Good source of info on having kittens?

[noarguments]

Thinking of letting my six month old kitten have a litter before having her done.
Want to know what is involved before deciding, we have homes for at least three already, but I don't know what the average litter is etc etc.
Not a complete novice - when I was little we hand reared some kittens after mum-cat was killed just after having them - fed them every 3 hours during the night etc. Want to be well informed and responsible about it - anyone know of a useful website?

And anyone know how fertile cats are once they come into season - we live in a village, there are cats around. She has the run of the garden but hasn't explored much that to date for some reason. Will she be inundated with cat suitors and get pregnant the first time ...?

And what do people think about the idea that it is a good idea to let a cat have one litter before having the op? Is it a myth or does it have any truth to it?

TIA

its entirely up to you,i would only let her have a litter if you want to keep one,

litters vary in size,we had 2 the first time,the last litter we had 5,

i wouldnt allow her out just now if she is only 6 months old,as she can now get pregnant but you wouldn't want her to as thats too young for her to have kittens,she isn't properly developed herself yet,much more likely hood of problems to her and the kittens.
the reason its recommended that you have them done at 6months is that they usually want to go outside at that age and she can get pregnant.

Please don't, there are plenty of cats/kittens in rescue already needing homes

a good point bubblerock, its easy to find homes for kittens but do these people REALLY want a kitten,or is it a case of oh if you have kittens i would take one?
if they do surely they would have contacted which ever cat rescue centre is near you to find one?

My friend has had 2 boxes dumped on her driveway over Christmas - first one had a mum and 6 kittens and on New Years eve there were 2 pregnant females. It's only going to get worse once the weather picks up and we still have 60+ adult cats needing homes.

aww thats awful. we live on a farm and rescue any kittens and rear them,we always find them homes (apart from the few we couldnt part with - we now have 8 cats lol)
depends on the area you live in too,our local cats protection wont give you a cat/kitten if you have a child under 3,or if you live near a road.both of these factors dont mean you wont give a cat a good home.

Don't do it. There are more than enough unwanted kittens and cats. There is no need for your cat to have a litter and thousands of reasons in rescue homes and on the streets. And as the cuts bite there will also be many more.

Personally I think it's selfish not to get your cat sterilised as soon as possible. It's an absolute myth that they should have a litter and your cat should already have been done.

Don't do it. We got a kitten just before Christmas after one of our cats sadly died. Was going to wait a bit but the local rescue had lots of kittens in which is unusual for December. The lady running it reckons things will only get worse.