It's World Spay Day!

Do you have an unfixed cat?  At what age can you get your cat spayed or neutered?  What are the benefits to fixing your cat?  The purrfessionals here at the PDX pride will answer your questions!

Happy World Spay Day from all of us!

Rori here!  As the Big Kitty of the household, it is my solemn duty to inform you unspayed or unneutered cats of the blogosphere to get your acts together and schedule your fixing surgeries!  It's an important step in your independence as a cat-of-the-world to get this done!

1.  Spaying and neutering prevents unwanted and/or "surprise" litters.
2.  Spaying before the cat goes into heat for the first time greatly decreases a female cat's risk of breast cancer.  To learn more about breast cancer in cats, please visit our friend Sugar at her website:  Sugar Rub!
3.  Neutering greatly reduces a male cat's "nuisance" behavior, including spraying, yowling, and territorial marking, as well as makes the urine smell less strong.
4.  Spaying and neutering reduces the number of adult cats that are dumped, killed, and given to shelters.

I was spayed while I was in heat for the first time, which is more expensive than spaying while a cat is not in heat.  My yowling was intolerable, so that's why I was spayed while in heat.  However, this can create other health problems, such as weight gain.  I am now a very chunky girl!

Friends do not let friends go unspayed!  No, I am not having s*x with Smokey!  She went into heat for the first time, and I decided to discipline her by scruffing her.  I let her know that going unspayed is not tolerated in MY household!  She was much calmer after being spayed, and got adopted to Mama Erin soon after.

A happy, healthy, spayed Smokey!

Starla here to say how glad I am that I got spared the rigors of teen pregnancy!  My aunt had three kittens very young, and the boys were chasing me as well.  Somehow, I never got pregnant at that time, but most female kitties get pregnant their first time.  The next time I went into heat, my people had already scheduled my spay appointment through the Spay and Save program in Portland, Oregon, one of many low-cost spay and neuter programs around the country.

I was very lucky to get my spay when I did, because there were three male cats that were trying to get me pregnant.  If I hadn't had my spay, I'm sure I would have ended up a teen mama with a litter to find homes for, like my cousin Little Bit and my aunt Boo-Boo Kitty.

Hi, Little Bit here, and this is what happens when you don't get spayed!  I'm Smokey's sister, Rori's half-sister, and Starla's cousin.  My dad Spongebob (also Rori's dad) is an unfixed male who roams the neighborhood and has befriended all the ferals within a three-block radius.  His friends also included my mom, Boo-Boo Kitty, who had a litter of three.  My other sister, Baby Chiba, had a different dad and died as a kitten.  Yes, cats can get pregnant by more than one male in the same heat cycle, so the kittens in a litter can have different dads!

When I grew up, my original people didn't want my forever family to get me spayed, and so I remained intact.  My original people were not responsible pet owners!  They only decided to give me to my forever family after a tragic thing happened:

1.  My mama cat, Boo-Boo Kitty, got pregnant again and had a litter of four.
2.  I went into my first heat cycle just after my mama cat got pregnant and had a litter of four.  My kittens were born when I was five months old, just a kitten myself!  Two of my litter had the same dad as I, which is not unusual for cats.
3.  The dog my original family owned got pregnant by another of the same litter (the dog's brother, who was a neighbor) and had a litter of 10 puppies.
4.  My original people got an eviction notice because of the amount of animals in their house.
5.  They decided to take all of us kitties except two of Boo-Boo's kittens (who already had homes) to the humane society.  But after driving around to two humane societies, they were told that it was the middle of "kitten season" and the kittens would be put-to-sleep if they were surrendered.  The people didn't want that to happen.
6.  After hearing this from the second shelter they went to, they stopped by the side of the road and threw Boo-Boo Kitty out of the car, then drove away!  I still don't know what ever happened to her after that.
7.  They drove to a fast-food restaurant, rolled down the window halfway, and went inside to eat.  Mind you, this was with my two 8-week-old baby sisters, myself, and my litter of four three-week-old boys in the vehicle.  When they got back out to the vehicle, they didn't see me and drove off anyway.
8.  They went back home and brought my baby sisters over to my forever family, two houses down, and told them the story I've just told you.  My forever daddy human was so mad that he took my baby sisters inside and left my forever mommy human to talk to the lady.
9.  My mommy went to get the box with my kittens in it from the lady's vehicle and found me in there as well!  She brought all of us back home with her.
10.  My new family found homes for all of us, but only I stayed with them as part of their forever family.  Everyone else who came with me on that horrid trip found wonderful new homes!  One of my babies had a birth defect, but even he found a forever home for the few months he lived.

