Who wants to wait whilst my kittens are born!

I think you are spot on. This head prefect attitude is very hard on those dedicated souls who work in rescue operations etc who are there for the love of animals.

So you are here to be a keyboard warrior then.

The judginess of some people who work in animal adoption organisations, and their apparent need to express it forcefully and repetetively is one of the things that significantly reduces the number of people adopting from them.
Second only to them actually preventing adoption by people who would be good matches but don't fulfil ridiculous criteria.

Not all rescue workers I'm sure, just the ones who Must Be Heard repeating themselves.

I do often wonder how far up their list of priorities homing the animals comes, compared to, for example, the opportunity to wield power over the lives and choices of other humans, and feel all self satisfied doing so.

Sadly it gives a bad name to people who's prioriy is genuinely the welfare of the animals in their care.

Phew. I’m glad I read this, as now at least I realise that your comments here have all been satirical. I had thought you were just being OTT alarmist!
.

awww kitties congratulations to you all they are gorgeous.

Unfortunately, people want kittens, just as it's harder to find adoptive parents for older children, it's harder for rescues to re-home their older cats. I say this as someone whose last cat was an older rescue.

Yes, people should go to rescue centres, but if you really want a kitten, you'll struggle because they are usually rehomed quickly. Rescue centres I have been involved with are often confronted with potential owners who only want kittens. These are the people who will be on gumtree when they can't find the perfect kitten at a rescue centre.

As someone who has never had a cat from a breeder, and wouldn't, I 'm still not naive enough to imagine that OP's friends who will be rehoming the kittens would be at the rescue centres if they couldn't have her kittens, and I am genuinely surprised at the number of PPs with experience working with rescue centres who think four cats would have been rescued if it wasn't for OP's irresponsible actions.

You could argue than any post of kittens is promoting breeding, because it promotes the desirability of kittens over older cats. You'd not have batted an eyelid if the OP had posted pictures of the one kitten she plans to keep when it was 12 weeks old, without the backstory.

At least we can see the mother, we've been shown the environment in which she gave birth. Most of the cute kittens we are bombarded with on Facebook reels and posts we have no idea where they have come from.

Breeding is still legal in this country. Perhaps it shouldn't be, but it is. And whilst it is, perhaps driving posters like OP away from openly posting about it isn't actually the best thing. If it's going on, I'd rather see it instead of only seeing the cutesy results that don't tell any of the story whatsoever.

Posts like this don't encourage potential breeders any more than the myriad of cute kittens reels, pictures, memes and videos do. The myriad of kitten reels, videos, etc, foster the desire for kittens, yet I imagine a post of a kitten wouldn't have garnered anything like the negative response.

When people post their pictures of their adult cats on The Litter Tray, are you all demanding to know where the cat came from? If someone posted pictures of their beloved Burmese, would there be this big pile on about pure bred cats? Would you all be hounding the poster to know where the cat originally came from? If someone tells you it's a rescue, will you be treating them to the same level of disbelief OP has been subjected to? Yet pedigree kittens seldom turn up at rescues.

Interesting @DarkRootsBlue . My experience of The Litter Tray is that posters there are much kinder and wear their feline care experience more lightly. I've certainly never seen a pile on like this over there.

I'd imagine if there were 100s of abandoned children in every town and most children were abandoned by their parents once they get out of the cute baby stage many people would feel that way. Thankfully most people care for their children better than they do animals.

For the love of all things unholy....

That's a bit like saying that a new human Mum should apologise for bringing "uneccessary" children into the world and open herself up for castigated and judgement because there are unwanted children out there she could have adopted 🙄

Also reminiscent of pro-lifers who only care about babies when they're in the womb.

We get it, we really do. What disturbs me the most about the world we live in is the desire to judge, castigate and demoralise inherent in so many.

It's why, overall, I prefer cats to most humans.

OP the family looks healthy and content, and so cute x Thank you for the pictures 😻

@YorkshireGoldDrinkerI can’t say your opinions rank highly to me, no.

No one says she’s done an amazing thing! Not one post (that I have noticed) has said, ‘Well done, OP. What a great idea!’.

All have said it’s lovely to see photos of kittens. The vast majority of us will never get to do it for all the right reasons shared on here. So we live vicariously through someone who has. Not encouraging her. Just sharing her enjoyment in the only way we’ll be able to.

I notice no one has jumped on the PP who actually is a cat breeder.

Agreed, someone further up the thread suggested she post in the Litter Tray section instead but I think she would get an even harsher reception.

And responsible pet owner or 'animal lover' would be happy with these disclaimers added to this thread. It is an advertisement for breeding.

What evidence is there that the tom was ‘very carefully selected’? OP gives the impression she knew someone with an unneutered tom and chucked them in a room together. I doubt she paid for the service so knew their health background etc. I’m saying I doubt she paid as she doesn’t seem to be intending to pay for the kittens’ spaying and vaccinations.

Well, in the minds of many, your opinion has certainly gone into the litter tray. If you don't mind me saying.

I wish this post had gone straight into the Litter Tray. There would have been way less indulgent ‘awww go mamma cat’ posts to encourage OP in the idea she has done an amazing thing.

Oh for heavens sake now you are just fantasising about the OP and her potential future behaviour. Go outside and touch some grass - or stroke a cat - and calm down!

@Puppylucky I’m just remembering my cat, I suppose. She went off the kits eventually but initially she was very enthusiastic! So intently focused on them, rounding them up and keeping them in line.

Have to say happy nursing mum may be a bit of an overstatement! In the picture the OP shared she looks like WTF - who are these furry goblins sucking the life out of me 😂

Which one did he choose?

Can you start your own protest thread and stop running this lovely one, please?

To be clear, I am not here to be a keyboard warrior. OP is here to share the happy and rewarding process of breeding from her cat on the internet. This encourages irresponsible owners to do the same and creates unwanted animals and those encouraging her reinforce the idea that this is a safe practice for cats. The reality is many cats bred in this way don't make it past a year old and many mother cats bred from die.

Oh I bet their ears wiggle when they're feeding! xx

So much cuteness!