Help with pregnating a cat?

If the neighbour is thinking she will get a cat that looks just like Lizzie or has her personality, she could end up very disappointed. And does she really plan to keep all the kittens (and it could be 7 or 8!) and get them all spayed and neutered and vaccinated and care for them their whole lives? If not -- if she ends up dumping kittens in a shelter. or giving them away unneutered to add even more to the cat population -- the irresponsibility of it is just exponentially increased. Sort of like the potential numbers of cats that could result. I really dont get the point of breeding moggies when there are so many dying in shelters for lack of a home. I totally agree that she should go to a shelter if she wants a kitten. or foster a mother and litter if she wants to help take care of baby kittens.

But sounds like you have TRIED suggesting those things.

SO....I think one thing that might possibly help is talking through the health issues with her.

She needs to know that while cats usually give birth without much difficulty there definitely are sometimes serious problems. And if, as it sounds from your added comments, Lizzie is an older virgin queen, the risk is increased. The best thing would be for her to take Lizzie to a vet for a pre-mating exam . (What I am thinking is the vet can tell her more specifically the risks and might convince her not to do this. If you can get the lady to take Lizzie to your vet, you might be able to have a chat in advance with the vet about what this lady has in mind and give the vet some ideas about what might convince her. For example you could warn the vet that arguments about animals in shelters don't seem to be having an effect but she might wake up and listen when it comes to Lizzie's health.

Another health issue I would discuss with her is that she surely does not want her Lizzie to get a disease along with getting pregnant. Stray tomcats often have FIV and FeLV so the most irresponsible thing would be to just turn Lizzie outdoors while she is on heat to be jumped on by all the stray toms (that's also the easiest way to get your cat pregnant so you need to steer her off from that .) If she cares about Lizzie, she needs to at least make sure both cats have their vaccines and are tested for FIV and FeLV.

In order to have a healthy, health-tested tomcat, she will need to either find a neighbour who owns an intact tom who has his 3-way distemper vaccine and rabies vaccine but not FeLV vaccine since then he'll show up positive for that and she wont now if he really has it. The the tomcat's owner must agree to keep him confined for 3 months before testing. The reason is that he will have to be tested for FIV and FeLV and there is a period where it does not yet show up in tests. With FIV this is 8 to 12 weeks. Then your neighbour will need to pay for tests for that cat and make sure she really believes he's had no access to roam for 3 months before the tests, and then until Lizzie is next in heat, and then Lizzie will need to go to the male's house for a few days (a mating is much more likely to happen in the stud's territory).

If she can't find someone with a tomcat willing to do this or does not trust they will keep him confined , then SHE will have to house a whole male. She'll either have to get an unaltered kitten and raise him until he is old enough to be able and willing to mate or start feeding strays hoping an unneutered tomcat comes along, then she needs to make friends with him enough that she can handle him, and then 3 months of housing an intact tom before testing for FIV and FeLV. and of course also getting him otherwise thoroughly checked out. And they tend to spray a lot. And try to escape.. And both he and Lizzie will "call".

And if he tests positive he needs to be retested . On the FIV he could have another kind of test right away but for the FeLV she would need to have him re-tested in another 8-12 wks. So potentially 6 months of housing a stud.

Stud housing has to be very secure and easily washed down. he'll need some kind of run too, it's not fair to just keep him in a little cage.

All this for breeding a litter of moggies? Yes if she really wants the best chance for Lizzie and the kittens to be safe from deadly diseases. .

This isn't even counting the possibility of inbreeding. If Lizzie came from the same neighbourhood they might even be siblings. And not knowing the backgrounds of the cats one does not even know what diseases one should be running genetic tests for.

On top of this, whilst waiting for a tomcat to be found and tested , Lizzie is at risk of pyometra from repeatedly cycling into heat. That can be VERY serious.

I don't know if these ideas will help at all but you can try talking ahout it.

Her cat does not NEED to have kittens. She needs a wakeup call. She is being selfish. If she wants to have kittens she should get off her butt and go foster for a shelter/rescue group. Literally millions of animals are killed every year because homes cannot be found for them. And she wants to add to the problem. SELFISH!!!

You on the other hand have done the responsible thing and had your pets fixed. YEAH!!! Help your neighbor, volunteer to take her to your local animal control. Let her walk the cages. Ask the employees/volunteers what happens to the animals when they are not adopted in a reasonable amount of time and what they consider a reasonable amount of time. It's a very hard thing to choose one when you know the ones you leave behind may be killed. I know. I walk the cages to pull for rescue. We get as many out as we can but there is only so much room in a foster home so you leave knowing every single time that there are adorable, friendly cats who are going to die because not enough people care.

Tell her to go to a shelter. There are plenty kittens there that need homes desperately. Do NOT allow her to breed her cat with any random stray. It is very irresponsible to breed cats if you don't know what kind of genetic background they have. It could produce some really sick or mean kittens. Also, is she certain that she can provide good homes for all of them or pay for vet visits when the cat is pregnant, or when the kittens are born? It just seems like a really bad idea.

This lady seriously needs to get a grip. People like her make me so angry. Trying to breed a cat when there are already millions of helpless, unwanted kittens in shelters and breed rescues all across America is just about the most ridiculous and irresponsible thing a pet owner can do.

Why are you even trying to help her? If I were you, I would flat-out tell this lady that she's crazy. I would tell her that if she wants kittens, she should go to her local animal shelter and adopt one or more of the DOZENS of homeless kittens there. End of story. I'd never help her impregnate her cat. Hopefully you won't help her either. She is being selfish, immature, ignorant, and downright ridiculous.

Maybe if you took her on a little field trip to your local animal shelter and let her see the hundreds of unwanted, unloved cats and kittens in cages there, it would change her tune.

Sounds like your neighbor will do it anyway even tho you have tried to tell her otherwise. No cat NEEDS to have babies. And, personally I would not help her bring more unwanted kittens into the world. Shelter cats are neutered/spayed before they are released.

More then likely she will turn the cat loose and she will end up pregnant if she makes it back home alive. Sometimes you just cannot get thru to people about why pets need to be spayed/neutered and not bred.

From the sounds of it she will never get bred. Unless she lets her out and there is a whole male running around. What I would worry about is the cat getting an infection of the uterus. Yes this does happen with cats that keep going into heat and never bred. There is nothing you can do to change her mind so why try. You are wasting your time with her on this subject. Just tell her good luck and leave it at that. You are not going to changer her mind. She will have to figure it out on her own because I would never help her if I were you.

R P CAT

you mean impregnating a cat with another cat....right?