I went into heat again a few days after we got to our new family's home.  Yes, I was nursing my three-week-old boys at the time, and continued to nurse.  I could've gotten spayed while I was still nursing, but my people chose to wait until I'd weaned the kittens to spay me.

I'm Tigress, and I was a teen mom as well.  However, my family chose to have my kittens spay-aborted because I was a feral kitten at the time of my pregnancy.  I was spayed through a trap-neuter-return program run by the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, which provides low-cost or free spays and neuters, first vaccinations, and humane trap rentals.  If I hadn't had my spay, there would have been at least two and possibly as many as five more feral cats that would have needed socializing, feeding, trapping, spaying or neutering, and adoption.  I got pregnant at the age of 4 months.

Please don't wait to get spayed or neutered!  Tell your humans to schedule your surgery today!  If your humans need financial assistance, it is available in most areas of the U.S. and Canada, and in some other countries as well.  If you are a feral cat, please tell your human to visit the Alley Cat Allies website for more information.

For World Spay Day events in your area, check out the official website.

Panther's Wordy Wednesday

Panther writes:

MEOWWW-OWWW-OWWW!!!!!

I had surgery on Monday night!  I am now almost 1 year old, so it was time for me to be neutered.  Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy say that it will help me not pick fights with the other kitties in the household.  Good, because I don't want to be in fights anymore!

My foster purrents took me to the vet Monday afternoon, and left me there!  I was afraid, but I had a Snoopy toy that the vet place gave me.  Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy put their smells on it before they left, so I would have something to snuggle with that smelled of home.  The vet place does that for all the patients who have to be away from our purrents for any length of time.  I even got to take my Snoopy home, but I think I may have ruined it.  More on that in a few minutes.

About 7:30 pm on Monday, the people took some of my blood and then gave me a sleepy shot.  I felt so relaxed!  I took a nap, and when I woke up I felt something was missing.  I tried to figure out what it was, but I couldn't move like I wanted to.  The people said to be calm, and they petted me while I was figuring out how to wake up.  Finally, I was able to stand.  My balance was off and I wobbled around the cage I was in.  I found the food, water, and box, and took some sips of water.  After a while more, I ate something and used the box.  Then I took another nap with my Snoopy.  The vet people talked to me and sometimes I talked back.  I tried telling them I wanted out to follow them around, but they didn't let me out.  They wouldn't tell me where my foster purrents were, either.

I was able to go home on Tuesday afternoon.  Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy came to get me about 2 pm, just after the people gave me my medicine for my respiratory infection.  I wondered where Foster Mommy was, because she's the one who usually gives me that medicine.  Then, all of a sudden, there she was, and Foster Daddy, too!  I was so glad to see them; I talked for about 3 minutes straight!  One of the people came out to talk with them about my medicines and give her report on how I did.  She said I was a very good boy, and I finally found out what had happened.  I was neutered!  No wonder it felt different back there!

On the way home, I kept looking up through the mesh of the carrier at my foster purrents, just to make sure they were really there.  It was so good to see them again!  I was glad they were taking me back home with them.  I really didn't want to stay at that vet place anymore!

All of a sudden, I felt something.  Oh, no!  I chirped at Foster Mommy, then pleaded with her with my eyes.  She said it was ok, so I peed in the carrier.  I had been holding it in for a while, trying to wait until we got home, but I just couldn't hold it anymore!  It soaked through the carrier wall and got on Foster Mommy's shoe.  She moved me a little but she and Foster Daddy said it was still ok.  They knew I wasn't trying to be bad.  Foster Daddy told me that it wouldn't hurt the floor of the truck.  I was glad to hear that!

