The welfare of pregnant cats and kittens is affected by breeding practices, neonatal care quality, and the epidemic of cat overpopulation that results in millions of healthy cats being euthanized annually.
The cat overpopulation crisis creates welfare harm at every level. Feral kittens born without adequate shelter and nutrition experience malnutrition, disease, and harsh weather. Shelters euthanize nearly a million cats annually - deaths that are direct consequences of insufficient spay/neuter uptake. Breeding programs that prioritize extreme conformations create cats with inherent health problems causing lifetime suffering. Kittens separated from mothers before 8 weeks develop lasting behavioral abnormalities. The maternal suffering of queens with difficult deliveries - common in flat-faced breeds - causes acute pain and sometimes death. Every unnecessary litter of kittens produced by unspayed cats contributes to a system that cannot absorb healthy animals without euthanizing others.