We have 6 six cats. They were all "rescued" from the street. They were all neutered, because unneutered cats develop problems, male and female. Behavioral problems, more proclivity to cancer, and, of course, more unwanted kittens.
The fact that we neutered all these cats and got them off the street, the fact that we had managed to get TWO more spayed who insisted on continuing to live in the street, made a huge difference, at least in our small piazzetta, in the number of outdoor, unhoused cats.
That is, until another black cat showed up and she got pregnant. She had a litter about 6 or 7 months ago. There were three or four kittens. I don't know what happened to the others (probably best that I don't know) but one survived. She appears, to me, to be a mottled calico....so I am assuming it is female and we call her "Callie."
Well, the prissy people from Milan who are not particularly friendly and often have complaints about ridiculous things (for instance, there was a box of "decorative stones" underneath one of the benches that WE bought and this, for some reason, annoyed them. It HAD to be removed.) Whatever.
Anyway, they were here for the Christmas holiday and beyond, so we couldn't capture Callie because we knew they would have a conniption over that whole process. So, we waited. Then the weather didn't cooperate. It's been a particularly rainy winter.
In the meantime, Callie's mother had yet ANOTHER litter. Unbelievable. I will refrain from committing the string of expletives in my head to print.
This time, because we had been feeding her and the kittens, all FOUR of them, looked more robust and healthy. Frankly, they are adorable, but homeless.
Well, once they were weaned, we were, luckily, able to trap the Mamma cat. She is spayed. Yea!
In our then effort to get Callie, we have managed to trap all the kittens instead. It happened yesterday, on a Sunday, so....no vet was available.
In the US, cats are now routinely neutered at 4 or even 3 months of age. Since they are four months now...it's time. The vet was contacted and he agreed.
However, they are all in one cage, so I'm not sure how he wants to handle this.
To complicate things, my husband "knew" that a woman who works in an office around the corner wanted a cat, so he told her we trapped them. Joy, she'll take one. HOWEVER, she doesn't want it neutered. !!!!!!!! I had a fit. We trap them to CONTROL THE UNWANTED POPULATION, not to ADD to it. So, she has idiotic, old fashioned, culturally antiquated ideas. Fine. The cat gets neutered. PERIOD. She takes him, she doesn't take him, I don't care. He gets neutered!!!!
I don't know exactly where it all stands now, since it became unnecessarily complicated. I do know the vet is coming to assess the situation.
In Pescara, a seaside town much larger, there is a shelter and they educate people about neutering. Here, there is nothing. We are the fucking humane society, as it were. I'm so stinking angry I could spit!
Addendum: The gray kitten, the one "wanted" by the woman, is on his way to the vet. He will pick them up one at a time. And our neighbors have offered to help in whatever way they can.
Today, one of the black and white kittens went to the vet. Both, so far, have been male. Still have not been able to trap Callie.
****Update: The all gray kitten has been adopted by an experienced owner. He will be, thank goodness, a "house cat"
*****Update: We released to gray and white kittens. They scrammed outside as fast as they could. Little black cat lingered, so we took his cage inside and crossed our fingers that our own cats would not go nuts. His new adoptive parents are coming tomorrow. He, too, will be a house cat! Yay! And, after being here just a couple of days, I can say he is a maniac for playing with toys and loves to be pet. His purr is the loudest!!!