When we got home, Foster Mommy tilted the carrier a little so that the pee would drip out onto the driveway.  I watched it intently, then looked up at her to tell her that it had drained all the way out from under me.  Then we went inside, into the bathroom.  She put the carrier on one of Starla's pee pads and opened it up.  I checked with her that it was ok to come out, then Foster Daddy guarded the bathroom door while Foster Mommy took a bunch of wipes to clean me up.  Boy, was I ever wet and stinky!  Even Starla said so, from under the sink!  Starla didn't want me to come near, so she hissed at me, but I was more interested in getting that stinky pee off myself.  I helped by licking the tip of my tail and my legs.  I was more careful with the hurting spots, but I tried to clean those, too.

After I was as clean as I could get, I went out to greet my aunties and uncles.  Pretty much everyone came to greet me.  Auntie Freya watched over me because she could tell I was hurting and had been to the vet.  Tigress came inside and I wrapped one arm around her, then licked her shoulder!  I'd missed her the most of anyone, because she came from where I came from:  outside.  She was glad to see me, too, but surprised and confused by my hug.  She put up with me doing that, though.

Besides my Clavamox for my upper respiratory infection, which I still have a bit of, I also have Metacam for the pain and swelling.  The swelling has gone down quite a bit already, but it will go down even more with that.  I go back in a few days for a recheck and to get my boosters for my vaccinations.

Both kittens came through surgery fine

The PDX pride Mommy here:

Both kittens are recovering.  The marbled kitten turned out to be a little female, so her new name is Miss Marble.  She scratched, bit, and took off running through the house when I was transferring her to a carrier from the trap.  Not a good idea for her!  I'm alright, she's recovered from her scare, and she's in the carrier with food and water.  The polydactyl tabby/white kitten is a male, but had only one testicle.  They thought the other one might not have dropped yet, so they did an exploratory surgery, and it simply wasn't there!  His new name is Hemming.  He let me pet his paw pads, stretched his foot through the mesh on the trap, and put his head in my hand with his tongue sticking out, wiggling the tip of his tongue in nursing fashion as I was petting his nose!  He's taking a bit longer to wake up completely, and still hasn't woken up completely even though it's been about 6 hours.  I'm kind of worried about that, although he's looking at me when I talk to him.  He'll sit against the side of the carrier, then slowly start to tip over the other way, then correct himself.  He likes sitting better than lying down right now, for some reason.  Both kittens have eaten and had some water.

Tomorrow morning they go in to the mobile clinic at Petco for their FeLV/FIV testing.  They got their rabies shots today and first boosters.

At this point, we are pretty sure that Miss Marble is going back outside after the weekend's over, given her run around the house this afternoon.  Hemming seems like he wants human contact, so he's a good candidate for socialization, depending on how his personality is when he wakes up fully.

 Sleepy little boy Hemming in the carrier

Miss Marble says, "Leave me alone, woman with the flashy box!"

News from the Food Bowl

Feral Friday food bowl rollcall at the green house:

Outdoor Fluffy Buddy, Big-headed black tom kitty, orange-headed kitty, Boo-Boo, Little Bit, the raccoon, Starla, SpongeBob, Shadow, and the orange cat from down the street. Everyone came this week again, even the raccoon.

No females are in heat anymore, so the yowling has gone away for the moment. Starla and Smokey will be spayed on March 4th, and we have a vet for the big-headed black tom kitty to be neutered as well (but not a date set yet). All their "fixes" will be done through the Tom & Mom Special. Many, many thanks to organizations like these who provide low-cost spaying and neutering!

It's officially mating season here

From the sounds and sights outside, the Trailer Kitties are ready for mating season. Neighbor kitty Boo-Boo is in heat, and Outdoor Fluffy Buddy, the black big-head kitty, and the white and orange big-head kitty are following her. Starla is not in heat yet, as far as we know. Smokey is inside and being put in the bedroom whenever the outside door is opening, because she's in heat as well.

Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon (FCCO) said in its last newsletter that many of the females being brought in now are in heat already. Please, please, people, spay and neuter your cats! We are trying to find places to get everyone but Boo-Boo fixed. Since BB techinically is our neighbor's cat, we have no control over her in that regard. (Mommy wishes we could just scoop her up and fix her too, though.)

Mommy wrote a new article on HubPages with tips for fostering kittens. If it helps even one kitten, she says it's worth it.