Surprise!! Surprise!! SURPRISE!!!!!

[rg_girlca]

Well I brought the little girl, who by the way is named "Sweetpea, aka Sweety" for now, to the vets tonight for a check up and her first series of shots.
The vet said that she is about 5-6 months old, maybe pushing 7 months.
She weighs 5 lbs. 2 ozs, no fleas, ear mites and her teeth and eyes are good.

Aaaaaaannnnnnnddddddddddd......................... ...

Are you ready for this, because I sure a heck wasn't...........................













"SHE IS PREGNANT!!!!" "SSURPRISE!!"

The vet felt at least 3 babies and said that the seems to be about 4 weeks along and that she could have them in about 4-5 weeks. I could tell that her tummy was starting to get a little bigger but I thought it was because she was eating on a regular basis.

I asked the vet about aborting the babies and having Sweetpea spayed. She said that it is a very risky operation and it would cost more to have this done.
Gee she is just a baby herself.

I need your expert advice who have gone through this before. Do I risk getting her spayed and aborting the babies, OR let her give birth to them.
I really, really don't know which way to go.

"HHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!!!"

[Catty1]

Hey, girl:

You will get some heated opinions on this - but I think, since you had at least one friend who would take a cat, that she might want a kitten. You have time to line up another couple of folks.

And you know who will NOT get a kitten, right?

My take on it is to let her have this litter, then get her spayed. I think just all the surgery would he hard on her, ethical considerations aside.

Did the vet say she is old enough to have a litter? Any health concerns? Is she eating for four?

Good luck!

[kimlovescats]

OH NOOOOOOOOOO! Poor little girl!!! Oh Lorraine, I am so thankful that you got her in time before that idiot let her have kittens only God knows where!!!! See? You were supposed to kitnap her AND her babies! I would have a tough time aborting this far along, Lorraine. It will mean you will have more to do, and more to place, but that is just my feelings on the subject!

HUGS Grammy Lorraine!
Kim

[rg_girlca]

Well I pray that this thread doesn't get heated over this.

She said that aborting the babies and being spayed at the same time has some risk and the healing time will take a little bit longer.
She also said that she hopes that Sweetpea's babies will be small since she is very small and delicate herself. This is what concerns me, because of her size and being so young herself, I don't know if she will know what to do with her babies.

Plus my friend already went and got herself a cat from a rescue organization.
A male, Main Coon, black and 7 years old. I'm happy that she rescued an older cat. I saw a picture of him and he is gorgeous.

Thanks Catty 1

[kimlovescats]

Lorraine, that is one problem that I have had with young rescue mothers in the past. Some times they don't carry them to full term, the babies are born premature and it is AWFUL watching them slowly die! Their little lungs just aren't developed well enough to survive. So, either way, it is a gamble, honey .... I wish I had a definitive answer for you! Whatever you decide, I support you 100% and I pray that others here will realize what a difficult decision this is, and keep their strong opinions to themselves!

I guess my final thought of what I would do, is to let God take care of what He created! If they are meant to be born and survive, then they will ... if He intends for them not to survive, then they won't .... regardless of what "man" tries to do! That's just I have to believe in my heart!

HUGS,
Kim

[rg_girlca]

Lorraine, that is one problem that I have had with young rescue mothers in the past. Some times they don't carry them to full term, the babies are born premature and it is AWFUL watching them slowly die! Their little lungs just aren't developed well enough to survive. So, either way, it is a gamble, honey .... I wish I had a definitive answer for you! Whatever you decide, I support you 100% and I pray that others here will realize what a difficult decision this is, and keep their strong opinions to themselves!

I guess my final thought is to let God take care of what He created! If they are meant to be born and survive, then they will ... if He intends for them not to survive, then they won't .... regardless of what "man" tries to do! That's just I have to believe in my heart!

HUGS,
Kim

Thank you Kim so very much. This is a very hard decision for me as I have never been through this before.

