Hi everyone
Earlier this week i got a call from the DC shelter about a cat
They've just taken in off the street
She was wandering around outside
Full-term pregnant and ready to pop
Now, I typically take in orphaned kittens, who don't have a mom
But since we have an empty nursery right now and the shelter was in need, we said: yes
I sanitized our entire nursery and making sure that it was going to be ready for this new cat to come in
And giving her plenty of places that she could choose to have her labor
When we arrived at the shelter we could see that she was indeed very pregnant
Looked like she had swallowed a watermelon
You could feel the movement inside her belly
X-rays showed that her babies were full-term, and she'd likely give birth within a few days
But when we got back to our nursery she went into labor only 18 hours after bringing her back
We named her Mama Mia
Now if this brought on a whole lot of controversy on social media
Sparking an ethical debate about; What to do regarding pregnant cats?
So I wanted to make a video about navigating the ethical decision making process
Around pregnant moms to explain why this was a controversy
and to explain my position and why in this specific situation we did decide to take on Mia
I also want to talk about handling controversial situations in general
And how we can do so thoughtfully and respectfully
I saw a lot of very heated comments on my social media
through people with multiple different perspectives
So i want to start by explaining the issue and then talking a little bit about how we can navigate it
It's standard practice in most animal shelters to spay pregnant cats
Thus terminating the pregnancy, due to lack of resources
I know this is a tough pill to swallow if you're new to animal welfare
But keep in mind that lots of animals are euthanized in animal shelters
Including neonatal kittens and sick animals
In many animal shelters there aren't enough resources those animals who already exist
Much less for those who aren't even born yet
The fact is that when resources are limited, we have to apply them where they can do the greatest good
This means that animal shelters have to make decisions about, who can and can't be saved
Based on time and staffing and funding and the availability of foster homes
It's a gutting, and horrible position we're put in as advocates
Think of it this way, when resources are limited every animal we save might take away resources from another animal
So if you have a thousand dollars to spend on animal care do you spend that thousand dollars
On a life-saving surgery for one cat?
or do you spend it on saving the lives of ten healthy cats?
If you have limited time and money
Do you give your precious resources to adoptable adults and kittens over eight weeks old?
Or do you give them to neonatal orphans who require far more time and money to save
In these situations
You give your resources wherever the greatest good can be done
So when it comes to terminating a pregnancy
This is done because when there are not enough resources even for those animals who are already born
Resources are not applied to bringing even more animals into existence
It's doing the greatest good with what you have
And so I fully understand why people are upset to see me bringing in a pregnant mom
The implication is that we are bringing more lives into the world
I had people saying some pretty mean stuff to me
Like that i know better than a breeder or making really vicious personal attacks on me
Some people were so outraged that I took Mia on
And while a lot of the comments were really brutal, I want to say I understand the passion
And I understand where they're coming from
I want other people to understand that too, so people standing outside of animal sheltering
Can understand the position that shelter staff are faced with
Because I'm the other side of the issue I saw people who are very impassioned
Saying that no matter what it is unethical to terminate a pregnancy
And they were calling people in shelters some pretty mean names
Now I also understand the passion of these people
But I assume a lot of them probably have not been faced with standing in a room full of animals
That you know you cannot save
So there's a big divide here in our understanding of where each other are coming from
And on both sides of the issue I found one thing to be true
Which is that there is a lot of pain and anger in this community
And that we take it out on each other all the time
And so while I find that frustrating that it's so hard to have a nuanced conversation
About controversial ethical issues in animal welfare
I mostly felt devastated this week for the emotional state of our movement
Because I think our inability to have these conversations respectfully
Points to the exhaustion and outrage that we all feel
That I truly think we miss place on one another
Before I go any further, I want to say that those of us who work in animal welfare
Are at high risk for compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress disorder
When we experience this, we may feel depressed, short-tempered, exhausted and emotionally drained
There's been some incredible research about compassion fatigue and researchers have found
That there are several qualities or protective factors
That actually shield us like armour against compassion fatigue
And one of those primary protective factors is social support
The feeling that we are all safe and supportive within our community
So it feels particularly tragic to me that when we feel compassion fatigue
We lash out on one another, making ourselves even less capable of mutual aid and mutual healing
We're hurting!
