The mother cat with her litter of kittens pictured on these pages is KitKat, a queen that is being fostered by Nicki Bradley, the AboutGuide to Miniatures. Nicki is one of those selfless cat lovers who spends her "spare time" fostering mother cats and their litters.
Fostering cats can be an extremely rewarding experience, with the sure knowledge that you are making a difference by offering the hope of life to unfortunate cats that would otherwise be euthanized in kill shelters.The future of pregnant stray cats is bleak at best. They may successfully give birth to a litter of kittens, only to see them die, one by one, either as a result of poor nutrition of the mother cat; defects caused by FeLV or FIV; or killed by tom cats or other predators. Those that are picked up by animal control officers or well-meaning passersby and taken to kill shelters are almost always euthanized. Many rescue groups make a practice of regularly visiting such shelters, to snatch pregnant cats from their date with death. These groups almost always need new foster homes to care for the mom cats and their litters.
If you read this article because your own cat "accidentally" became pregnant, I strongly urge that you have her spayed as soon as the kittens are weaned. Naturally, you should keep her away from any whole (unneutered)cats until she can be spayed.
If you simply love having kittens around, or think it would be educational to show your children the "miracle of birth," please consider fostering an already-pregnant cat the next time around. You'll not only NOT be contributing to the huge problem of feline overpopulation, but you'll be saving lives through your volunteer efforts.
You, too, can make a huge difference and reap the joyous rewards of fostering at the same time.
