Who wants to wait whilst my kittens are born!

[Kittenwatch]

My girl is having her kittens! First one is here squeaking and healthy!

Second is imminent.

I think she’ll have 4 🤞🏽🤞🏽

They are beautiful kittens. It is hard to get a kitten from a shelter. Even a local one. Despite having had cats for more than 20 years, never one on its own either and all spayed and registered with vets, I was turned down because of all things my dog is entire which apparently makes me too irresponsible to have a kitten. Thankfully a friends cat had a litter , two of whom now reside with me. No money changed hands and she regularly visits them so win win.

Oh my goodness, they are SO lovely. I’d forgotten just how tiny they are at first. Is the mummy trying to hide them away all the time, or is she keeping them somewhere sensible? When my cat had a litter, she kept taking them behind the sofa until we persuaded her to move into a big cardboard box.

Outdoor cats are more likely to be dog bait than a kitten on gumtree unless they're giving them out for free which very few people do. It helps toughen up bull lurchers and some people just don't like cats around because they kill the birds and the rabbits on land they go on.

My old cat had kittens and it was all fine.

Why did she have them? Previous "owners" moved, basically dumped her on us and never came back (neighbours) we thought they were coming to get her and they never did. She was already pregnant at that point even though they said she had been spayed.

Also I discussed it with my vet and my cat, which the OP posted above certainly makes it sound like the cat consented!

Oh do pipe down. Some of us cat lovers are able to remove our rose tinted spectacles and actually appraise the situation objectively. When we have an overpopulation of cats in the country being abandoned and cared for in shelters the responsible thing to do is prevent even more being born. It's very simple. Even if in our hearts we think it's sweet and adorable.

What a gorgeous picture. Congratulations nanny!

Ah, you mean when it was accepted wisdom that you give your cat cows milk to drink (more than 50% are lactose intolerant), then shut it out at night (they are crepuscular rather than nocturnal)? How about the old farmers' theory that a hungry cat is a better mouser (they definitely aren't)?

I was going by the most current recommendations. Try searching for things like should my cat have a litter before spaying and just look at the reputable results like vets, insurance companies, RSPCA & Cats Protection

There is a saying you may do well to think about.

"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there".

Um, sorry, no. You're not an authority figure to me. I've told someone to sit down and shut up on here once before simply because of sheer, unbridled arrogance in the face of pure evil.

Please don't talk to me like I'm an idiot on the basis that you disagree with what I've said. I don't care if you agree or not, it's an opinion and we're all entitled to have them.

With respect, do you think the OP is going to do any of what you've said?

• Do you think the OP is going to keep breeding cats to fill the world up with abandoned cats?

• Do you think the OP is irresponsible for allowing her cat to have kittens?

The world desperately needs more goodness, not less of it because some humans decided to tar every human being whose pet had a litter with the same brush as that of irresponsible breeders.

The OPs cat and her kittens are safe, loved, cared for and wanted. If the OP lacked the capacity or the means to take care of any animal in their care, they would have rehomed them or not adopted them in the first place.

@YorkshireGoldDrinker I am a cat lover and have two cats I got as kittens from a rescue. Those who have posted how irresponsible this is are like me, they love and respect their cats and would never put them through this. Females have a hormonal drive to mate but it's painful and unpleasant for them, a tom's penis has barbs to stimulate ovulation and it hurts them, let alone giving birth. Sorry if people don't like the truth.

What if the people who get the females in the litter don't fix them asap, and they have a litter? You're quickly getting to very high numbers of cats who need homes, risking the cycle repeating itself. Doesn't sound like OP is planning to spay/neuter and vaccinated all kittens before rehoming them, which is what rescues do.

To those who have posted about being refused by rescues, try smaller local rescues who are less fussy about requirements and they are more likely to say yes. It is about matching the right cat to the right home, so be open minded. Kittens should be rehomed in pairs as well, they have so much energy and do much better together in terms of play, company and socialisation.

Wow. Lots to unpick here.
Re your first paragraph. I honestly don't know what your talking about.
Yes you are entitled to an opinion but others are also allowed to give you there's in response especially if they believe you to be ill informed.
Your first bullet point: yes, she may well have more kittens. We only have her word to go by and it would be extremely naive to accept what a stranger says at face value on an online forum.
Your second bullet point:yes, I do find her irresponsible. Sometimes I think it would be lovely for my cat to have kittens but I as per my previous post I am able to view things with my head and not my heart and consider the cold,hard facts.
Last paragraph: again, you are making a lot of assumptions.

Excuse any typos.im juggling things here!

I don’t really understand why the morality police have to keep repeating the same information. Have they not read the thread or are they simply determined to prevent anyone else enjoying the delight which is new kittens and a happy nursing mum?

They kittens are here. Belly aching about it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference, it just stops the rest of us making lemonade from the lemons. All the things you say may well be true, and we’ve all read them multiple times, so can you please stop now? It’s beyond boring.
Life is hard. Bloody hard. Let us have 5mins peace and enjoy the kittens.

I had kittens once, from what was effectively a fostered cat. She moved in, presented us with kittens, we got her spayed at the earliest opportunity and she moved on out. I also adopted a puppy, just the once, among having had older rescues. Young animals are such a delight and a joy. I’m pleased I had that experience.

We aren’t all going to acquire cats to get pregnant and have kittens, just because we look at some photos.

Well if we assume everyone is lying, what’s even the point of engaging? All those so called cat rescuers and shelter volunteers on here are probably lying too, they just made it up to give weight to their unasked for opinions.

See? It’s all pointless if you are going to base what you say on an assumption the OP is lying.

I could make up a story about why in OP’s case it was a wonderful thing to do, that family trauma needed healing, and this was a good way to do it. You know, therapy animals and all that jazz.

