Getting a cat fixed but all I read is the human's point of view.
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40192)
Canada
December 10, 2011 12:36pm CST
Now I know that cats cannot think and what they do is mostly by instinct, but what I read on the net about getting a cat fixed (my renter has a cat, but neither of us have a car -big problem, - so we have to find someone to drive us to the hospital that closes on 6 on a weekday or 3 on Saturday.)
Noe I do not want to hear anything about we MUST get the cat neutered as it is our duty and we are being irresponsible if we do not. Or that it will prevent diseases (they could use that argument for preventing pregnancy in humans so I do not feel that is a good idea. )
So anyone here on mylot who had their cat neutered, did the cat feel better after it was done, was she or he more content? Was she or he happier as far as cats go. The reason I am asking, is that in our neighbourhood there is a large tom cat who does not belong to anyone. And I think he got the cat pregnant. She is not that far along but if she did get birth - the tom cat is rather a lot larger then she is, so you see the problem. I am worried, that if we could not find anyone to drive us to the hospital that the cat might die when she has the kittens. And I would rather have her fixed so that never happens.
6 people like this
12 responses
@GardenGerty (169585)
• United States
11 Dec 11
I have had cats for over fifty years. As an adult I always get them fixed. It does seem to make them more calm. With female cats I am told that if you do not spay them and do not let them breed they will get sick, like with convulsions. My Princess is the picture of health with glossy fur. She thinks she owns the house. She still is an excellent hunter and she will sleep peacefully in her chosen place at night. I had her fixed. The male cats as well. They are more content to stay at home. They "guard" our place from strays, but they are less likely to go out and get in the streets and stuff and get killed. Less wandering away. They always come home at the end of the day.
4 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
11 Dec 11
That is a good reason . Who knows where those Tom cats have been? So as soon as she has given birth and weaned the kitens, we will go and get her fixed. I was worried when she would go out that a dog would kill her or because she was so cute, some kid would think she did not belong to anyone and keep her. Now if I can train her not to jump on the piano.
1 person likes this
@Robswife2006 (1208)
• United States
10 Dec 11
She should be fine giving birth to her kittens. I've had cats give birth in the past more then one time & everyone was okay including the Mommy cat. I do agree with you about getting her fixed after this though. If a cat gets pregnant too many times her health begins to fail & then she really will eventually die.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Dec 11
WE will have to hide her once she has them and then fix her once they are able to survive on solid food. The trouble is there is a law in our city that penalizes people $50 for an unneutered cat. She was a barn cat but unfortunately when we let her go outside, we thought she was too young to get pregnant. She was not.
3 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
12 Dec 11
That's the problem we had with a feral "kitten" our neighbors left behind. We named her Trouble, because she was. She must have been small for her age, because just as we were going to get her fixed, she got pregnant. She had five kittens, all of whom eventually disappeared, since she had hidden them from us until they were two old to tame. We had her fixed as soon as they were weaned. She was a good mother, and it was fun to watch her teach the kittens to hunt. She was a great hunter.
My mom had all her cats fixed, and none were the worse for it. Most were very contented. The last was a shelter kitten who must have been abused. She had a real mean streak and would suddenly bite for no reason at all, but I don't think it had to do with her being fixed.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
8 Jan 12
Luckily our cat is not pregnant, but I fed her a bit more then usual, because I thought she was and here in our city there is a law that cats have to be indoors all the time. In the neighborhood where we live they do not enforce it because it is not ion the city proper but part of what would be called the metroplis. But quite a few of the neighbors who moved had let their cat go wild and they might be sterile and had already been fixed.. But I have no idea. WE got the cat from the country where well you are sort of sure then.
Also fixing is rather expensive and there would be overnight fees as well. It is my renter's cat, so have to take car of it. Besides I have to get the basement and the fence fixed so they are more important.
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
10 Dec 11
Hello suspenseful. To begin with the vet will not neuter a cat that is having kittens. We have had several cats neutered. We have found that if we are having a house cat(one kept in the house all of the time) it is best for the cat and us to have it neutered. As the cat gets older as in years She will come into heat and as time goes by she will become a real nuisance with the whining and yowling and rubbing around on us. This can last several days to. It can really drive you up the wall. Some of our cats have had kittens before we had them neutered but never had any trouble with them having babies.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Dec 11
Got to hide the cat. I thought the vet would neuter a cat that is pregnant. I did read somewhere that it was done. Soi guess I will have to wait. That does seem to be a problem as they charge $50 for unneutered cats here in Winnipeg.
