At the risk of making you even unhappier, the Texas one at least would have been in the days of routine kitten drowning. The oldest cat, in the UK, averaged 7.5 kittens a year - probably two litters a year, compatible with raising the kittens. The age of the other one is not specified but even if she reproduced for as long as the other cat, which is most unlikely, she must have been producing at least two large litters a year (total 14 kittens) on average. I would say the likelihood is that she produced far more litters than that because she was never allowed to raise them and therefore was constantly coming back into season within days of giving birth

Liz

Not sure about when the first one was, but in 1952 I wouldn't have thought they knew enough about feline health and probably just thought that it was nature's way otherwise the cat wouldn't have kept getting pregnant. Most people back then probably equated it to humans i.e. when you are too old your body changes so you can't produce more offspring.

Also if the 420 were littered by 1952 this mean some kittens may have been born during WW2, and they probably had better things on their minds.

However, even with loads of info out there, people still believe that it is neccessary to let a Queen have one set of kittens to keep her happy, so where people want to be ignorant, they will find every reason to continue to be.

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Spays were carried out in the 30's and 40s, and the earliest reference to spaying is 1410!

So I would buy the excuse for a couple of litters. hell I'll give them ten litters. But you are looking at, probably over 42 litters... and thats assuming ten kittens a litter, which is unlikely... The number is probably more like 84! So probably 3 litters a year... if she lived to 20....


The numbers just don't bear thinking about....

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It's not nice to think about at all. Poor cat - and still being in heat after all those litters. Blimey!

I think in the 30's & 40's though just because spaying was available, it doesn't mean everyone was educated about it, or that they could afford it. Many people's opinions about not tampering with nature (ill judged, as they were domesticating a wild animal!) may have come into play when they justified the now known neglect of their pet.

In the 70s loads of my friends cats were constantly having litters and at the time we were one of the few people who had their cat neutered. I remember some of the parents saying they couldn't 'stop their girls from having a good time' (and not knowing what that meant at the time). To my knowledge they never got their females spayed and it certainly wasn't even expensive or hard to get done at the time.

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O yes they were, but most people controlled the feline population in other ways. Heck, when I was a child I had a working class friend and her father drowned a litter of kittens (except one), that was in 1973! That was regarded as the norm amongst certain classes even then

Are you sure that isn't an American site and they actually mean castration? They use the same term for both. I don't see how it would be physically possible to spay a cat without anaesthetic.

Liz

Its actually a reference in the Oxford Engish dictionary in relation to stopping a dog 'whelping' so definitely a spay. Admittedly it probably wasnt the most humane of pratices, just something I found out in my googling.

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how can a cat give birth to sa many kits, does that mean she just kept having litters all year round until age 30?

How is this exciting or news? I find it quite sick

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Ah, but remember, the cat might have really desperately WANTED to have the kittens. ..........