I had to take my poor little cat Lucy to get a "catbortion" today. She's convalescing under my bed right now. When I brought her home, she was so stoned from the anesthesia, she kept stumbling sideways when she tried to walk. This photo was taken before the procedure, obviously, since her belly isn't shaved.

Lucy showed up in my yard about eight months ago, tiny, underfed, and eager for attention. She was immediately friendly, and let me pick her up on only our second meeting. And, she tried to follow me inside. I tried to make her one of the outdoor cats I feed; I already had four indoor cats, and was (and am) feeding two regular neighborhood strays and another two who only come around once in a while.

Lucy wasn't having it. She wanted to be an indoor cat.

A Cat, Determined

After a week of meowing at me, hanging around my door, and demanding attention, I gave in to her desire, and brought her inside. The other cats liked her, except George, who is my only other white cat. I think George thinks maybe I can't tell them apart because they look alike, as he still doesn't care for her.

Indoor living was what she wanted. In the first few minutes I had her in the house, she went right to my bed and got on the towel I keep for cats at the foot of it. She just knew that's where she was supposed to go.

When she arrived at my house, she had a broken tail, and it's permanently bent in the middle. She can't lift it all the way. I think either someone dropped her off here, or someone abused her, and she ran away to here.

A Kitten, or a Tiny Grown Up Cat?

As she was very tiny, I was sure she was a kitten, probably about four months old, I guessed, based on her weight. I had no idea if she'd been spayed or not. Since money for vet bills was tight due to my cat Abbie, who has an autoimmune disorder that requires daily medication, I decided to wait and see if she went into heat. I'd never had an un-spayed cat before, so this was all new territory for me.

Well, she wasn't spayed, because she went into heat last month. And, she slipped by me to get outside while I was checking the mail, after days of me being so careful to keep her inside. Cats are eager to get outside when they are in heat, because it gives them an insatiable urge to find boy cats with whom to mate.

She was only outside for a day, and I wasn't too concerned. The strays who hang around here are neutered (I've checked, and one of them has a tipped ear which means he's a neutered feral). My one indoor boy cat, George, is also neutered. However, I did see, briefly, a new cat who was unfamiliar to me dashing across my front yard at one point while she was outside. He's probably the one who did it, because, though she came in on her own later that day, she got pregnant during that brief time in the outdoors.

What Would Happen to a Cat that Small if She Tried to Deliver Kittens?

She's so small, I was concerned she might die trying to give birth, and/or the kittens would be stillborn because they wouldn't have enough room to grow in her tiny belly. I also thought that, even if she and the kittens all lived, there are so many unwanted pets looking for homes, her kittens might go to people who would have adopted from a shelter, thus keeping other deserving cats who have been waiting from being adopted.

Once it was clear she was pregnant, which took a couple of weeks to know for sure, I knew what I had to do (though I went back and forth on it a lot, since I love animals so much....it was a hard decision).

With much sadness, but knowing it was the right thing for her and the kittens, I took her to get spayed today. While doing the spaying, the vet aborted the kittens. I asked how many there were, but it wasn't included on her post-op report, and the girl at the front desk didn't know when I asked her.

Always Spay and Neuter Your Pets, Kids

Lucy's belly was getting all round, and now that the procedure is done and she's home, the sides of her belly are inverse. I know I did the right thing, but I still feel bad about it, for the kittens and for her.

However, I do have the comfort of knowing she'll be much happier when she recovers and doesn't have to bother with heat and boy cats anymore. She's joined the Kitty Convent.