4 people like this
@rocketj1 (6955)
• United States
10 Dec 11
Speaking from the perspective of the cat is difficult. But I can speak from the experience we had with our kitty Rosie. She was a very timid cat. She was a stray that we took in. The tom cats would not leave her alone. One particular cat would sit on our deck and look through the sliding door making a terrible howling noise. If she went outside, they would chase her down. One particular time she came in all covered with mud with pleading eyes like "Make them leave me alone!" She had 2 litters of kittens and each time she had them, the kittens were actually more dominant than she was. When they were old enough to eat solid food, they were able to intimidate her into staying away from the food bowl. I had to protect her and feed her separately when they were not around. I believe she was very relieved to be fixed after that!
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Dec 11
That is what I was looking for. Your answer made the most sense. WE do have a few wild tom cats iln the area and I do think she is pregnant. The cat is a fighter and does what she wants. So I doubt that the kittens when they come would dominate her, but I do not want her to get disturbed by evil toms. Somehow I think cats moving into the city made them more promicious.
3 people like this
@jugsjugs (12967)
•
10 Dec 11
I have a cat that is really small and i will say that the father of her kitten that she had, must have been huge, as she had one kitten and that was huge.Any size cat that gives birth can have problems, no matter what the size of the father is.Have a read on the net about cats giving birth and you will see that it is rare that cats face birthing problem and it will also tell you on there what to do if there are problems.I think that it is up to the people that are the owners of the cat if they get it sorted or not.As long as when she has kittens they are cared for then noone should get involved, however always make sure that they can be found homes or you get to keep them and then those kittens will have kittens and then you are over run with them.Good luck on what you decide to do.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Dec 11
Here in Winnipeg, you have to get a $50 license if you do not fix your cat. What has happened is that it has encouraged people to let their cats 'escape' so now we have more feral cats then what would have happened if they just let the people get their cats fixed at a lower cost. And not only that, here in Winnipeg, all the domestic cats have to be indoor cats, so even if you do get your cat fixed, you have to keep it indoors. We do have a lot of cat haters here.
Also I do not know if that $50 is for each cat. That does seem to be a problem. And we do not have a vet within walking distance. And I cannot see hiring a taxi to take her to the animal hospital.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
10 Dec 11
People cannot have kittens. Your answer is ridiculous.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
11 Dec 11
It is phsyically impossible for a woman to give birth to kittens. Obviously you just wanted to make trouble.
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
11 Dec 11
TOms are ususally alot bigger but go the the doc have her spaded but I doubt if she is with kittens they will do this unless she not that far along.
I dont have one never had one spaded but have been told they are content and just grow bigger.
now dogs they Just go witht he flow and have a ball dont bother them abit just sore for a few days
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
12 Dec 11
She is about 8 months old, her middle is down, my renter's boyfriend said that he found lumps in her stomach. So he says she is pregnant and he found six. Also the kitten cannot get through the rungs in the fence and she is suddenly very affectionate and wants to stay on my lap when I watch Tv and she has a large appetite.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
12 Dec 11
Wouldn't it be great if cats could talk and tell us how they feel? As it is, all we can do is guess what they're thinking and go by what the so-called "experts" say regarding what's good or not good for them. I've heard that when female cats are in heat it's quite painful for them and I know from my own experience with all the cats I've had throughout my life they certainly seem to be in misery when they're that way. Right now I have four females and one male that have all been fixed and they're all very healthy and contented.
As others have already said, if this kitty is pregnant she'll probably be fine whether the father is a large cat or not. However, my advice would be to get her fixed when it's convenient for you. It can't be healthy for a cat to have one litter of kittens after another, not to mention the fact there are already too many kittens without homes.
I wish you good luck with her. Please keep us posted on how she does and if she has kittens.
Annie
2 people like this
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
11 Dec 11
hi suspenseful long time no see you. I do not blame you if the tom'
is huge bu t rarely do cats have problems giving birth for some
reason. I am not sure how cats feel after being neutered but some male cats get sloppy and big but again thats probably the owner overfeeding them too. I really have never thought about neuter in
the terms of how a cat feels,but I think you are wrong that cats cannot think as they are clever and figure out ways to get what
they want. some cats act more docile after neutering bujt I am no
specialist on cats. its been years since I had a cat as a pet. we did not haveour neutered because they were housecats and never got out so no problem at all. my husband didnot believein neutering so we just did not do it.
