Should rescued pregnant cats be neutered?

One of the most controversial issues in shelter settings is whether rescued pregnant cats should be neutered. While some people resent the idea of ​​killing unborn kittens, others believe it can help with a larger problem, the problem of overpopulating pets.

Stray female cats seem to have a magical knack for finding shelter immediately before giving birth, and will pop up at the door asking for human help. Other female homeless would find themselves thrown into the street, punished for becoming pregnant because their owners did not sterilise them or keep them indoors.Alternatively, the owner, in order to save his conscience, sends the pregnant female to a shelter as a “spotted” stray, or immediately throws her at the door of a known rescuer

Many times, these pregnant females are kittens themselves. It is common for cats to go into heat (estrus) for the first time when they are 4 to 6 months old, and give birth as early as 6 to 7 months old. The situation is fraught with potential catastrophe, both for the survival of the mother cat, and for any kitten born alive.

The neutering of a pregnant cat includes abortion, a word that involves emotional responses, whether applied to humans or cats.

Animal shelters deal with this in different ways:

• Preterm female cats are neutered, but delivery of late pregnancies before neutering is permitted.
• Female cats were spayed and neutered in all cases until birth.
• Following the so-called “gold standard” never neuter a rescued pregnant cat.

The question is emotional on both sides.Proponents of neutering don’t like killing unborn kittens, but their position is based on pragmatic reasoning. Opponents simply don’t like taking a life under any circumstances, whether born or unborn.

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The bigger problem, the huge cat overpopulation problem, should be tackled first, mainly due to cat owners failing to spay or neuter their cats.Often, the resulting pregnant female cats are thrown into the street, where they continue to mate with their surviving kittens, and the offspring of these matings go on to mate. The scary reality is that a pregnant female cat and her offspring can have hundreds of kittens in just a few years. (A female cat can have at least three litters of kittens a year.)

Animal rescue groups, humane societies and TNR (trap-neutral-release) groups are overwhelmed trying to stem the flow of new kittens, and “kitten season”, which lasts a long time each year, is feared by these groups. Scared because they know this year’s kitten harvest will lead to the death of last year’s kitten or old cat in the shelter. There wasn’t enough room for them all, and something had to be given. It’s a matter of supply and demand.

when spraying not pregnant Mother cats prevent future births, neuterings (and miscarriages) of anonymous kittens pregnant The idea that a female cat can cause an identifiable fetus to die is terrifying to many.

advantage

• Spaying rescued pregnant cats will help control overpopulation.There is too little shelter for the large number of homeless cats.
• Spaying a rescued cat who is pregnant will help prevent the death of live cats and kittens. Even though a finder might adopt a pregnant female cat and have nice houses waiting for her kittens, each of these kittens will indirectly lead to possible adoption into one of the family’s shelter cats or kittens Death of a cat. A prime example is a rescuer who also has cats, but the space limits her ability to house them. Recently, she had to choose between neutering/aborting a pregnant cat that was dumped on her doorstep, or sending a litter of kittens she had been raising to a local shelter where they would immediately was killed. So, for the “greater good,” she had the new cat neutered, despite the emotional pain it caused.
• Very young and very old pregnant stray cats rarely enjoy physical conditions that allow them to give birth. Giving birth and caring for a litter of kittens can drain their last ounce of strength and even kill them. The kindest and most compassionate action anyone can take on one of these cats is to neuter her.
• The only time a pregnant stray cat should be allowed to give birth is in the recent past. There is a Roe vs. Wade aspect to this argument, which raises a completely different question of feasibility – “When does it happen during pregnancy?”

shortcoming

• Taking life, whether human or animal, already born or unborn, is immoral. There is no “excuse” to make everything work out.
• Shelters and rescue organizations are institutions and their primary concern is the movement of cats go outmake room for those people Come in. In that atmosphere, ethical considerations may come second. However, a person who is willing to have a mother cat and kittens at the same time or find a good, permanent home for them should not feel guilty about allowing the birth.
• Where is the evidence that someone with a “good house” might adopt a cat from a shelter? Maybe they weren’t even looking for cats until they heard a friend, neighbor, or co-worker had an adoptable kitten.

its location

This problem will never be fully resolved by spaying and neutering cats until cat owners become responsible caregivers. Most cats can be spayed and neutered before they are of reproductive age (three to six months old).

If more kittens are born each year, there will be more and more stray cats, and the problem of too many cats will increase. That’s why this problem is only a small part of a bigger problem: sterilization and neutering.