We have to engage with each other at face value. OP has made a choice, put various measures in place to offset her choice, and there’s no point berating her any longer.

And very painful for the female as the Tom’s penis has barbs which scrape the Queen’s vagina during mating. Not pleasant for her at all.

The rescue volunteers would have absolutely no reason to be disingenuous.
You really think having a litter of kittens is a responsible way of dealing with a family trauma?! My husband suffered from PTSD following many tours in the middle east. I didn't say: I know, I'll let my cat have a litter of kittens to cure it.
I didn't assume she was lying. I was questioning some of her story which is a perfectly rational approach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-49908430

Nah.
And how strange, trying to justify cat dog baiting? Yuck.

Gordon Bennett this is ridiculous. My cats are way past any notion or even memory of pregnancy, so it’s not as though I’ve any need for the latest Cat Lancet articles, and OP has kittens right before her eyes, so what's the point in your ranting on and on about everyone being in the wrong?
I don't mind your disapproval, and I certainly dont care that you or anyone else doubts my sincerely believed claim that cats luxuriate in motherhood, and if their human can handle it responsibly, it’s a jolly good thing to allow her the experience in return for all the joy she brings to a home.
As I said earlier, we prevent them from expressing quite a bit of their nature and make them live indoors ( well, I do). It’s not great to erase every bit of texture from a cat’s life.

Breeding cats for cash, and via repeat pregnancies, is utterly repellent. It should be outlawed.
It’s also bugger all to do with a family moggy having one litter in her own home, as in OP’s case
That there are cats needing shelter isnt directly linked with Mrs Bloggs’ cat having kittens which she’ll be rehoming once they are weaned.
The two cases do not cancel each other out, and I think the shrill objectors here, to any cat ever being pregnant, are not as clear-headed as they think.
We’d do well to concentrate on those shelter cats separately, and conceive of a way to deal with this population, such as charity-status sanctuaries funded by a cat tax, so to speak. (paid by owners of pit bulls? 😈)

I dunno, it’s late and I’m exhausted, but there must be some way to calm this fraught scene, since after all cat lovers of OP’s type are not housing giant homicidal dogs whose diet is toddlers and old ladies, are we?
We aren’t a public menace on anything like that scale (nor on the scale of couples having more than one child, or driving SUVs around country towns, come to that).
If we want to live with cats on our own terms, we really aren't setting the natural order on its head.

Underneath this demand that domestic cats must never have kittens is such a seam of Puritanism and simmering anger that one really wonders about the degree to which it is motivated by the unbridled love for cats the rest of us have.

Is it based instead on a view of cats as a bloody nuisance needing to be dealt with just like pigeons?

i guess we’ll never see eye to eye.

@Millytante

Underneath this demand that domestic cats must never have kittens is such a seam of Puritanism and simmering anger that one really wonders about the degree to which it is motivated by the unbridled love for cats the rest of us have

I am pretty sure this isn't what is being said.

There is a crisis at the moment and those who work in rescue are seeing it get worse every year, simply due to not neutering cats. This is a fact.

• Do you think the OP is going to keep breeding cats to fill the world up with abandoned cats?

I think it is likely she may well breed from the kitten she keeps, if the kittens survive. I think it is likely that some of those adopting the kittens may go on to do the same too.

OP seems fairly irresponsible, so when her next kitten has kittens and she ends up with three, four or more remaining at home, it doesn't seem that far fetched that this current mother cat is abandoned at 3 or 4 by the OP as the boring old cat.

Oh my goodness ❤️

After my 2 previous cats had died, I waited a while but so missed a feline present in my home. I was scrolling through a neighbourhood WhatsApp and found a post about kittens needing a good home . The owner had taken her cat to be spayed and oops too late. Obviously I did all the things you’re supposed to, visited them at home to make sure it was kosher and not a constant breeding situation. Everything was correct and as it was supposed to be. The owner knew who the dad was, apparently the Tom next door. When I got my boys and took them to the vets for checks have etc the vet said in cases like this, the female cat ( officially called a queen I believe) chooses a partner to breed with and will choose a fit and healthy Tom. As a result my ruffty tuftey boys are fit healthy and strong. As were the rest of the litter . A very similar situation to the original poster I’m guessing .

OP, I’m loving your pics and I can’t believe the pile-on. I particularly love the colours of those two kittens - we had two cats, one black, one tuxedo, and they were a part of our family for almost twenty years. I can’t have another cat as DSonIL has a severe cat allergy and obviously I want to see my DGC. But enjoy your kittens - they’re gorgeous, and I shall be hoping for more pics over the coming weeks.

Do you write fiction?

To be fair the OP did say she’ll get her cat spayed after this, & hopefully she’ll make sure all the kittens are spayed too.

This is more or less what happened to my cat, though. She was 5 years old & pregnant when the rescue I volunteer for took her in. She was microchipped to an out-of-date address & they were pretty sure she’d been used for breeding (I expect most of her kittens ended up on Gumtree or Pets4Homes) & then either dumped or simply escaped. She probably spent most of her life either pregnant or nursing & was bloody lucky to survive.

I fostered her & her final kitten once the others had all been safely rehomed. She was so much more relaxed & outgoing once he’d gone, & I ended up adopting her.

I also fostered a cat who was a grandmother at 2 years old - the bloody irresponsible idiots who owned her handed her over, kept her kittens but couldn’t be arsed to get them spayed - and we had another cat who gave birth at the age of 6 months, so still a kitten herself. She just about survived but not all her kittens did.

And plenty of other stories. So yes, while the OP’s cat is clearly a loved pet, spaying really matters.

Also, my London rescue rehomes indoor cats, outdoor cats, cats to families with kids and / or other pets… we foster them in volunteers’ homes and match the cat to the prospective adopter.