Cats, cats and more cats - worst year so far

When you work in the sheltering field, you almost always hate the summer. That probably seems strange to hear but what a lot of people don’t realize is that the summer brings a lot more cats and kittens.

Let me try to put this into perspective. In April, our center received in 176 cats and kittens. In May, we received in 314 cats and kittens and in June, we had 362 come through our doors.

This is what we call kitten season, and it lasts all the way through September, sometimes into October. This month, we are seeing the second wave of mother cats having kittens and so it all begins again.

Kitten season is brutal on the community and us because the summer is also when many people move and need to surrender their pets. But this year has been even worse, mainly because we had such a warm winter and the cats were able to comingle so easily. We have seen 280 more pets come in so far this year, and most of those are cats.

We are not alone; every single shelter we are working with in this area has seen a major increase in kittens this summer. And with more kittens, we end up with more disease. Panleukopenia, a viral infection, is the most prevalent and a result of cats and kittens not getting proper vaccinations.

“So why?” is the question we get often. Why are there so many kittens and unvaccinated cats? The main reason is because there are so many outside cats that aren’t fixed yet. So what can people do if they are feeding cats or if their pet cat goes outside a lot? Get them fixed and vaccinated.

If you find tiny kittens with no mom, leave them be and allow their mom to come back for them. Often, the mom is hiding because of your presence and the best thing to do is go away and then you can come back to check on them in a little while. If the mom is still not around, you can certainly pick them up.

But be aware, most shelters will ask if you can help and keep them in your home for a little while so they can get old enough to be adopted. No shelter is safe for tiny, unvaccinated kittens because of the amount of viruses and illness that can be found there.

If you really want to help them, find a quiet room and let the kitten live there until they are old enough to be adopted. If you need training on how to care for them, most shelters can assist you in the process, but the internet has some great videos as well.

One question we hear all the time is if there is a dog season. For the most part, dogs’ intake doesn’t have as much of a dramatic increase during the summer. There are more of them but the increase is just a little higher than other months. There are two seasons of puppies — usually spring and fall — but, again, not as much of a “season” as cats.

To do the best thing for cats and shelters, get your cats vaccinated, spayed/neutered, help with TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) of feral/community cats, and plan ahead if you think you are going to need to rehome your cat during the summer. And if you find small kittens without a mother, leave them be unless you are sure they are abandoned, and then care for them until they are old enough to be adopted.