Cats for Adoption: Mimi Says, “For Mother’s Day, Spay Your Cat.”

Mimi waited until today to give her annual Mother’s Day address along with our weekly post about cats for adoption, featuring several homeless rescued kittens…if all cats were spayed before reproducing, there would be no homeless kittens to post. This is Mimi’s wish as a mother of 24 kittens.

Much as I adore Mimi and the Fantastic Four, if I had to live without them because Mimi had been spayed before she had any kittens at all, I could do it. In fact, I wouldn’t have known most of the cats who lived with me if their mother had been spayed prior to having one or more unexpected litters of kittens, including Cookie, Kelly, Namir, Allegro, Fawn, Moses, Kublai, Stanley, all of whom I know were unintentional…and as much as my life would have been quite different without them, I could live that life in the knowledge that they had never had a need to be rescued. I would have had the pleasure of being able to adopt. Spay and neuter, there is no reason not to.

Mimi tells her story

Mimi, super catmom of at least six litters of nearly all perfect black kittens, is now a happy housecat extolling the virtues of spayed bliss.

“I used to love my assignations in the neighbor’s driveway, then feeling my kittens grow and giving birth and nurturing them, it was all so easy,” Mimi says. “As for motherhood…I can’t deny it, I loved having kittens. I carefully chose the fathers, usually the two handsome black cats from Fifth Avenue, one tall and slender and silly and the other stockier and serious despite the little white spot on his chest, ensuring that all my children would be the same lustrous black as their parents with a mix of other physical and personality traits, and most were.

“But when I realized I wasn’t the only one giving birth to a dozen kittens each year, and the world didn’t need more perfect black kittens, and what happened to many of them…I’m embarrassed at my behavior and sad for cats who lost their lives because of me.

“You know, I was totally powerless against my hormones, and I needed a human to get me spayed or I’d still be out there producing kittens,” she continues. “The people who adopted me put off my spay and I answered my hormones, and so did the boy cats, and I was still quite young when I had my first kittens. But then just a few weeks after my kittens were born I was in heat again, and they put it off again, and again, and again.

“Much as I loved being a mother I’m glad I’m spayed and can’t have any more kittens because I never realized how simply fun and enjoyable every day could be for a cat who was spayed and in a good home. Humans truly recognize the royal nature of cats and enjoy indulging our every whim and we should really give them the opportunity to do that!”

If you won’t listen to a person about spaying your cat, listen to the cat herself. Below, Mimi gives us 30 good reasons to spay your cat and hopes that you’ll celebrate Mother’s Day by either getting your cat spayed or convincing someone else to get their cat spayed, or paying for a spay for a cat in a shelter or rescue.

But before that, we need to meet this week’s rescued kitty—in this case a lone kitten with no sign of a mother or other kittens.

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 Baby Spencer, Rescued By a Child

This tiny kitten was rescued by a little boy who took the kitten to his parents. The child had the right idea—help the kitten and give him a home! Long ago my Cookie was rescued by a little boy who brought her to me after his mother continually tossed her outside. Children and kittens, children and animals…children have a natural love and compassion and it should be encouraged; for each disturbing story we hear about a child abusing an animal, I’m sure there are dozens of children rescuing, helping and loving animals.

From Spencer’s foster mom:

He was found in Moon Township on May 6, 2013 by a little boy who brought the kitten inside. His parents wanted to release Spencer into the woods, but someone intervened and Spencer is here with me. I had him to the vet on Tuesday, May 7.  He’s a very healthy little boy. He’s about 6 weeks old. We don’t know if he was born outside or was born in home and somehow ended up outside. He was very clean and free of fleas, ear mites, etc. He tested negative for feline leukemia and FIV, however, the FIV test would need re-done at 4 months of age. He is being treated for roundworms and possible coccidia at this time. He also received his first FVRCP vaccine.

He is just over 1 lb. so he cannot be neutered yet. I am just putting my feelers out right now. I’d love to have a home lined up for him once he is neutered, which will probably be in about 4 weeks.

My adopters are required to complete an adoption application and must be open to a home visit prior to adoption.  The home visit will not be an invasion of privacy, but more a check to make sure adopters have a safe set up for a kitten.  As part of my adoption contract, Spencer will only be adopted to an indoor home (or indoor/outdoor with a safe outdoor enclosure) that will not declaw.

 Adopters must live within an hour drive from Sewickley, PA.  I will consider a further distance if we can organize the time required for the home visit.

Any interested adopters can contact me, Melanie, at 724-266-7557 or via e-mail at [email protected].

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Browse more rescued kittens and cats for adoption.

All photos courtesy the cats’ foster homes.

