Views on feral kittens

[trick]

Recently I have been TNR ferals in my local area and was wondering if any one else had any experience in the same kind of thing. My dilema is, is it more ethical to abort pregnancies or contain them for two months or more before release.
I personally feel that it is kinder to have the pregnancies aborted but am unsure as to at which stage in the pregnancy is too late.
Would be interested in hearing your views on the subject.

[Liz]

Oh my kind of thing we have 30 ferals living with us and some domestics and a rescue raggie and 3 dogs and several ferals outside

I have always tried to keep an open mind on your debate sometimes feral Mums are ok to have kittens and then we TNR and they live in the garden the kittens are handled and homed on

I have nice, nasty and down right nasty ferls all who live happily in the house - a lot have indoor/outdoor privilages and most folks don't know unless they move suddenly which is which in our home - the ragdoll is of course an obvious one to play with!

We keep feral mums in the isolation area of our house oh its also 2 bedrooms and a bathroom seperate from our lot and then handle the kittens from a very young age - most feral Mums we have had appreciate the food and the safe place for the kittens to be born

I have 2 feral Mums who have stayed - all my other ferals were speyed long before that Diva and Indie both had their kittens and have stayed with us

Diva is in love with Shadow and they are like an old married couple and Indie is currentlt playing Mom to Turbo and jet who are both sweethearts

[kado]

I am trying to get somebody to take a mum and two kittens in at the moment. The mum is not very approachable and one of the kittens is very shy. The other is homeable. I told the person where the kittens are that i will worm them when mine have been done i will have some spare panacur but finding out first if anybody else has done it. They are all going to three houses to be fed. Its such a shame as the kitten i have seen is realy lovely. There is other cats around the area with kittens as well. they are on private property so i cant get too them. One of mine was a stray from the same area

[trick]

what do you do if the cat is on the table and the vet phones to tell you shes 6 weeks pregnant. I couldn't let a feral go through that, I would'nt do it to any other wild animal.

[Moli]

The way it works here is, she would have her kittens, and once they get to around 5 weeks she would be spayed, and the kittens fostered for a few weeks mainly to socialise them then they would be rehomed...If she was too feral she would be realised back where she came from...

[daniellesdogs]

my mum used to feed 25 ferals were she worked a surrounded but wear houses, cat action/protection (cant remeber which would pop round every couple months catch all undone cats and do them and put them back. im not sure if they aborted or just let pregs go till later. if it early on it hard to see if preg or not maybe at that stage.

[alexgirl73]

what do you do if the cat is on the table and the vet phones to tell you shes 6 weeks pregnant. I couldn't let a feral go through that, I would'nt do it to any other wild animal.

In our branch we have had to abor a few mums like this. Simply because it's not fair on the mums or the fosterers who have to deal with a nasty, spitty mum who is terrified. I think they are not the best of mums in captivity, though of course when roaming free it's a different matter. Much kinder to the cat if she is aborted and then can be released in 10 days, rather than 2 months!

[smudgley]

Personally I don't like aborting kittens, although I wouldn't critisise anyone who does it.
If we trap a pregnant feral, she stays in a pen with her own space & we do not try & talk to her / socialise her or approach her, we simply take the kittens from her to handle them and then put them back & leave her in peace. Never had a problem with a feral, they are then NR asap.

A 6 week pregnancy would not be aborted by me.

I have many VN friends who have told me about litters aborted late on when the kittens are viable, that to me is very wrong!:(

[daniellesdogs]

i saw an abort very late on, the cat had been ran over vet abortrd, it was horrid but they couldnt of save mum with out aborting

[dandysmom]

My personal feeling is that if it's early on, abort; if the kittens would be viable. don't.

[Phoenix]

At the risk of sounding thick what's TNR:? :oops: ?

[dandysmom]

Trap, Neuter, Release, RCR.

[random]

My personal feeling is that if it's early on, abort; if the kittens would be viable. don't.

I agree, but where would you draw the line?

[dandysmom]

I'd go by the vet's advice, Random; no idea at what stage they would be viable.

[farthing]

I too would abort if the kittens weren't viable. I would hope a vet would be able to tell if a cat was far into its pregnancy before starting the op.