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Kitten season: Time to stop littering
By Pet Connection Staff
March 3, 2010
There’s nothing cuter than a kitten, but yes, you can definitely have too much of a good thing — kittens included. Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori have the facts in this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature:
We’re on the verge of kitten season now, which means we’ll soon be getting questions about feline pregnancy from people who often had no idea they’d be midwife to pets who are often not much more than kittens themselves.
Typical questions include: How long does a cat’s pregnancy last? (On average, 66 days.) Do I need to help my pregnant cat with delivery? (Yes, usually by leaving her alone.) How do I know if she’s close to delivering? (Watch for enlarged nipples and the secretion of a tiny amount of milk.)
The question we’re asked least often is the most important of all: How soon after my cat gives birth can she be spayed? (As soon as the babies are weaned — the sooner the better!)
Eighty percent of the cats in the United States are spayed or neutered. If yours isn’t one of them, check out the rest!
From Dr. Becker and Mikkel Shannon Becker, news about a new cancer vaccine for dogs:
Dogs with cancerous growths in their mouths have the chance at an increased life expectancy after tumor removal with the help of a new therapeutic canine melanoma vaccine, Oncept. The vaccine contains a substance produced by human DNA that is similar enough to dog’s genetic material that it targets canine melanoma cells, but is different enough to be considered foreign by the dog’s immune system, resulting in a potent immune response against canine melanoma cells. Dogs with stage II or III melanoma typically survive six months or less after tumor removal, but dogs vaccinated with Oncept had a longer survival time than those not vaccinated, according to DVM360.com.
Want more? Read the entire Pet Connection for this week! You can also download it just the way we send it to our client newspapers right here (PDF).
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As one who has dealt with the rescue end of kitten season for a long time, I’m glad to see you getting this reminder out there! Not only are there a bizillion kittens available, the adult cat adoptions seem to go down when those cute little kittens are available.
Comment by dottie — March 3, 2010 @ 5:48 am
My happily spayed Mimi, mother of about two dozen kittens, wrote an article on my blog about her experience as a mother and listing 30 reasons to spay your cat. It took me that long to legally wheedle this cat from my neighbor and prevent the development of a feral cat colony in their back yard. http://portraitsofanimals.word.....ng-spayed/
Comment by Bernadette — March 3, 2010 @ 9:53 am