So when we see somebody doing something that we don't understand or don't agree with
We make ourselves hardened and oppositional
Instead of soft and open
I think this devastates our movement because growth happens when you are soft and flexible
But it's hard to be soft when you're hurting so much
So no matter your position on any ethical topic within anima l welfare
I think, we have to learn to communicate with each other better
To refrain from name-calling and judging
And instead to lean in and say; "I'm seeing things differently than you"
"Can you help me understand?"
When we do that we build bridges instead of burning them
Now it's a lot easier to pick one position and say
"This is where I stand and screw you if you don't agree with me"
But it's a lot harder to say "Things are complicated"
We have to make complicated decisions all the time
We have to be flexible as things change
It requires vulnerability for us to admit that not everything is black and white
But sometimes things shift, that sometimes communities are different
That sometimes ethical decisions require context
And so my position is "Things are complicated"
My position is that ethical decision-making is deeply complex
That it's all dependent on the individual situation
And that we do our best to make judgment calls based on the resources available
No one wants to terminate full-term pregnancies but it's done because, we don't have the resources
No one wants to euthanize neonatal kittens either, but it's done when we don't have the resources
So as we have fewer cats coming into shelters thanks to TNR and spay neuter
And as we have more resources available thanks to awesome foster parents and volunteers
We can actually save more lives and extend protection to more populations
My belief is that being able to not terminate late-term pregnancies is an aspirational goal
Just like being able to find homes for every neonatal kitten is
The goal is that bit by bit, as more of us help, we can gradually make it so that every cat has assistance
So we shouldn't be judgmental of shelters that don't have resources
To take care of very sick cats or neonatal kittens
Just simply recognize that that's where they are and try to help them
Similarly we shouldn't judge shelters who spayed pregnant cats
This is about the fact that right now
Too many animals are dying to have the luxury of bringing more kittens into the world
The goal is that someday that's not the case
I recently made a video called "Why I support kill shelters"
I hope that you will watch it because I talk all about
The difference between "open admission shelters" and "limited admission shelters"
And what it really means to be a "no-kill shelter" or a "kill shelter"
If you watched that video you know that an open admission shelter
Is required contractually to take in every single animal
No matter what
Including these pregnant moms
So their ability to save lives is completely dependent on the resources they have
Primarily funding and foster homes
In that video I talked about how it's the responsibility of community to build those resources
So it's important for me to acknowledge that many communities have built those resources
And have achieved no-kill at the municipal level
More and more open and mission animal shelters are achieving
The ability to find a foster home for every kitten, to provide medical care for every sick or injured cat
And yes! To even allow late term pregnancies
That's why in cities like San Diego, Seattle and Washington DC
You actually do see that pregnant moms are placed in foster homes
The resources are no longer scarce
So protection can be extended to more and more populations
So I think we shouldn't be judgmental of these communities either
Or the people who are fostering those cats
We should look ahead to the future with hope
Here in DC, thanks in large part to our TNR program and our large community of foster parents
We actually typically have a waiting list for foster kittens now!
I joke all the time about how I have to outsource most of my kittens now
In fact more than half of the kittens I take in are not even from the district
So I think it's important for us to navigate these issues on a case by case basis
Taking into context the specifics of the situation and the resources we have available
The context here is that Washington DC is able to place full-term pregnant moms into foster care
Because they have the resources
The context is that Mia was found outside
And was legally required to be on strangled for five days
So she couldn't have been spayed before going into labor regardless
The context Is that Mia's babies were fully developed
They were born within hours of being rescued
They were even more developed, heavier and healthier than many of the orphans I care for
These kids may have been in utero for a few hours
When it came out they were actually double the birth weight of my other foster kitten Badger
So if we can save them, why shouldn't we?
My perspective Is that it depends on the context
And in this context, I was asked to help, I was able to help and I decided to help
I recognize that these are deeply complex and emotional issues
And I think it's worth having constructive discussions about them
To me social media is both a blessing and a curse
Because it allows us to share ideas and experiences
But it also allows us a faceless anonymity
That many people are used to lash out in anger and others
I hope we can all learn to be kinder to each other
Both in person and online
Even when our communities look a little different
As for Mia, she's doing great
She was an absolute champ throughout her labor
And i'm glad that instead of giving birth on the street or in a shelter
She made it here just in time to have a comfortable nursery for her labor
She gave birth to five healthy babies, two girls and three boys
We're happy that this will be the end of the road for her reproductive experience
And that once the kittens are older she can be spayed and all of them can be spayed and neutered too
Spaying and neutering, TNR and fostering are the ways that we can change the future for cats
And being compassionate to our fellow advocates, won't hurt either