Expert: Ali - 4/1/2009

Question
Two stray cats (1 female, 1 male) have adopted me and a few weeks ago, I finally gave in and moved them into my home.  They are young, but not kittens, maybe 9 months to a year old would be my guess.  Recently, I made an appointment to have them spayed and neutered, shots, ear mites taken care of, etc.  However, I then saw the male mating with the female. My appointment hasn't arrived yet and its too early to know if she is pregnant.
I know that a pregnant cat can be spayed.  The dilemma is whether or not to get it done.  If I wait to spay her and see if she is pregnant, I know I can not afford the money or space to keep 4-6 kittens for the rest of their lives.  If I find the kittens a good home, I will always feel responsible for those owners who may not take their new kitten ownership seriously.
So, since you obviously get to talk to a lot of cat owners, how likely is it that the kittens I find homes for will become strays, abused, or shelter cats in their lifetime?  As you can see, I'm having a moral dilemma at the moment.  To abort the kittens and take responsibility for their deaths...or to take responsibility for the kittens I allow to come into the world who may become abused or forgotten and their future kittens and theirs, etc.
Thank you sincerely.

Answer
Sky,

Cats are referred to as induced ovulators meaning that unlike human beings they require the stimulus of intercourse to ovulate. Since you mention that the cats were having sex I strongly suspect that the female cat is pregnant.

In your position I would probably allow mom to continue with her pregnancy and begin looking for potential adopters willing to provide a loving, safe forever home for one or more kittens. The fact of the matter is that I am not in your position, I don't know what resources you have available to you or how much time you would have to dedicate to finding these kittens good homes. It's possible that a first time mom (which this kitty probably is) will only have 3-4 kittens, however each kitten can be a 20+ year commitment for whoever decides to adopt them. There is a very serious pet overpopulation problem and many health, adoptable animals are euthanized every day in animal shelters worldwide. As someone who fosters, rescues, loves and advocates passionately for cats I understand that one person can't save all of the cats in need. Caring for a pregnant cat can be expensive and not everyone is prepared to do so for that reason alone. Finding good permanent homes for the kittens takes time, patience and dedication, in the meantime you are left with medical expenses for the two cats you originally adopted as well as any kittens that the female cat has until they are placed in their forever homes. The sad reality is that if you dropped these kittens off at a shelter at 8 weeks of age there's a pretty good chance they'd be euthanized due to time, space, resource and financial constraints because kitten season will soon be in full swing.

The decision about whether or not to spay a pregnant female cat is a difficult one to make for moral and ethical reasons. There is a large commitment of time and money required to care for a litter of kittens and a nursing mother. Sometimes there are complications with the labor or delivery that would require medical intervention ranging from being given medication to restart a stalled labor to performing a caesarian section to deliver kittens that are too big or in the wrong position for a vaginal delivery. You have to consider whether or not you can realistically afford the care that mom and her litter will need, whether or not you are prepared to handle and socialize the kittens appropriately to make them more adoptable and lastly whether or not you are prepared to take the time to look for loving, safe forever families for these babies. You could try to see if a local rescue organization would treat the situation as though you were fostering a litter of stray kittens because mom is a newly adopted stray.

Rescue organizations and no kill shelters have legal agreements requiring prospective pet parents to provide their newly adopted pet with wholesome food, clean water, toys, an appropriate living environment and appropriate medical care including spaying or neutering the kitten at the appropriate age. In fact some organizations will not release a kitten for adoption until s/he is spayed or neutered to avoid any further contributions to the already serious pet overpopulation affecting all animal welfare organizations. If you allowed this mom to go to term with her pregnancy she would have to be isolated in a room away from other pets in your home for the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy so that she can prepare herself for delivering and raising her kittens. A cat's food consumption can double, triple or even quadruple during pregnancy and nursing a litter. There are a lot of wonderful people out there looking for healthy, adoptable kittens and you could probably find families through your veterinarian. It's important to keep the kittens with their mother and litter mates until they are at least 12 weeks old because there is a significant amount of social development that happens in those first few weeks including bite inhibition, learning how to be a cat and respond appropriately to feline body language and our use of humane disciplinary tools. Mom will wean her litter usually sometime in those first twelve weeks and she'll need to be kept separated from any intact male cats until she's weaned her litter and been spayed. Not all rescued or adopted animals are living in horrible conditions or being abused/neglected.

If you do decide to allow mom to have her kittens you would have to commit to caring for them until just the right forever family comes along. I would strongly advise against putting "Free to Good Home" ads anywhere, it's best to place an ad saying "Kittens for adoption into loving forever families" because free to good home ads attract less than ideal applicants to adopt a pet. You can also take the step of working on an appropriate adoption contract and ask the prospective adopters to reimburse you for any medical expenses that you've covered for their kitten during his/her time in your care. I would highly suggest that you spay/neuter the kittens, vaccinate, deworm, and microchip the kittens and stipulate that if the adoptive family is unable to keep the kitten for any reason s/he is to be returned to your care. I would also suggest that you consider having animal shelters in your area keep the microchip ID numbers of the kittens on file so that in the event someone admits any of these guys to the shelter you will be contacted so that they won't be euthanized as strays.

If you have mom spayed immediately there's a fair chance that she may not even realize she was pregnant. Spaying a pregnant cat does cost more than an uncomplicated spay because the surgery takes longer, requires more skill and the cat often requires more anesthesia than a cat that isn't pregnant. You wouldn't have any responsibility to the kittens if you had mom spayed while she was pregnant, but you have to consider whether or not you'd be entirely comfortable with this decision. Ultimately the kittens are alive from the point of conception and depending upon your belief system that may play a part in your ultimate decision. Obviously if mom is spayed now you don't have to worry about taking responsibility for a few new lives in a couple of months.

The bottom line is that I think it's possible that you'll find great permanent homes for the kittens if you are prepared to take the time and make the commitment to do so. Having potential adopters provide a veterinary and several personal references will help to reassure you that the kittens are going to good homes. Finding good homes for kittens means that you have to be prepared to turn people that aren't suitable adopters away, if you aren't comfortable with someone, in my experience, there's probably a good reason for that instinctive reaction. I can't make this decision for you, and I can't make judgements about your final decision. Only you know how much time, money and commitment you can offer to these unborn kittens so the decision is ultimately up to you. I wish you luck with this difficult decision, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your newly adopted companions at this time.