"Skye" wrote in message
s.com...


On Aug 14, 9:43 am, "cindys" wrote:
"Skye" wrote:

1. Generally speaking, how old can a queen be and still be going into
heat and producing offspring? In other words, please God, is there
such a thing as feline menopause??? :-/

Yes. It's called a "spay."

I'm glad your life is so well-ordered and nothing ever gets out of
your control once
in a while. However, please realize that's not the case with everyone
in the world, mkay?

The older cat is a feral cat who I've been feeding for the last two
years, but has
hung around this neighborhood for at least 10. I've somehow grown
attached,
even though she is wild. She will not come to me nor allow me to so
much as touch her. You tell me how to get her to the vet, Cindy S.,
ok?

You buy or borrow (rescue groups and shelters sometimes lend traps - ask
them) a humane trap. If you've been feeding this cat anyway it should be
quite easy to trap her. Check with the rescue groups for recommendations for
low-cost spay neuter locations where they will do feral cats. Make an
appointment. The day of or the night before the appointment, put some good
smelly wet food in the back of the trap and set it shortly before the time
that the cat usually shows up to eat. Then wait in an out of sight but not
out of hearing place for the unique sound of a trap tripping. Cover trap
with a large towel and take the cat in the trap to the vet for her spay. If
it's the night before, place a large plastic bag on the floor of a garage or
similar place. Put a thick layer of newspaper on the plastic bag and then
set the trap on them. The cat will be fine in a covered trap overnight.

Last summer, some of the neighbors tried to get rid of her. They did
manage to
catch her kittens and most of them were put to sleep. This summer,
we've managed
to get the kittens before they were found, but we had to pull off
commando-type
raids under cat-hating neighbors porches to do it.

She seems to be safe and stays under the radar all the rest of the
year.

I simply wondered how many more summers I could look forward to
worrying about
this. Or do you just think I should stop feeding her? I mean, what
gives with your
attitude???

If you aren't willing to get her spayed, you are doing more harm than good
by feeding her. You are keeping her healthy enough to continue reproducing
kittens when there are already too many kittens to ever possibly home. You
basically are facilitating the birth of kittens so that they or others like
them will have to be put to death. I know people mean well when they start
feeding strays but the truth is that it's better not to and just let nature
take it's course unless you're willing to commit to doing it right and
spay/neuter the cat.




2. I've got another younger cat, first time queen, shows all the
symptoms of pregnancy - more than a month along. However, every
few days, she's spotting blood from the vulva. Not much though, and
otherwise she acts fine. Is this normal, or should I be contacting
the
vet?

You should be contacting the vet about having her spayed. Why are you
allowing your cats to breed?

This cat is my indoor, well-cared-for, beautiful, loved cat. Yes, I
wanted her to
have kittens. OMG! I'm guilty! Shoot me, but not the cat!
Seriously, I'm not sure
since 9/11/2001, but I THINK America is still free enough that if you
want your
cat to breed, you are allowed to do so. Unless there's some law I'm
not aware
of (under Homeland Security, maybe?). I don't even think you have to
ask
permission from, well, ANYBODY. Lol.

Well, thank you for your, um, help and info, Cindy S. I can assure
you, the
world is a much safer and better place. You can sleep well tonight.

Skye


People tend to get a little bent out of shape with people who are willfully
adding to the cat over-population problem. I volunteer for a cat rescue
group. We do adoptions from a Pet Smart store on Saturdays. Last weekend we
had a man bring us a kitten who was obviously on death's door. It appeared
to have injested some type of poison and was having convultions. It was
beyond helping so one of our volunteers took the kitten to the local SPCA to
get it euthanized. When she arrived there the person at the shelter told her
they couldn't help us because they didn't have room. Our volunteer told them
that we weren't asking them to take the cat and house it but to put it out
of it's misery. The shelter person again said they didn't have room. When it
became obvious that they were miscommunicating the shelter person clarified
that they didn't have any room in their FREEZER where they keep the
euthanized animals until they can be cremated. She said that they couldn't
fit a hampster in the freezer if they had to. THAT'S how many unwanted
animals there are out there. And THAT'S why people tend to get a little
short with someone who is exacerbating the problem.

W