry Co. Care & Control. Our own Mazie with Chester, Polly & Cara.

I go back to square one-we all know this: the mamas don't get to BE mama's if they're spayed. There's simply NO excuse not to do it to your cat. There are low cost Spay & Neuter clinics all over the country. Many Humane Societies and Municipal Shelters will offer low cost vouchers. You're doing your cat (or dog) a HUGE disservice leaving it intact. Not only is the cat apt to get mammary cancer and tumors in the uterus and ovaries, but spaying avoids birth complications (DUH!) and no need to find homes for kittens when there aren't enough homes, already! Your cat will greatly reduce its chances of getting FIV+ or FELV! But most importantly, you're preventing MORE cats from being born into a world that cannot handle them-there are TOO MANY CATS and NOT ENOUGH HOMES. That's why SO MANY people who do rescue, end up with more than a handful of cats.

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©2009 Robin A.F. Olson. Rose, Poppy and Daisy.

We've got to stop this nonsense. We've got to make sure our neighbors stop this nonsense and take care of their cats, females AND males. We have to tell our neighbor why they MUST do the right thing and make sure it gets done. It takes more than a village, but even if it's just a handful of people who do this, it's a great start.

Maybe someday, not in my lifetime, but someday, we won't have cat overpopulation and allowing cats to have kittens will be thoughtfully controlled. Until then, we need to truly revere Motherhood and respect it and respect the fact that some times NOT being a Mother is the smartest and most appropriate thing we can do.

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©2009 Robin A.F. Olson. “Last Chance”-Angel with her son, Spyder.

Today, I sit here feeling sick. I already know there are thousands of Mama cats who have already given birth now that spring is here. Personally, my little rescue group can't even take ONE family in unless we get some foster homes. As for the other rescues, they are full up, overloaded, scrambling to help as many as they can, but with thirteen new mamas at ONE shelter in Georgia and half a dozen at another, WHERE are these cats going to go?

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©2008 Robin A.F. Olson. CallaLily and her babies. Callie is doing great in her new home.

I can tell you. They are not going anywhere. They won't even live to see Mother's Day. Is this the legacy we want to leave, as a society?
Where we're overjoyed if a woman is “expecting,” but if a cat, or dog becomes pregnant, odds are, if those animals aren't in a safe and loving home that will care for them, they'll be given up to a shelter and soon, we'll kill them.

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©2009 Robin A.F. Olson. “Huggy Mama”, Dash & Snuggles. All got adopted TOGETHER! Yes, all three!

Let's make it a better world for our cats and show them how much we really DO respect and care for them by making certain they're ALL spayed and neutered.

Comments

This post make so much sense on Mother's day weekend.
Coincidently, my husband had our oldest cat on his lap. This one talks to us. He gets into your lap, sits stretch up tall and does a trilling meow until you talk back to him. After a few exchanges he rubs his cheek against yours, lets the last trill morphs into a loud purr and he settles into your lap.
My husband was then lamenting that we had 'fixed' this cat, that he'd like to have a family of them that shared traits with this guy.
We had a whole discussion about why it was important to take in cats born with no one to care for them, why we were right to neuter each one we've adopted as early as possible.
Now, neither he nor I approve of a lot of the deliberate breeding done, especially to create exotic hybrid breeds. I sort of worry about the fate of my beloved common moggy. I don't want the ONLY cats bred to be the designer breeds.
Still, until there is a loving home for every kitten, helping a Momma cat to raise and socialize her own is a pleasure I must simply forego. And that's OK if it means there will be less suffering in the world.

There is a way to enjoy a Momma cat and kittens and not feel guilty - become a foster parent for a local shelter. All you need is a safe space for her and the babies - extra bathrooms work well for this or guest rooms - food, water, litter and love. When they are weaned they go back to the shelter to get fixed then adopted out. Some foster parents do the adoptions from their homes as well. You get the pleasure of playing with kittens, you are helping them become social and adoptable and the money you spend is tax deductible. I've never fostered a pregnant kitty but have down Momma with babies (from as young a 3 days) and lots of growing kittens. And we've only had 1 "foster failure" where we kept a kitten. That's our Jenny and she's now 9.

