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Phew! I barely dodge this time.

Phew! I barely dodge this time.

Old 01-04-2013, 08:03 AM
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Default Phew! I barely dodge this time.

I'll try to make a long story short. About a year and half ago, we came home from vacation and a stray cat with her two kittens had taken up living at our house. Some neighbors I don't know had started feeding her at my house when they realized she was half starved. Since she was nursing, I continued to feed her. After the kittens were gone (gave one away and the other disappeared), she would come and go. Toward the end of spring this year, she showed back up pregnant again. She had a female kitten which I named Missy. I had read that you are not suppose to spay them while they are nursing. You can, but it can cause complication. So, I thought once the kitten is about two months old, I would spay Mama cat. Well, Mama had other ideas or lets say nature did. When Missy was about 4 weeks old, Mama got pregnant again. Luckily, she only had one kitten this time too. Cute tuxedo male cat. I took Missy in to the neuter spay clinic yesterday to take care of that future problem. When I picked her up, they informed me she had been in heat. Talk about dodging a litter! This morning I took Mama in. In a week or two, Iggy, tuxedo cat, will be neutered.

I saw Iggy's father hanging around this morning. I don't know who (if anyone) he belongs to, but if I could catch him, I would neuter him also. He is a beautiful solid black cat.
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Old 01-04-2013, 08:13 AM
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Thank you very much for looking after these cats and ensuring they do not produce more kittens.
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Old 01-04-2013, 09:02 AM
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We had a similar story years ago. We contacted The Shamrock Foundation and they paid for the neutering/fixing of the kittens, gave us a big bag of food and two bowls to feed them. They said it was better to bring them back to familiar surroundings. They ended up coming into our house and liked it, but they always wanted out too. They were very special to us.
Thanks for doing your part in helping this cirlce of life pattern to end. If only more would help.
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Old 01-04-2013, 09:11 AM
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My DD and SIL are pushovers when it comes to stray cats/kittens. They have 5 acres and have accumulated 16 cats this way (one just died). They always have them spayed/neutered ASAP. Some are inside cats, others outside cats. There's a cat door into their garage and all the cats are brought inside at night. Her husband brings more strays home than she does, although people at work know she's a softie for strays. lol
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Old 01-04-2013, 11:22 AM
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We have stray named Mama that lives on our patio. A year and a half ago she dug a hole under our shed and had 5 kittens. I fed her during the time she was nursing the kittens, then we trapped the kittens when they were old enough and took them to the animal foundation where they were all spayed/neutered, socialized and then adopted out to homes. A week after the kittens were gone, we trapped Mama cat and took her to a place that does TNR (trap, neuter, return) for the strays in our city. She spent 48 hours recovering in our spare room, then we were told to release her where we trapped her at and she would probably leave since her kittens were gone. Funny thing is that she never left. She sleeps on my patio chairs, and we give her food and water in the tool shed. I tried to make her into an inside cat, but she has no desire to be in my house (just as well as I have 3 inside cats that I have adopted over the years). She now has a few other stray friends that come to eat and sometimes sleep on the other chairs. The ones that have been hanging out with her have all been fixed, I can tell because when they go through the TNR program, the tip of their right ear gets clipped off to mark them as being done.
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:12 PM
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Missy is the only one that spends much time indoors. Mama will do a walk thru to see what is going on, but will return outdoors. Being male, Iggy is still very attached to his mother. Missy was literally with her mother when Iggy was born so she is a combination sister/aunt. When Mama was under the bushes nursing Iggy, Missy was the lookout. Iggy will remain primary outdoors as long as he stays around here. I can not handle three cats inside. While, Iggy can be handled, he still prefers cat companionship to human. You have to catch him so you can pet him, but he is docile while being held. Mama does not like to be held, so I think Iggy has a lot of her personality. He is definitely built like her. As you can tell, I love to watch their personalities.
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:51 PM
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I know what you mean, we took in a mamma cat and her two girls. she lived on the streets (even though she really "belonged" to the neighbor across the street who never fed her or her Brother) and she had kittens. she kept coming into our back yard at evening time and going back across in the day time.
we finally let her into our garage (i put my car out) for nights and let her out in the day. then we started feeding her inside and her girls finally came in too. But the neighborhood boyfriend visited her before we got her to stay inside! thought she was gaining weight due to being fed well. not!!! six more kittens in our closet.
they were so cute. slept in my lap after playing all over me. We found homes for three and i took the other three to a lady's shelter who found homes for them. $300.00 each for the two kittens to be fixed and later for mamma too.
we still have them. mamma is in my Avatar. one of the girls is still a bit feral. she loves to be loved on but not picked up. although i do that daily to keep her used to it.
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:59 PM
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It is so wonderful that you are making sure no more feral cats come along. Outside cats are such a danger, they spread disease and are major predators of songbirds. All the cats I've owned were adopted strays, although they were kept indoors at all times after adoption. We also have neighbors who claim that a cat is their pet, but never allow it indoors or pay it any attention. They simply leave food and water on the porch. In the summer the cat comes over and sprays our front door, apparently thinks our cat is competition. Year round it uses our backyard as a litter box.
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Old 01-04-2013, 01:29 PM
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I used The Big Fix Clinic or Mississippi Spay & Neuter Clinic which only charged $50 per cat, plus if you want $8 for the rabies shot. I think they have some grant money plus donations from the public that helps with the cost. Both of the mornings were very busy with cats and dogs coming in for their surgery. Dogs cost more, but still cheaper than the vet.
Native Texan, I know what you mean by not being sure if they are pregnant. Since Mama only had one kitten at a time, I never was sure if she was pregnant until it was too late to do something about it. At least when a dog goes into heat you can tell immediately.
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Old 01-04-2013, 01:53 PM
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ha ha ha ...are you sure your not my sis-in-law.....good for you!!!!
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