Spay and Neuter, people!

So, in a previous post, I mentioned that I get antsy when I have unaltered animals, especially when they are of the opposite sex. Generally speaking, I am quick to get the animals to the vet, especially cats. Here's why: An unspayed femal cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing two litters per year, with 2.8 surviving kittens per litter can total: One Year: 12 Two Years: 67 Three Years: 376 Four Years: 2,107 Five Years: 11, 801 ... Nine Years: 11,606,077 Considering millions of animals are euthanized for lack of homes every year, these are grim statistics indeed. That's just based upon one mate match. Early Sunday morning, we discovered that, as my friend Sarah puts it, Morris was not too crippled to get his sister pregnant. She got pregnant during what presumably was her first heat cycle. Their "union" produced three kittens. (None of them look like Morris at all, so who even KNOWS if he was the dad). Morris' sister, I've mentioned before, is feral, so checking in on the babies has been challenging to say the least, but at this point, all appear healthy and momma is a good momma. Rest assured that this is not an event that will occur again. If I have to use a blow dart to catch Shadoe, she will be spayed once the kittens have been weaned. But this is an important lesson on why you should spay and neuter as soon as possible. Quick as a wink, without having any prior heads up, you could wind up with three kittens under a sofa in your basement. Just sayin'.