I have five cats. Four of them came to me as barely-weaned kittens, a result of friends who had mama cats with babies (three different cat-mothers over the years). The fifth found me outside of a friend's house and demanded to live with us. All are spayed/neutered, and I wouldn't have it any other way (they have all their claws, too).

I'm really hoping the girl who runs the barn where I board my horse finally spays her barn cat. Poor thing had a bunch of kittens last year—all met unfortunate barn ends. Poor thing had six fresh ones a week ago. I refuse to get attached, because #1 I have five already and #2 with my luck, the favorite won't make it to weaning. Just because it's an outdoor barn cat doesn't mean it HAS to have litters every year. SIGH

Why don't you help her out by hiving her the name of a low-cost spay/neuter service. She may not know that there i help out there.

Tansy is chubby and quite the entertainer. She plays with toys and various found objects (like a plastic thingy from off of Carol's oxygen tanks) and loose hair of which there is plenty around here. She also plays with invisible toys and likes the screen porch. I'm glad she came here. And not to worry about the oxygen thing, Carol's doing well and cancer counts are down.

i couldn't read all of this post -- it makes me SO sad. i have many cats in my house -- some actually "belong" to my children and will move out at some point.. but they are all rescues from various situations. my last one was the saddest -- she is actually the second cat from the street that had to be spayed -- the first was taken in by the family of my son's friend and allowed to wean her kittens but then she was going to be dumped at the pound, so i took her and got her spayed and she has a forever home now as my son's cat. but the last one is a balinese/ragdoll/other cross and quite beautiful --but her people moved and left her behind. outside. intact. my son brought her here. i kept her isolated until she could be vet checked. we figured she had not been spayed so i made an appt AFTER a heat ended or what i thought was a heat -- turned out when the vet got in there that she was pregnant so it became an abortion but she believed she was miscarrying or self-aborting and that's what i was seeing when i thought she had come into heat. or it could have been that her body thought the pregnancy was over and put her back into another cycle. regardless -- i was devastated because i had played god and ended her pregnancy -- but in reality, it had to be the best thing -- i would have had to keep the kittens -- there are SO many at our local shelter, so many on craigslist. people are idiots and irresponsible and the animals are paying with their lives.

I have two cats, both males. One I got at a pet store that takes in strays and fosters them till they find them a home and who makes sure they have all their shots up-to-date and that they have been spayed or neutered before they release them. Another one I got at my humane society in my my county who does not put them down, but makes sure they are spayed neutered for the most part before they release them. If you happen to get one that hasn't been yet, they will charge a little more for you to buy that cat with the stipulation that once you show proof that you have taken on the responsibility of having that cat spay/neutered, they will refund that money back to you.

I think it should be law that every cat that hits a shelter, has to be spayed/neutered before it is released to a new owner. And it would be nice that for those who drop off their cats to a shelter that they show proof that the cat has been spayed/neutered before that shelter takes it on. Where I live, there is a waiting list for some of the shelters to accept cats because they are too over loaded already. It is a shame that people who will buy a kitten because it is so "cute" will not care for it and never neuter or spay it as it gets older when it starts to lose its cuteness. Outdoors cats especially need to be so they don't continue to reproduce new feral cats! There is just no excuse why a cat shouldn't be spayed/neutered. There are plenty of low costs clinics for this procedure. Would you not take your child to the doctor if it needed treatment? The same is for animals. They are a part of your family and you need to care for them, whether you let them outside or not. They have needs too. If you don't have the money to care for it, don't get one! The abundance of feral cats in the street, is primarily because people who initially had these cats are irresponsible adults. If these people are irresponsible in this regard, I am sure these people are just as irresponsible with everything else in their life. And that's sad because everything that comes in contact with that person suffers.

Each one of us can make a difference, one by one to make it a better place for all living creatures.

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