2 people like this
@jdyrj777 (6528)
• United States
13 Dec 11
I have 3 manx cats. The ones with no tail. The mama, daughter and son. I had the son fixed but not the females. They are all strickly inside cats. I had the male fixed because it cheaper doing the males, unnutered males have skunky urine ordor, didnt want any inbread kittens, and its not and internal operation, just a snip, snip.
I didnt fix the females because its expensive and in case i or someone i knew wanted kittens. For females its internal and i didnt want that for them.
Im not sorry for fixing our boy. He is like a giant kitten. Still likes playing with those catnip mice and hes only 4 yrs old. What a big baby.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
14 Dec 11
I do not like paying the cost for the female cat and my renter wants to have a boy kitten so have to wait until then. Trouble is that there is a law in our city to get every domestic cat fixed or it will practically bankrupt -six kittens at a time and the cat used to be a barm kitten so was used to going out. She used to stick around me, but then that darn Tom Cat looked her way and she was gone - not that long becuase he is on our neighbourhood, but long enough. And one time I oened the door to let the kitten in and he followed her. So when we get her fixed, that would take a little worry off our hands.
The cat was not the docile type - more a biter and scratcher. Do not want her to turn into a wimp, but do want her to be happy.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
8 Jan 12
I think the law is silly because well with inside cats, and an active mine like what we have, there is a chance that something is going to break. Whereas if she is allowe to play in the yard and climb the two trees, there is less chance of damage and she never goes far from home. The other cat owners are near neghbors an that orange cat that was bothering her had been fixed.
I know in Saskatoon they say keep the cats in the yard, but hrere it is in the house and Winnipeg is known as a cash cow city. They use any excuse to get money from people.
Good thing they do not enforce that icat law in our neighborhood or the cats are very smart here.
@jdyrj777 (6528)
• United States
8 Jan 12
I wouldn't like that law either. For one thing some people keep their cats inside so what would be the point? I have seen a video about this one woman who loved cats and birds. She made cat tunnels with fencing material throughout her yard. Some went up high and some down low. The cats were able to go out through a window to access the tunnels. I thought that would be nice to do that too in my yard.
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
12 Dec 11
I can't read a cat's mind but can say that we had our last 3 cats neutered as soon as they were old enough. They were all of a calm nature and quite content to stay in the house. At one time, we had a female who came "in season" before we could have her fixed. She drove us nuts with her yowling day and night. The vet did not want to operate on her in her condition because of excess bleeding.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
8 Jan 12
The cat is not pregnant, but it is the law in our city that all cats have to be fixed and have to be indoors. I suspect it is not about the cats but an excuse for the city to make mpney since you also have to get a license for uinfixed cats. The thing is that many people just let their cats run wild and only the ones that have indoor loving cats keep them indoors. Our cat is an indoor outdoor cat, and she is always at the window looking for anybody who will come to the house, so she is lonely. And she always wants to sleep on my nap. But there is a chance that there might be a male cat who was not fiixed like that orange cat is. The trouble is there is no vet near us and the aniomal hospital is not within waking distance.
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
9 Jan 12
I don't believe that the city's ordinance requiring all non-nutered cats to be licensed is about the money. It's about control. Non-nutered cats breed and multiply. Even those who have loving homes and who are well fed. It's a strong uncontrollable urge. Then, the city is soon overrun with cats. I love cats, but I like to see them contained where they are safe. I wish our city would only require non-nutered cats to be licensed. It requires ALL cats to be l,incensed and to be on a leash when outside.
@hvedra (1619)
•
12 Dec 11
With the transport problem, see if there are any local charities or shelters that might be able to transport the cat or find someone who can. Explain your situation and your worries if she has kittens. Some vets might have a pick up service or know who to ask. It might be an idea to see if they know of any group that might catch and neuter that tom cat too!
All our cats were fixed as a matter of course. It makes the males more docile, less prone to wander and will usually stop them spraying. Our female cat was done early and never came into season I can't say whether or not she was happier but she seems very contented so it doesn't seem to do any harm to get them fixed.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
8 Jan 12
Tney would probably do it is you ar ea low income, but the trouble with me is that I might not quaiify because well I also hae my husband's pension besides the regular pension and that would put me over the top. I will also have to save money for the operation, but that would come after I save for everything else like the basement, getting the fence repaired, etc. The cat does ot want to go out, she is sort of attached to me, and that male cat was sterile anyway.
