Kitten season is here! While others may find it cute and festive, it is quite the opposite! Read on for you to know more about kitten season!
“The memories and paw print of a beloved cat remains in our heart and soul forever.”
When is kitten season?
Warmer months are the mating season for most of the cats. Female cats heat during these months and unspayed cats get impregnated immediately and give birth in 60 days! An average female cat gives birth to a litter of at least 3-5 kittens. That is a lot to think of! Thus kitten season makes it the best time for you to foster kittens or volunteer at your nearby shelter. Apart from that, it is also the perfect time for you to adopt!
How to help during kitten season?
There is an overwhelming number of kittens in shelters during kitten season. This is because not all female cats are spayed nor are the male cats neutered. This results in a huge number of litters during this season. There are simple things that you can do:
1. Volunteer at a shelter
Being a volunteer means a lot to the shelter staff because they are usually under-staffed during kitten season. Having you as their volunteer would mean a lot of help for them. The shelter staff needs your extra hands in taking care of their growing number of kittens, especially during Kitten Season!
2. Adopt
This is the best time for you to adopt a kitten! Adopt don’t shop is common advocacy of most animal shelters in encouraging pet owners to avoid getting animals from kitten and puppy mills. Adopting is always better than shopping in a mall’s pet shop. Adoption from a shelter gives you the best and perfect chances that these kittens are dewormed, vaccinated, tested for chronic feline illnesses, treated from parasites, and spayed and/or neutered.
“Adopt… don’t shop!”
3. Become a foster
Becoming a foster means saving the innocent lives of these kittens. They need your support and care while they nurse their way to being an adult and be adopted. Being a foster for a few weeks could already do a lot for the kitten’s lives. Animal shelters such as the ASPCA will provide all the things your foster kitten needs from the food to medical supplies. All you need to do is to give them your TLC. Ready to foster kittens? Check out their site for more details on their requirements.
Foster mother taking care of cat and kitten during kitten season
What is required of you as a foster?
Aside from the TLC that your foster kitten needs, several important things are required of you if you wish to become a foster. They may sound a bit too demanding, but all are for the good of your feline friends.
- First off, you need to deworm your foster kittens regularly. You are required to have your kittens tested for feline leukemia and complete their vaccination cycle. The kittens must also be treated for parasites such as fleas, tapeworms, and roundworms. Also, the kittens must be microchipped for easy and convenient monitoring. When the kittens are old enough, they must also be neutered and spayed. All these must be done before they are put up for adoption.
- Once they are ready for adoption, these kittens will be posted in various adoption sites such as Kitten Rescue, Pet Finder, and Adopt A Pet. These adoption sites will help you in screening the perfect furever home for your foster kittens. Kitten Rescue reimburses all the expenses that the foster parent spent in spaying and/or neutering, testing, vaccinating, and microchipping expenses up to the amount of the adoption fee. However, these expenses are no longer reimbursable if you decide to keep your foster kittens (a foster failure, as they say).
Kitten season overcrowds animal shelters. This is why your effort and time in volunteering, fostering, and adopting are a great contribution to animal control. If we don’t step up, there will be an unstoppable number of strays on our streets. So, do your part and be a foster or a volunteer now! Or, adopt, don’t shop!