:confused: Hello. I hope someone can help me. My mom & I have 7 strays living near us right now. 1 adult (currently pregnant) & 6 kittens ranging from (our best guess) 6 months to 9 months. We have another cat that we think has just had her babies in the last week or so. Tonight while we were outside she ran after the adult that is still pregnant. Is this normal? Will she hurt the pregnant one? She's rarily around us, & we can't figure out why she'd just go after the other one with no warning or anything.

Thanks for the answers,
BluRose:(

The pregnant queen might have been trying to do something to the other's kittens. Then again, it could be as you think. Momma may have been going after the pregnant one. They will do anything to ensure that their litter will survive. You might very well find one litter has been killed by the other mother. Since we are not there and didn't witness it, it is very hard to say.

It is very wonderful of you and your mother to feed strays. I am always happy to hear that people care enough to do that. But, it would be more wonderful and a very responsible move, if you contacted your local animal control officer, Humane Society, ASPCA, or whatever animal rescue organization that exists in your area to alert them to the fact that there are a bunch of stray cats dropping kittens all over the place.

Instead of 7 cats, in the next year you will be dealing with at the very least, triple that amount. You will be overrun with cats. You and your mother need to contact someone who is active in a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) program before it is too late. The cats will be spayed and neutered and put back, no worse for wear. And you won't have to worry about disease or cats attacking each other over kittens and pregnancies.

As an FYI, do you have any idea how many cats are thrown away every year and euthanized? In the United States, over 10,000,000 animals are killed in shelters for lack of space and permanent homes. I do not know the figures in Canada but they must be close to that of the U.S. Please do the responsible and humane thing and make sure these cats do not produce any more kittens.

:( Ruby, thank you for the prompt answer to my question. I do, as does my mom know the problems with overpopulation of cats & dogs. We have called everywhere that takes strays & none of them are taking them at this time. :( We are great animal lovers & although we don't have the money to get them fixed (as we are both on fixed incomes) we are trying to take as good care of them as we can. The places we have called that were willing to come & get them later in the spring, put them down if they can't find them a home within 6 months. They may not have the best of the world here but I can honestly say that at least they aren't dying. We won't kill them, in fact we would probably starve ourselves before we'd let them! :D We are going to try the shelters again later in the year. Hopefully we'll catch them when they aren't overly full & they'll be able to take them & put them in loving homes.

Thank you again for your prompt answer & your concern. It is nice to know that there are others who love animals as much as we do. :)

BluRose, I hope you come back to this thread. I understand fully what you are saying about the shelters. You and your mom need to get proactive and start speaking to the different groups in your area about their TNR program. That will allow you to ensure that these cats will not be put down. They offer low cost or no cost spay/neuter programs. It all depends on the income level. They want to hear from people like you. They will do everything they can to help.

Here are a couple of websites for you. One is a group that is affiliated with Alley Cat Allies. ACA are very much a TNR group. Please contact the one in Nova Scotia. If they are too far away, they may be able to hook you up with another group that is closer. Please contact them. If you love cats as you seem to, you will not be sorry. You will make friends with people who have the same views as you and your Mom. These people need all the helpful caring people they can find to help them.

The other site is chock full of info on a study that was done regarding strays in Canada. Very interesting read. I am sure if you contact these people, you will find that they too, are involved in the TNR programs, in one way or another, in your area.

http://thesafehavenfamily75013.mynewfamilywebsite.com/

http://www.meowfoundation.com/health/SpayNeuterProgramsInCanadaFeb07.pdf

Let me know what the outcome is once you have contacted them. :)