People often abandon cats anonymously when one of them is pregnant

People often abandon cats anonymously when one of them is pregnant or there has been a recent birth of a litter of kittens. But to abandon a couple of cats, one of whom is pregnant, as occurred recently not only indicates a very sloppy approach to cat caregiving but that low standard is compounded by abandoning at a crucial time when cat care needs to be stepped up.

It is like an equation leading to the same conclusion. Carless cat ownership often includes a failure to spay and neuter a female and male cat. Sometimes this is deliberate as the owner might think they can make a few bucks selling the kittens; even pretending that they are Maine Coons.

Or sometimes the owner is very short of money and feels that they can't spay the female as they cost around £100 in the UK. A lack of sufficient funds is a major barrier to adequate cat caregiving. It is so important that people who want to adopt a cat do their maths to make sure they can afford a cat or cats. It can be expensive to look after a cat properly.

But once the mother is pregnant or the kittens are born the careless owner finds that the added responsibility is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Terrified cats found inside taped up box outside south Essex pet hospital

This scenario was recently acted out in the UK. Two frightened cats were placed in a cardboard box by their owner and the box placed outside the PDSA hospital in South Essex. One of the cats was very pregnant with labour imminent.

Abandoned tabby cats dumped outside an animal hospital. One of them was heavily pregnant. Image: PDSA.

The charity did not have space but this was a sad and urgent situation so one of our fosterers kindly made room and took them temporarily until a permanent fosterer could be found. The PDSA staff named the cats Charles and Camilla after the king and queen and Camilla gave birth to five healthy kittens the very next day. - PDSA.

In the UK there have been an unprecedented number of abandoned cats. This is because of the after effects of the Covid pandemic. The pandemic messed up so many areas of day-to-day life. It's legacy is still felt.