It's Raining KITTENS!

Kitten Season - It’s the time of year when shelters and rescues across the country are filled to the brim with litters of freshly born felines. It starts in spring, peaks in early summer and ends in fall. 


When spring ushers in warmer and milder temperatures, cats are able to roam around and reproduce at a much faster pace than during the colder months causing a boom in cat populations. 

Most kittens don’t survive or end up being euthanized eventually if they do. Some may grow up to live in less than ideal situations outdoors as your friendly neighborhood community cats, begging for scraps and scavenging in dumpsters to survive.

The sad reality is that there aren’t enough resources or homes to ensure the safety and quality of life of every single kitten born.

How does this happen?
Many unaltered female cats come into heat by 4 months of age. They start breeding when it starts getting warmer and give birth around spring.  Cats can continue to breed, having one litter after another,  between March to  October, just before the cold weather arrives. 

BE KIND — SPAY/NEUTER YOUR CATS! 
Some people cringe at getting their cat “fixed”. However, stopping the breeding cycle is the only effective way to curb cat overpopulation without having to resort to euthanasia.  The responsible and perhaps the kindest pet parent thing to do is SPAY/NEUTER YOUR CATS! 

Spay/Neuter is the first step in overcoming pet overpopulation. When a single cat is spayed or neutered you help prevent the future suffering of thousands of cats. 

Besides preventing unwanted litters, altered cats have less desire to roam making them more ideal house cats. Spayed females have a reduced risk of mammary gland tumors, and ovarian or uterine cancer. Altered males are less likely to spray and mark their territory and risk of testicular cancer is eliminated.

Spay/neuter your cats! Learn more here: www.midlandhumane.org/spayneuter 


FELINE FACTS: DID YOU KNOW… 

Littermates can breed with each other.  Any two cats of the opposite sex can and will breed if they are not spayed/neutered by 5 months — even those from the same litter! 

Kittens can have babies. A kitten can have her first litter at just five months old, right when she first starts to go in heat. 

Cats can multiply… very FAST!  An unaltered female cat can breed 2-3 times in one year and have an average of 4-6 kittens per litter. In 3 years, 1 unspayed female and 1 unaltered male can produce 382 cats! 
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HOW CAN I HELP? 
Learn more about how you can help felines:  www.midlandhumane.org/kittencare