Bred to death. Patsy's Rant

This post is about cats, lots of them, too many of them in fact. Cat rescues up and down the country are full to the rafters with unwanted cats. We are a small rescue but we get lots of phone calls from people wanting to pass their cats on to us, for whatever reason. We can't take them all in, so I imagine some of them must get abandoned and be left to roam the streets and fend for themselves.

The situation is now well out of control, we have too many cats in this country. People see them as money machines and will breed from them to line their pockets. Then they get passed on to other people will not take responsibility for them and get them neutered and spayed. I won't beat about the bush here, back street breeders of any animals be it cats or dogs, are the lowest of the low in my book. If I had my way they would be closed down and prosecuted. They are the cause of thousands of unwanted and abandoned animals.

If anyone is considering buying a cat or a dog, please don't go to a breeder, there are thousands of perfectly lovely abandoned pets waiting for a second chance in a new home. Neve never never hand over your money to a breeder, you are only making the terrible situation ten times worse. We try and do our bit in our rescue, this week we have rehomed two six year old cats, who have been together since birth. Thankfully we have found a nice couple who have taken them into their home.

Janet found this open letter on a web site recently, which says it all. I have contacted the Rushden Persian Rescue to ask permission to copy and paste it here. I am happy to pass the message on. It's called Patsy's Rant

As many of you know, we are primarily a PERSIAN & PEDIGREE Rescue, but we do take non pedigrees (space permitting) and we (like all Rescues at the moment) are INUNDATED with unwanted cats/kittens (and not just 'moggies' !!!)

We neuter EVERYTHING adult & Kitten that comes through our doors. This not only protects them from being bred from, but also stops a large proportion of their offspring ending up in rescues and the hands of 'Back Yard Breeders' in the future !!!!!!!!

I am BEGGING breeders AND owners to early neuter your kittens to help stop perpetuating the misery these cats endure

Common practice is to wait until they are 6months of age, but we know from personal experience that this is too late and kittens are coming into 'season' or males mating at 4-5months of age and so adding to the problem of unwanted kittens.

I know MANY responsible breeders already neuter their kittens before they go home at 12-14 weeks, but too many young cats ''moggies and pedigrees'' sold as ''pets '' are coming in either pregnant or bred to death !!!! Even those sold as kittens from LAST YEAR are on their 2 nd litters already and we have a 2 year old Persian in who has had FIVE litters already! !!!

I feel breeders should take the responsibility to ensure their kittens get in the right hands and '' pet kittens'' should be neutered so they don’t end up as '' breeding machines'' , crated from 13 weeks old until their 1st season to then pop out litter after litter and then 'mum' is got rid of at the age of 4/5 years old ''not neutered'' , only to go to another back street breeder to be bred and bred until they die of neglect or a slow and painful death.

This is going on all over the place now because people wanting to make a fast buck, and you only have to look on some of the 'Pets for sale' sites to see pages of pedigree and 'half pedigree' kittens being sold ( MANY Pedigree kittens offered are un registered with no papers i.e the ''parent/s'' were sold as 'pets' and were NOT registered for breeding ! ) ... and VERY few state 'already neutered' and so the misery continues

We have been early neutering our kittens now for 4 years and have not lost a kitten yet. They come out of the operations and are eating and up and running straight away.

Yes i know some breeders say 'My vet won't do it ' but The Cats Protection League have published a list of vets that ARE willing to early neuter (there are 700 across the UK)

CLICK here for a list of 'Early Neuter Vets'.

so there is NO excuse !!...... The 'cost' can be added to the price of the kitten so breeders will not lose out and this one action will safeguard their 'babies'and help the Rescues too !!

Please Please consider early neutering .We need to stop all these cats and kittens pouring in every year

Letting a cat have ''just one litter'' doesn’t make them a better cat - its an old wives tale .... it just adds to the rescue population and puts them at risk of Felv/Fiv if left entire .

We are having 14/16 week old kittens coming into full season. With 'global warming' there isn’t a kitten season in the UK anymore ( it used to be between March to September ) but now days kittens are bred/born all through the year

Please do 'your bit' to help and EARLY NEUTER your kittens

Thank you

Patsy

I'm not sure if the links work here. You can look at the Rushden Persian Rescue site, but beware there are some very upsetting photo's of cats that have been neglected and ill treated.
http://www.rushdenpersianrescue.co.uk/

Thank you for reading.