'Am I a monster to separate this pair?': Kind woman wants to adopt a friendly stray pregnant calico before winter but worries about leaving behind her bonded unfriendly orange companion, seeks advice online

Bonded cat pairs are something special. They are not simply two cats who are friends. Bonded pairs cannot live fully without one another. They cannot thrive. They cannot truly be happy without their other half. That's why shelters often say that bonded pairs should not and will not be separated - they have to be adopted together. Which is why this story is such a conundrum.

A bonded pair of stray cats lives in this woman's backyard - one is friendly, and one is really not. Of course, all of that would be fine, if only the friendly one wasn't also pregnant right before the Canadian winter. The friendly and pregnant calico very much wants to be adopted, it is clear. Maybe it's because she's just ready, and maybe, like many other pregnant cats, she knows that she will need a safe space to raise her kittens once they come. The unfriendly ginger - the calico's other half - does not want to get inside. No interest whatsoever. She's reached out for help, asking the internet what to do. What would you do?

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"Am I a monster to separate this pair?"

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We agree with pretty much everything that people in the comments say: catch the orange and spay him - for his own good. Adopt the calico. And then, once spayed, the orange might get friendlier and warm up to staying. And if not, still make sure that they have a way to be by each other. Because they truly do look bonded.
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This is an ongoing story, so we don't know how things turned out quite yet. But we have hope. Cute cats, kind human… things should work out just fine. And when they do, we request an update, please.
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