Would there be any problems?

[dainerra]

do you feed her? leave food out and sometimes she comes and eats it? If so, then as far as the law is concerned, you own her. If you don't, then just get a live trap and take her to the Humane Society. Responsible pet owners don't allow their cats to roam either.

http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/pdf/Loss_et_al_2013.pdf Cats are one of the largest (if not the largest!) killer of wildlife. In some areas (mainly island habitats) they have led to the extinction of several species. Not to mention, cats are one of the few animals that will kill just for the fun of the chase. Domestic dogs will IF they are well-fed. Feral dogs tend to kill for food and then stop.

 

[jettgirl24]

They are cats, I am not sure that they know that they have no business reproducing as they are mere animals, yes they are smart but not that smart.
And if they even have kittens we would try to catch and tame them and take care of them and...most likely neuter and spay the kittens.
But hopefully we can have our cat neutered and that might help remedy the problem.
And by the way we are not irresponsible pet owners whenever we get a dog we have them fixed.
And usually we even get our cats fixed.
And we don't really even own the female she stuck around ever since her mom died.

Ok, I'm starting to think you don't actually want advice but let me clarify. As the pet owner YOU are responsible for preventing your animals from reproducing and YOU have no business letting your male cat run around the neighborhood unfixed and impregnating female cats. I wasn't saying that the cats should know they have no business reproducing, I was saying that YOU should know. Not only have you already allowed him to father multiple litters of kittens that you know about, he may have fathered other litters of kittens that you do not know about. That is very nice that you get your dogs fixed, but you are being an irresponsible pet owner nonetheless by not fixing your cat. "Trying to catch" the babies and "most likely spaying and neutering" them doesn't cut it, not by a long shot. You don't get half credit in these sorts of things because every one of the babies that you don't catch and fix is out there having more kittens, which then breed and have more kittens. Do you see how this is an exponential problem? To be a responsible pet owner you need to be fixing every single animal that you own as soon as they are old enough. Like the previous poster said, if you're feeding the female she is yours and you need to get her fixed, but regardless of who owns the female cats in the neighborhood - we know you own the male cat so at the very, very least you need to get him fixed.

Look, I don't want to be a jerk to you about this but have you looked at Craigslist lately? Have you wandered through a shelter at any point in the last 20 years? They are filled to the max with cats and dogs that are the result of the kind of situation you have described. Do you know how long those animals are generally given to wait for someone to adopt them? 72 hours at most. If the shelter is full they are immediately euthanized and not even put up for adoption. It's just unconscionable to me that you would let even a single one of your cats run around unfixed breeding left and right. It is absolutely 100% irresponsible.

 

[Reformed]

Well then why did I start this thread?
Because I was worried about inbreeding!

Not about being irresponsible because we don't have our cat fixed!
And do you even have a clue how much it cost to have a female cat spayed and a male.
Not to mention all of those non existing kittens.
And actually we have thought about getting him fixed and hopefully in the future that will happen!
By the way I am not on Craigslist.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Previous kittens have not been caught/tamed/fixed, so it seems very unlikely that his will happen with future kittens.

Yes, there is a high degree of risk in allowing cats to breed at will, breeding cats showing possible signs of STDs, breeding closely related cats, and breeding cats with stunted growth (we have a cat we pulled off the streets who is very small and has terrible hip problems. She is fixed, which is good, as having kittens would kill her). The types of breedings you are allowing to happen are very high risk.

Fixing your cats will prevent the issues you are concerned about. If money is an issue, look into free or low cost spay and neuter clinics/programs. If you PM me your city name, I will be happy to look into what is available in your area.

 

[Reformed]

Previous kittens have not been caught/tamed/fixed, so it seems very unlikely that his will happen with future kittens.

Yes, there is a high degree of risk in allowing cats to breed at will, breeding cats showing possible signs of STDs, breeding closely related cats, and breeding cats with stunted growth (we have a cat we pulled off the streets who is very small and has terrible hip problems. She is fixed, which is good, as having kittens would kill her). The types of breedings you are allowing to happen are very high risk.

Fixing your cats will prevent the issues you are concerned about. If money is an issue, look into free or low cost spay and neuter clinics/programs. If you PM me your city name, I will be happy to look into what is available in your area.

Thank you! some one who is civil.

