Tough decisions, though not really

Jajapur is about to enter the world of spays. She is a girl with a lot of wonderful qualites. Very wild looking. She was extremly promising as a kitten and seemingly has a lot to contribute to my breeding program.

Jajapur at 5 weeks old

So why do I choose to spay her?

She's not sick by the looks of things nor by any tests. The reason is that in her 2nd litter I lost both her kittens. Both died suddenly from looking healthy a few hours prior to their death. The fact that Jajapur had a littermate brother that died in the same fashion is also a part of the picture. He was necropsied and found to have died of a sudden sepsis due to rapid growth of bacteria in the gut (it is so sudden that the kitten doesn't even react with diarreah first). Not believed to be inherited at all and not contaigous. It rarely occurs in cats, but is known to happen in puppies.

However, I am not willing to take the chance that this is not due to any factor that might be inherited. Especially since I haven't had any other deaths like this except for in these closely related individuals. I have Jajapurs beautiful son from her 1st litter. And he will stay with me as a future stud. And not to forget I have her beautiful and lovely half brother and his doughter. So the bloodline is not lost.  I feel it's better to spay and be safe than the other option.

Jajapur is a shy cat, despite her being bottlefed most of her kittenhood. So unless she changes a lot as a spay, she will stay here with me untill ripe old age, or so I hope.