Pro-Life And No-Kill
AnimalCare 
May 10, 2014 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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One night not so long ago, a lady called me. She introduced herself as a cat rescuer who has been getting street cats neutered for ages. She called because she had just taken in this heavily pregnant cat (“going to deliver anytime soon”, she said) and asked if it would be alright to spay the cat.
I said no, please. Let the cat deliver first, and after the babies are done nursing, she can then get the cat spayed.
But she argued that it’s a street cat and it would be a greater evil to let the babies come into the world and have no home. She further said that she had been getting pregnant cats spayed for ages because she believes it is the lesser of the two evils. I wanted to appeal to her compassion to please let the poor cat deliver her babies first, so I tried everything I know. I normally don’t like to bring in religion (especially when I don’t know what her religion is), but I had to this time. I appealed to her conscience, I told her I’ve seen other rescuers bring pregnant animals to be spayed and I’ve seen how the mother-animals resist and defend herself (and her unborn babies) fiercely and how mother-animals cry over their loss. In such cases, I’ve tried talking to the rescuers to please not do it and let the mother-animal deliver the babies, but some rescuers have their set ways of thinking and will not entertain any other options. I talked about cause-and-effect. I tried all ways.
To everything that I said, she kept reiterating that she had always been spaying pregnant cats all her life, and that it is the right thing to do.
I said it isn’t about right or wrong; we all have a choice and since she had bothered to call me to ask for my opinion, we are pro-life and I have to offer her this option: To let me find an adopter for the pregnant cat and her unborn babies. So would she be willing to just hold on to the cat for a few days while I look for an adopter? Please?
To this, she said she does not trust adopters. At the back of my mind, I saw the classic tell-tale signs of hoarder mentality. They do not trust adopters and they normally think their way is the best and nobody can do better than them. They take in animals, and they will not let the animals go because no adopter is ever good enough.
Clearly, she was not happy, but I think something I had said had probably (I hope!) appealed to her conscience a little so she finally said “What to do then, what choice do I have, I suppose I would have to let the cat deliver then. But my house is already full of cats, what am I going to do with the kittens?”
That’s when I repeated my offer to help look for an adopter. Just hang on until next week, please, I said. I will find an adopter to take the whole family.
She finally said she would think about it and if she needed my help, she would contact me again. And she hung up.
Right after her call, I texted my friends for help. Would anyone be willing to just take in this pregnant cat first, please, just so that this lady will not get the poor cat spayed and her (due to be born anytime) babies aborted? One friend responded saying yes, she will even adopt the whole family. Another offered to drive to where this lady stays and collect the cat the next day.
So with all these plans in place, I immediately called the lady back.
She wouldn’t pick up my call!
Oh dear…
I called twice and both calls were not answered.I sent a text message (but am not sure if she could read English). No reply too.
So I waited for an hour and tried calling her again. This time she answered.
I told her that I had found an adopter for the cat and that my friend will collect the cat from her, so would that be alright?
To this she said no. She said she “didn’t have the heart” to part with the cat. And she explained that once she has taken any cat into her house, she will not give the cat up to anyone.
Oh…
Then I asked if she would let the cat deliver her babies.
To this, she gave the same answer, “What to do? What choice do I have?”, then “but if you asked me, I would still rather spay the cat, I’ve been doing that for years”. From the tone of her voice, I felt (and I hope and pray that I’m right) she will, albeit reluctantly, let the cat deliver. I hope that of the many things I said, something had struck her conscience and appealed to her compassion for the poor cat and the unborn kittens.
Then I asked if she would like to give up the kittens for adoption since I had found an adopter. To this, she said, no, once any cat is born in her house, the cat cannot leave.
Oh dear…
It looks like that’s the principle she lives by and we will just have to respect that.
There are rescuers who are willing to give up their rescues for adoption and each rescuer has his/her own standards and requirements. There are those who will readily give away their rescues to the first adopter who comes along. There are those who have a checklist and will vet each adopter for suitability. There are those who are even willing to wait for years before finding the perfect home for their rescues, which is fine as long as the rescuer can continue providing for his/her animals. So, rescuers have their own checklists and requirements.
But hoarders have no checklists and no requirements. Because nobody can be better than the hoarder himself/herself. No adopter is ever good enough. And hoarders will keep taking in animals even after their financial, physical and psychological resources are over-stretched.
The bottom line to all of the above is this: Are we doing our best for the animal?
As I said goodbye to her, she said that if she needed my help, she would call me. I was slightly comforted that she still left this option open. I pray she will let the cat deliver. Being a cat-lover, I am quite sure she looks after all her cats well, so as long as she lets the cat deliver, I think the cat and her babies will be alright under her care.
So it’s not about right or wrong, but about the choices that we have.
We are pro-life and no-kill, so if such a case comes to us (which it did as she was the one who called me to ask for advice), we have to offer a pro-life and no-kill solution. In this case, I had even managed to find an adopter under such short notice to take over the pregnant cat, but she refused to give up the cat. So, this is as much as we can do already.
I related this whole incident to a cat-loving friend and she was completely aghast that vets would actually perform abortions. I told her I know of vets and clinics that practise this. In fact, some vets actually think that it is the correct thing to do. These would be vets who place the welfare of the human community above that of the animals’. Some vets do not agree that animals have feelings too or that a pregnant animal can be protective of her unborn babies. Also, a vet had explained to me before that their first duty is to the human community and since street animals are a hazard to health, if no home can be found for them, they ought to be destroyed. I even know of a bigtime dog rescuer who boasts about the number of pregnant dogs she has got spayed. There is also a vet who is very proud of his skills in spaying heavily pregnant dogs. He would gladly do it, because to him, it’s the right thing to do.
It’s just like euthanasia. There are vets and rescuers who believe it is better to put an animal down than to see the animal through his/her last stage of life or provide palliative care for the animal. There are also vets who will euthanise an animal for any reason that the owner provides. They have their reasons for their principles and we are not here to argue who is right, but to offer choices, if the case is presented to us.
There are also vets who will refuse to perform abortions and euthanasia. These are the pro-life and no-kill vets.
So again, it is not about rightness but choices. We all do what we think is right.
In the words of Kahlil Gibran, if I may paraphrase: We all see a truth, but not the truth. For who knows what the truth is. Or if there is even such thing as the one and only truth.I doubt so. There is only a truth or many truths and we each act according to our beliefs and principles.
We offer pro-life choices. We will appeal to caregivers to adopt pro-life choices but we cannot force them if they are unwilling to do so.
To each his/her own.
I pray the cat will be allowed to deliver her babies.
Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2014/05/10/pro-life-and-no-kill/
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