Animal Abortion: Truths From Experience

or if it’s just a general belief that animals have no souls. Or maybe it’s simply that we, as humans, don’t see animals as being capable of feeling. 

For almost two years I worked for a Veterinarian down in Southern California; So Cal in the boom years. There was plenty of money floating around for people to play with. Home prices were sky-rocketing and people were selling their homes for two or three times what they should have been worth. 

Why then were there still ridiculous numbers of people who refused to spend the relatively cheap funds to spay and neuter their pets? Cats in particular. There are, in my observation, two kinds of cat owners. Those who will spend thousands on an animal that they love as if it were their own child, and those who have a cat and could care less about it. 

This story, I warn you, will be short and a bit graphic; but if it gets you to think about the responsibility you have to your pets then it is worth it. 

One morning at work that stands out to me is a morning a rather well off looking man and his son brought in their cat. She was a patchwork kitty about 45-50 days pregnant. Cat carry about 65 days so she was just into what would be the equivalent of a third trimester for a human. 

They were angry with their cat for getting pregnant. 

I have found this is a shockingly common thought- that cats seek out getting pregnant. Few people seem to consider that when in a heat, a female cat is driven by instinct. They DO NOT, as a hormonal teenager would, say to themselves “Oh gosh, I want to go have sex now.” and then go do it. They are driven by instinct. They howl to tell male cats that they are in a fertile period and then endure a painful form of intercourse. For anyone who does not have an understand of what feline intercourse consist of I suggest watching Discovery Channels’ “In the Womb”, the one about felines. 

Back to the story:

This man was angry with the cat and when told the kittens would probably be old enough to sustain life said he didn’t care, to get rid of them. There were six kittens. The doctor performed a c-section, removing the uterus and the kittens sustained within it. We then had to euthanize (put down, kill, however you want to think of it) a litter of six perfectly formed and crying kittens. 

And that’s not the worst of it. 

All animals do some fussing when they come out of anesthesia. Animals who were pregnant and come out of anesthesia search for their babies. They call for them. They hunt for them even in the delirium of waking up they will search and call and listen for their little ones. Some animals find them. This beautiful little mommy kitty didn’t. She was still searching for her euthanized litter when her owner picked her up later that day. 

I have never seen anything more heartbreaking in my life. 

Animals have no voice. Think before you purchase an animal. Can you afford it’s upkeep INCLUDING spaying or neutering. Do not give in to the pressure to allow your animal just one heat unless you can guarantee that you wont’ give in to the desire to let them out. Try to come up with alternatives to de-clawing. Many people don’t realize that de-clawing your pet is like cutting off the first segment of your own finger. Can you afford to hospitalize them if they are critically ill, can you afford their vaccinations, their regular tests… all the things that allow your pet to live a full and happy life. 

Please, please, please- think before you get a pet and find you can’t care for it.