Females with litters are problem as they can't be separated from their kittens for too long. Volunteers have climbed drainpipes, crawled under sheds, burrowed in compost heaps and wood-piles and crawled through undergrowth in search of kittens. Feral kittens are uncooperative when found and many feral-catchers have long and interesting tales about their many scars. In abdominal spaying, gravity causes the contents of the abdomen to exert pressure on the spaying wound with a greater likelihood of rupture in this type of spaying. There may be fears that people will mistake flank-spayed cats as being ill and will attempt to catch them, chase them off or even kill newly spayed cats.
Feral females are almost permanently pregnant.
A few vets refuse to spay a cat until her kittens are 12 weeks old and fully weaned. Where ferals are concerned, this approach is disastrous as the cat will be pregnant again and the vet may refuse to abort her. Abortion prevents us from keeping ferals in captivity to raise kittens. Most prove to be excellent mothers and the kittens grow up tame through regular contact with humans. Others maintain that kittens always find homes and they do not abort pregnant cats or euthanize kittens.