Saturday, October 24, 2009

Abortion - I can't bring myself to do it

I support the right to choose. But personally I cannot choose the termination of life. It's an emotional, deep-seated impulse. But I faced it this week. And I am not trying to be flippant.

Daisy is pregnant again. We wanted her to have one litter and then we would spey her. But while she was still nursing her kittens, and unable to have the op, she got knocked up again. So I rang the vet and asked for some advice. They could spey her now. No problem. And the kittens she is carrying would be aborted during the process. Well I knew that is what they would tell me. Booking her in was really the purpose of my call. But then I couldn't do it.

So here we go again. Take two.

8 comments:

Will de Cleene said...

If only there were chastity belts made for cats.

brian_smaller said...

Lindsay - you really need to get this cat speyed. Cats can come into season almost immediately after giving birth. They are tricky things. Although they are in season they do not actually ovulate until after they have mated.I suggest that you keep her locked up inside from the birth of her kittens util you get her speyed. It is not hard, just required door discipline. We kept two breeding queens inside for years and they were happy as larry.

Opinionated Libertarimum said...

That's so sad, Lindsay. It's so much harder to take the moral high ground when it involved someone you love.

Be strong. I'm not sure it's actually in the cat's best health to have too many pregnancies close together....?? That's what the vet told me about my dog, anyway, when the little hussy did the same thing as your cat. If it helps you, we can think the same applies for cats....

Lucy said...

Same thing happened to the cat I had cat Lucy, (she died of old age at 20 and yes thats where I get my name from)

I had her down to the vet when the new kittens were 2 weeks old. I was worried that she would nurse after the op but she did she was a good mum.

Lucy said...

Sorry that should be 'wouldnt nurse'.

The little hussy got a nickname when she became pregnant again so soon 'loose lucy'

Oswald Bastable said...

This is what you get when you provide 'cradle to the grave welfare'!

;-)

Anonymous said...

Good for you, I couldn't do it either. Do as nature intended, let Daisy have her kittens.

Lucia Maria said...

Hi Lindsay,

This happened to a cat of mine when I was a child. She got pregnant twice, so after the 2nd litter of kittens we had her booked at the vet's when the kittens were 6 weeks old.

And then a number of years ago we bought a kitten from the pet shop who, at 5 months of age, went into heat and escaped out of the bathroom window to get herself pregnant. I couldn't get her spayed then, either.

Just this year we bought another kitten who went into heat at 4 months of age (kind of before I would have expected, and the petshop owner told us she was male). Anyway, no escaping out the bathroom window for her - the bathroom had been renovated and the window is walled up.

But now that I am Catholic, I have a much clearer idea of when it is and isn't appropriate to take a life.

If it were a human child, then I would not terminate. But with a cat, I would. I had decided this time around that if our kitten did escape and get pregnant, I would still get her spayed.

But when it comes down to it, if you can't do it, then follow your heart. It's better to err on the side of caution when it comes to moral decisions.