Inside this Issue:

Shelter Spotlight

Volunteer Spotlight

Easy Ways To Help

Kitten Season

Happy Tails

Kitten Season
Audrey Cummings

Ah, spring! Daffodils bloom, robins arrive from somewhere south. But another harbinger of spring that begins in March is not so wonderful – kitten season. After lying semi-dormant for the winter, the population of newborn kittens begins its rise in late March to early April, bringing an influx of litters to rescues and shelters. After counting the 63-66 days of gestation from the cats’ heat in January and February, mother cats give birth in March and April. From April to June the pace of kittens being born quickens until it reaches a crescendo in mid-summer. There is no relief until October.

What happens to all these kittens? They may grow up and have more kittens, possibly becoming pregnant in their first six months of life. A statistic commonly quoted states that one unaltered female and her offspring can produce 370,000-420,000 cats in only seven years. Many are brought to rescues and shelters. But there are nowhere near enough homes for all the kittens that are born during kitten season. By ASPCA estimates, 90 percent of the cats in shelters are killed because there aren’t enough homes to go around.

What causes kitten season? For one thing, it’s biology. Cats have cycles that last only 21 days, and they can conceive during their six to seven days in heat out of that 21. Once a cat conceives, kittens appear only nine weeks later. Almost immediately, the mother can conceive again. People contribute to the problem by letting their cats breed. It may be on purpose so that their children might experience the “miracle of birth.” Or it may be inadvertent, as when their pet escapes while in heat and comes home pregnant.

Kitten season brings stress to rescue and shelter workers as they scramble to find room for as many litters as possible. Before long the no-kill shelters are filled to overflowing, and the only alternatives are places where the kittens are likely to be euthanized. It’s a heart-breaking scenario that no-kill shelters struggle with every year because they know that many of the litters they turn away will be euthanized.

Of course, a simple solution to the problem of kitten season exists – spaying and neutering. Sterilization surgery is not as dangerous or painful as many may think, and the procedures are more common than any other surgeries done on animals. Repeated pregnancies are far more dangerous for the cats than being spayed is. The neutering of males will prevent multiple pregnancies for each cat neutered. Spaying females helps stop the problem at its source. Thus, preventing the pregnancies prevents the surge of the kitten population.

While kittens may be cute, kitten season is too much of a good thing. Beginning in March and extending to October, kitten season is no fun for rescue and shelter workers. Preventing the birth of unwanted kittens by spaying and neutering pet and feral cats would eliminate the scourge of kitten season and permit the birth only of kittens that are likely to find loving homes, a worthy goal.