Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

Ian M — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 07:03:00 GMT

Nightmare.

Something similar happened in certain Scottish Islands. Vet would only do 2 ferals a week, wouldn't pregnant spay, wouldn't early neuter.....local volunteers had over 60 ferals waiting doing. It would therefore take 7 months to catch up.

This practice also several times forgot to ear tip and refused to then keep the cat overnight, sedate next day and lop off the tip.. for welfare reasons the cat had to be released: result - in a colony of identical black cats, already neutered ones used up slots that an entire cat could do with.

He still charged for the GA as well. He was the only practice in the island of course. Blocked any attempts to have a visiting M*A*S*H type pop-up.

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

jenni99 — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 17:58:14 GMT

[quote userid="31848" url="~/001/veterinary-nurse-clinical/small-animal/surgical-nursing-theatre-practice/f/discussions/32330/ethics-of-speying-a-pregnant-cat/177819#177819"]both on a micro basis[/quote]

:) Excellent point. I have a friend who had a feral take up residence in her barn - 6 weeks later 4 kittens. Her vet wouldn't neuter mum until stopped feeding or kittens before 6 months min (despite us offering to collect and do them here ) 3 years on we are still dealing with the fallout - 10 kittens thus far this year - unfortunately we've had some fatalities earlier this year -- its literally heart breaking -- and it could have all been sorted with neutering mum while pregnant - or later on with 3 speys and a couple of castrations . . . . ( We support our local TNR group - I've never known it this bad :( :( )

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

Ian M — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 07:55:45 GMT

I have never had an issue with it, either as a nurse in practice or in management roles. Variously over my career I have worked on population projects and run shelters overseas, as well as being the national manager of the CP neutering programme for 4 years. Consistently where pregnant spaying is not done, neutering momentum falls behind, both on a micro basis (the specific cat gets pregnant again or is in oestrus when presented) or on a macro level (the organisation presenting the cat has, instead of a bill for £200 or so, an outlay of £1000+ in spaying the cat, its progeny and caring for mum and kittens for 10 weeks or more. The gestation restriction is a red herring because you are not going to know progress in the majority of cases until the final trimestre - and I am confused as to how the poster who won't do the anaesthetic after 3 weeks is going to know they are even pregnant or not for sure before the op and how far along the cat is.

From a welfare point of view is it in the best interests of a feral or nervous mum to spend 10 weeks in a cattery environment (or even in a foster situation, since these frequently tend to involved multiple cat homes and the cat is still being confined in proximity to people which it may well hate) rather than be spayed and returned swiftly. Anyone who thinks the former, needs to have a look at some of International Cat Care's materials in the Cat Friendly Solutions stream.

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

raggydoll — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:12:58 GMT

Hi there,

Sorry, I'm going to be the unpopular one here! I completely agree with spaying a pregnant cat but only within the first three weeks or so. After then I do not think it is fair on the queen and I personally refuse to do the anaesthetic.

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

Sal the 1st — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 20:13:17 GMT

I don't have a problem with it - if the owners want the spay done to me they are being responsible (if a little bit late) and if the cat is a stray then its reducing the future burden on whichever shelter it ends up in.

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

apache — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 23:35:33 GMT

I also have no ethical issues with it.

Parallels with the abortion debate raging in the USA.......

RE: Ethics of speying a pregnant cat

jenni99 — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 18:30:29 GMT

Hi. I'm 100% with you. Often not a popular opinion, but there really are a lot of fates worse than death.

Personally (with no actual evidence!!) I think removing the kittens before they are born is probably a lot less traumatic than just taking them away from their parents and siblings at 8 or 10 weeks