Birth Controlled

Our adopted cat Munchkin has certainly had an accomplished motherhood. She's only just over two years old but already, she's birthed four litters of kittens. Each time she has five little ones for a total of twenty kittens. She's quite the prolific little breeder. Her first litter of five did not all survive... only two did. A boy and a girl we named after ice cream flavors; Dutch (from Double Dutch) and Vanilla. 

Six months later, she was pregnant again and again birthed five, but only four kittens survived to maturity. Three boys (Marble, Caramel, and Forest) and one girl (Rocky). All of a sudden we had seven cats inside and outside the house. When Marble became sexually mature, he left and never came back. The sweetest of the litter, Forest, died of organ failure at six months old. Yes, we had him looked at by the vet and even confined in an animal hospital for three days until he expired. So we're down to five cats. 

When Vanilla and Rocky became sexually mature, we had them spayed at the Office of the City Veterinarian. The spay service was free of charge. We only had to provide the supplies needed for the operation (vicryl, alcohol, syringes) which was no more than an hour long for each cat. We had planned to have Munchin (the mother of all) spayed as well but to our surprise, she was pregnant again! We had to wait for her to birth the litter before any operation can be done.

Munchkin's third litter was another set of five kittens. But this litter all died. They were smaller and weaker compared to the last litter. We thought we dodged a bullet there when the last of the kittens died. We had planned to keep Munchkin indoors until time comes that she can be operated on. But to our dismay, she escaped one day and did not come home for days. When she did, she was as expected, pregnant again! 

This fourth litter had two boys and three girls. All three girls had problems with their eyes. All three were blind. We promised ourselves this would be the last litter and we'll be vigilant in keeping Munchkin indoors. It was a struggle as she's always ready to sprint out the door whenever someone comes in or goes out. She escaped a couple of times but we were able to catch her right away and keep her from getting pregnant. She'd be crying out to toms outside by the window every night but the scheduled day came when her ovaries were finally tied.