Pets

[Boodi 2]

I do hope that the mother cat and kittens find a safe home soon...if you lived closer to me I would offer to take two of the kittens, but obviously due to the distance that is not possible. I understand your concern about more kittens being on the way, as when we decided not to have our son's cat Sox neutered because we though it seemed more natural, we were shocked when she produced ever increasing numbers of kittens every six months or so (the first litter was just three, followed by five and finally seven kittens) Although we kept two ourselves it became increasingly difficult to find homes for them so after the third litter we finally had her neutered and all was well!!!

[Boatbuilder]

Irrespective of their sex, we've always had our cats neutered/spayed when they were kittens - never took the chance on them either getting pregnant or wandering.

We did have a female rough collie over 40 years ago from a pup and we never had her spayed, but she never had any pups. When she was about 8 or 9 she became ill and had to have her uterus removed as it had burst. The vet told us then that as we didn't have her spayed, we should have let her have just one litter and it is unlikely that would have happened, had we done so. However, she did recover well.

[Moonraker]

Having seen the headline, I can't bring myself to read the article, Boatbuilder.

No more can I, Bertie. But I fully echo your sentiment and horror.

[Katharine]

It is rather worrying that none of the charities could help, I would have thought it would be cheaper/better in the long run to do something now.

Many years ago my parents fed a couple of stray cats that used to visit their garden. One of them produced 4 kittens. A large colony of feral cats wasn't anyone's ideal situation, so my parents managed to pick up the kittens while the mother was briefly gone, and popped them into an empty rabbit run with the lid open. The mother cat naturally jumped in to be with her kittens and the lid was shut.

The mother was then taken to the Blue Cross and (I think) a neighbour paid for her to be neutered. As she wasn't domesticated, there wasn't any realistic chance of her being rehomed, so she was returned to the gardens to live out her life. The kittens were all taken in by the Blue Cross, neutered and rehomed.

Even if charities are overwhelmed with trying to rehome pets at the moment, surely it makes sense to neuter any stray cats and then return them? I would have thought it literally is a case of a stitch (or snip) in time saves nine (or ninety) extra cats roaming about homeless?

I've been aware of the cruelty story for a couple of days as it was in my local news, but even though I'm not a cat lover, I haven't read it - the headline was quite horrific enough. I hope they find and prosecute whoever was responsible.

[Bertie]

Thanks for all the replies.

I too was very surprised (and frustrated!) that none of the charities could help. As Katharine says, you'd think long term it would be much better to prevent future stray cats by, at the very least, neutering and returning. But they all just seemed to be so stretched dealing with all the current cases that they're having to focus on short term rather than the long term.

Boodi and Boatbuilder: Yes, we've always had both males and female cats neutered/spayed as soon as we've adopted them, in order to prevent what Boodi describes. Some people go on about cats not being loving pets, etc - but all the neutered male cats we've ever had have all been incredibly loving, especially with me: they've not gone out much, been real lap cats, sleep on my bed at night, etc. Very loving pets indeed.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It is worrying that the charities aren't even able to sterilise the cats, to prevent further suffering in the long run. A sad situation.

[Boatbuilder]

Boodi and Boatbuilder: Yes, we've always had both males and female cats neutered/spayed as soon as we've adopted them, in order to prevent what Boodi describes. Some people go on about cats not being loving pets, etc - but all the neutered male cats we've ever had have all been incredibly loving, especially with me: they've not gone out much, been real lap cats, sleep on my bed at night, etc. Very loving pets indeed.

Just reading your comment about lap cats, Bertie, as Freddie was on my lap purring away - and still is. I managed to reach my phone and take this.

[Bertie]

Great photo, Boatbuilder.
Love the look of Freddie.

[Courtenay]

Awww! Freddie always reminds me of my old cat, Blacky (1991-2008), who was also, as you might guess, all black.

I agree, it's very unfortunate that none of the charities will even agree to neuter and release the cats. We've always had all our cats and dogs neutered / spayed as soon as they were old enough, if that hadn't already been done before we got them. It's the logical and responsible thing to do if you don't intend to breed them and aren't fully prepared to take care of the consequences — and it gives the animals themselves a much more comfortable life as well, more content to stay at home and less vulnerable to certain diseases. I still hope there'll be a happy solution somehow for those stray cats at your place, Bertie.

[Boatbuilder]

Thanks Bertie and Courtenay. Although I class Freddie as black his coat is more of a dark brown - probably because his mum was a brown and cream-coloured Rag Doll - no idea about his dad though as apparently his mum kept that to herself. In certain lighting he also appears to have stripes.

As many have said on here, it really doesn't make sense that the cat charities are not offering any assistance at all - very 'short-sighted' of them in my opinion.

[Courtenay]

Thanks Bertie and Courtenay. Although I class Freddie as black his coat is more of a dark brown - probably because his mum was a brown and cream-coloured Rag Doll - no idea about his dad though as apparently his mum kept that to herself. In certain lighting he also appears to have stripes.

Most black cats are really a very dark brown in bright light — Blacky was, and so was my sister's black cat, Olive (who sadly died recently). Blacky also had faint tabby stripes visible in certain lights. I've just been looking up the science of black cats' coat colour, and there are some interesting facts here, including where the stripes come from!

The Science Behind the Fur: What Makes Black Cats Black?

[Boatbuilder]

I'll read that link tomorrow, Courtenay. Thanks fo posting it.

We did have another black cat about 35 or 36 years ago and he really was jet-black - certainly nothing brown in his coat colour. We thought he was going to have a fluffy coat when we got him as a kitten so called him Fluffy, but it turned out to be very short as he went from kitten to adult. We actually brought him back to Cheshire when we lived there, from South Wales when we were on holiday (it's a long story why), but sadly we found him dead in our back garden some six months after we moved here to Suffolk. We don't know why, as he must have been only about three or four.

[Boatbuilder]

Never give up hope:

Cat missing for 11 years reunited with owner

[Anita Bensoussane]

Gosh, that's really sad despite the happy ending!

[Bertie]

Yes, that was my take from it as well, Anita.

I'm (probably much too) soft hearted when it comes to animals and when I read stories like that I'm more upset by the years of struggle the poor soul went through rather than the eventual happy ending. It's why I can't even read fictional books like Black Beauty!

I hope the cat, her sister and their owner can at least enjoy what time they have together.