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Mimi’s 30 Reasons to Spay Your Cat

1. Eventually, she will outsmart you and get out the door.

2. Your kittens are no cuter than any other kittens in the world.

3. About 3,000 kittens and puppies are born every hour in the United States.

4. If you want your kids to see the miracle of life, have your own babies.

5. It’s not “good for a cat to have a litter before she’s spayed”, in fact, it’s bad for her health.

[You may already know these things.]

6. Having your cat spayed after she is one year or after having kittens puts her at highest risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

7. Having  a cat spayed before her first heat reduces her chances of developing breast cancer later in life to almost nothing.

8. Nearly every city has a low-cost spay/neuter clinic or program that works on a sliding fee scale.

9. An unspayed female cat is more likely to do two of the things humans don’t like cats to do—scratch furniture and spray, and, yes, females do spray.

10. A spayed female outlives an unspayed female for an average of two years, and without the health problems associated with reproductive cancers.

[Apparently, many people do not.]

11. An unspayed cat can have an average of three litters per year.

12. Cats have litters of four to six kittens.

13. Kittens can go into their first heat as young as 4 months.

14. No, it’s not incest when brother and sister cats or mother and son cats have sex.

15. In two years, I produced 24 kittens, and have no idea what most of my children did once they were out of my care.

[Find some of these people and give them this list.]

16. At least 70% of all cats entering shelters in the United States are euthanized because there are no homes for them.

17. It costs a city more in taxpayer dollars to round up, house, euthanize and dispose of a homeless cat than it does to spay it.

18. Every shelter in the United States is overrun with kittens every summer necessitating the euthanasia of otherwise healthy cats—and dogs—to care for and place the kittens.

19. At least three million animals are killed in shelters every year because there are no homes for them and no space in shelters.

20. Someone has to decide who dies, and someone has to kill them, letting your cat have a litter of kittens forces a person to make this decision.

[All of this information is available from your local shelter and on the internet.]

21. A cat is “polyestrous” and can go into heat—and conceive—the day after giving birth to a litter of kittens; nursing does not prevent or delay her going into heat.

22. All kittens are cute, and the world already has enough of them.

23. Cats respond hormonally to day length and can go into heat as early as Valentine’s Day.

24. Momcats and kittens don’t “fend for themselves” like everyone thinks, so don’t dump them in the woods instead of taking them to a shelter.

25. Spaying your cat will not make her fat. Feeding her too much will make her fat.

[Let’s make 2013 the year we eliminate “kitten season”.]

26. Cats don’t have heat “cycles”, so once they go into heat, unless they find a male and mate, they can be in heat constantly, forever (or so it seems), in the least it is pretty unpredictable.

27. Spayed cats have absolutely no chance of developing uterine or ovarian cancer because those parts are removed.

28. Spayed cats can’t develop pyometra, a critical and common uterine infection, because they have no uterus.

29. You can safely spay a cat who is pregnant up to a certain point rather than contribute to overpopulation.

30. The male cats coming to court your unspayed female will seriously mess up your storm door, and probably each other fighting for dominance.

[I only stopped at 30 because…*yawn*…I need to take a nap.]

Also read “Help to Avoid Feline Breast Cancer by Spaying Early“, inspired by and featuring me for more information on feline breast cancer and other reproductive illnesses plus links to spay/neuter clinics in Pittsburgh and around the country. And, featuring one of my former suitors, I also remind you that The Boys Don’t Get Off the Hook.

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Spay and neuter opportunities

If you’ve taken in a stray or adopted a kitten who is not spayed or neutered, there’s no question that spaying or neutering is expensive. Read my article Two Low-cost Spay/Neuter Clinics May 26 which also lists low-cost availability at several shelters and other programs.

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Can’t adopt? Foster! Can’t foster? Donate or volunteer.

There are so many ways you can help cats who need homes and care. You may not have room to adopt another cat, but can foster a cat or kitten for a few weeks. If not that, you can volunteer at a shelter or with a rescue, or donate. You do this because you love your cat, and by doing so you help all cats. No matter which of these actions you take, you help to save a life, and make life better for all cats.

• Adopt one of the cats I’ve posted here, or from any shelter or rescue near you, or from Petfinder, to open up a space for another cat to be rescued and fostered.
• Offer to foster cats or kittens for a shelter or rescue near you.
• Volunteer at a shelter or rescue.
• Find a group of volunteers who work with homeless cats and help them with their efforts.
• Donate to a shelter or rescue near you.

If you can foster kittens or adults cats to help prepare them for a forever home, please run to your nearest shelter and find a cat who needs you! Anyone can help with this effort at any level, even if all you do is donate to a shelter or rescue so they can help to pay for the food or medications needed for their foster, or the spay/neuter/veterinary care during a clinic.

Need to know more? Read Fostering for Your Shelter and Fostering Saves Lives.

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Browse some rescued cats and kittens!

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