How many cats do you have?
The previous poster seemed to think that there were to many cats around when in fact there is our tom cat and the one who adopted us

But there are not a lot running around.
What would some of the effects of inbreeding

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Sorry if I am hijacking this thread but I have a related question. We had a female cat that we waited too long to spay....long story short she had 8 kittens. We have homes for 3 so far (they are only 3 days old) and hope to re-home more. I would like to keep a few and have the mother and the kittens we keep fixed. My question is has anyone ever heard of a vet giving a group discount? The mother will obviously need to be spayed before the kittens are ready...also will they get along better if we keep all females or all males or does it matter much once they are fixed?

We had a mother daughter pair when I was a kid and the mother was always a mother to the "kitten" even once she was much larger than the mother. Their oh so original names were Mama & Baby lol

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Hey, we have two cats. One is our dwarf female. She showed up in the storm gutter as a kitten, and started following us everywhere. My now-husband and I were broke and lived in our car in the city. His parents really graciously watched her for us until we finally could afford an apartment. We were able to take her in then. We couldn't afford to get her fixed/vaccinated, and didn't know about free or low cost vaccination and spay/neuter programs at the time. We kept her inside to keep her from getting sick/pregnant, and were so excited when we finally could fix her. She did unspeakable things to my husband's shoes when she was in heat. X) She has been our loyal companion for nine years now, and thankfully saw us into much better financial times. She is a wickedly smart little beast. She knows how to do tricks like 'sit' and 'high-five'. The street cats I've met tend to be really intelligent like that, and she is no exception! Some of the same people who tell us what a great cat we have now, also would have called us irresponsible had they known us back then for taking in a cat we could not afford to properly vet. We personally feel like both us and our cat ended up getting a good deal out of the situation, and I definitely understand when less than ideal situations come up. It sounds like you want to get your cats trapped and fixed, but need help and a financially sound method to do so. Thankfully, more and more options are becoming available.

Our other cat we bought a year ago from a shelter, and he is the polar opposite of smart. He is cheerful always, but there isn't a lot going on upstairs. He has issues with learning and memory, and he also can't walk in a straight line. He has something called 'cerebellum hypoplasia'. His cerebellum, a part of the brain, is very small. This actually happened in the womb when a street cat with an STD mated with his house cat mother. The virus his father had can stunt cerebellum development in the kittens. The cerebellum controls things like mood and coordination, so when it is underdeveloped, you get a cat like him. It is one of the risks in feral cat populations where viruses are numerous.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I have seen inbreeding cause blind kittens and also some leg deformities. Basically what is happening is that in nature genes that cause weaknesses are usually passed over for stronger genes but when the pool gets limited they began to get expressed.

So to make it simpler: If Cat A has a gene for hip problems and Cat B doesn't Kittens C will have a 75% chance of getting good hips....Now if Cat A mates with kitten C who has recessive bad hip gene kittens D will have a 50% chance of getting good hips So now half of kittens D have bad hips if kitten D with bad hips mates with Cat A there is a 75% likely hood the offspring will have bad hips.

That is very simplified genetics but you can start to see the pattern that develops. It is the same with disease resistance and other developmental issues. Genetics control many things.

Hope this helps. I understand not having resources however neutering is a lot "cheaper" than a spay and most "farm boys" could do it with a scalpel & some Ambesol (not that I am suggesting this) Around my area a male cat is about 60.00 to fix while a female is 85.00. Check with different vets as some charge a lot more b/c they require the animal to receive all vaccinations & be wormed like a package deal. You can get wormer cheap at a farm store and for most indoor animals vaccinations are not as important as those that will be exposed to mice, skunks, etc... it is a good idea but if it is rent or vaccinations pay your rent. Also if it is a house cat then keeping them apart is the best birth control ever haha

This from the lady who was too broke and now has 8 illegitimate kittens living in her basement

However we also have a farm and plenty of sparrows & rodents to sustain a few more cats.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Hey SD, I'm not sure where you are at, but http://www.getyourfix.org/InfoPages/display/11 is one source that might be able to help you out or can hook you up with someone who can. Or http://www.spaydakota.org/ . Your local shelter may have other leads.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Thanks. I will call the local vets too (we have a good relationship) and see what they can do. It is just something I/we have to make a priority.

It is funny how large animals they just castrate...cows, horses, sheep, goats because it is more cost effective. But with "pets" if you have the female you have to be the responsible one since everyone with boys doesn't worry about it since the pups / kittens won't be on their step.

This is crude but I've heard it a a lot if you have a boy you have one "unit" to worry about if you have a girl you have to worry about everyone else's "unit"