I like your thought on letting God take care of what he created and just hope for the best.

[rg_girlca]

Thank you soooooo much Kim. This also concerned the vet because of how far along she is.

Grammy Lorraine... Cute Kim.

Has anyone else experienced having a mama this young and if so, how did it go???

[Jessika]

Has anyone else experienced having a mama this young and if so, how did it go???

My grandmother had a cat, a stray, who had babies before she was a year old. She was around seven months, too. The kittens all grew up happy and healthy and the mom was fine, too. Immediately afterwards though I took my grandmother to get the mother spayed and we found responsible homes for all the kittens.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Poor little puss

[sandragonfly]

lorianne,

remember my little girl? I found her young, pretty pregnant and dying on a chirstmas eve. she has a damaged stomach, and never will have a clean bill for rest of her life.

when I first took her to office where I used to work, the vet thought she felt 3 or 4 until we had xray to confirm the count; 4 heads and five backbones! then she gave a life to five, one girl was a runt and died ten days later. we think that's because her (5th) head was hiding waay back in intestines and wasn't getting much of food as her four (survived, piggy) brothers. so you might would like to see how they're doing "inside" too, an extra for your decision-making?

a year and half later after birth, two brothers (gus and echo) are still very healthy today, except for two of their other brothers (avalanche and chance) who died a couple of months ago...we still don't know why. FKS, probably? (fading kitten sydrome - undeveloped organs and died suddenly - you may expect that for sweetpea's babies). at least they have ended their life with our love and blessings!

I agree with kim, this happens for a reason. well, opposition of "adding to the problem," I hope. but I trust you trust your heart!

hope this helped a bit, good luck.

[kuhio98]

Has anyone else experienced having a mama this young and if so, how did it go???

We adopted Halo when she was 9 months old. She had obviously just given birth as she was swollen with milk. (No one knows what happened to the babies) Halo weighed around 9 pounds. Today she is a big girl at almost 11 pounds. The vet is pretty sure that some of her health issues are a result of the early pregnancy. When you pet her, you can feel a difference in her ribs. Most cats have a gentle curve kinda like (__) Halo is like this <__>. She also walks kinda like a sumo wrestler. Her back legs are held wide apart and she waddles. She does not have strength in her back legs and cannot jump or spring like most cats. She ends up leaping as far as she can and then climbing or pulling herself with her front legs the rest of the way.

She has had some other muscle issues, so the vet can't say for sure that she was damaged from the early pregnancy. I too would lean towards and early spay.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

AW, this brings back memories. Grandma was just about that age and pregnant when someone dropped her off at my house. I never even considered aborting the babies.

She did fine and loved her babies a lot. She only had three but sometimes the first litter is a small litter. I stayed with her while she had them in case she needed help. She had them in a cardboard box on my porch. She didn't need any help but was sure proud of them. After one popped out, she would clean it up and look at me and I swear, she would smile like "look what I did".

I'd say let her have them and raise them until they were old enough to go to good homes.

[Karen]

If the vet thinks she's old enough and strong enough to deliver safely, I'd let her have them, especially as she's already at least halfway there. Yes, you were absolutely meant to rescue this girl! Maybe your friend's older, newly adopted cat would like a kitten to raise, too!

[rg_girlca]

Thanks Karen and no, my friend is just a one cat person even though I have tried to convince her to have a second one.

The vet's only concern at this time was the size of the babies because of Sweetpea being so small and dainty herself.

[jazzcat]

Oh wow Lorraine. That's too bad but at least she's in a better place with you than out in the street with your genius of a neighbor.

I've never been around a pregnant cat before but I know that Scout was pregnant when brought to the shelter and they opted to spay/abort because she was so small and was guessed to be only 6 months old. She had a hard time from the surgery and also suffered a hematoma (or whatever it's called) which prolonged her recovery. Very sad all the way around but I know they did what they thought was best for her.

(((HUGS))) for you and Sweetpea. Not to sound too southern but bless her heart!