How to Prepare for Kitten Season: Tips and Advice for Cat Lovers

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The Joy and Challenge of Kitten Season

I love kittens.

Warm, wiggly bellies. Tiny little (razor-sharp) teeth. Kitten breath. Kitten mouth (rawr rawr rawr). Piles of sleeping kittens. Kittens playing with toys. Kittens who see themselves in a reflective surface for the first time, puff up and jump sideways … kittens are so cute!

But from May to October, I don’t like seeing kittens. In fact, it depresses me to no end — and here’s why.

The Harsh Reality of Kitten Season

Kitten season, the summer months, is so-called because the warm weather acts as a catalyst, bringing intact female cats into heat every 3 weeks.

• One female cat can have at least 2 litters during these months.
• Sadly, many kittens will be euthanized due to a lack of space in the shelters.

“Wait, what?” you might think. “Perfectly adorable little bundles of happiness are killed? For such a ridiculous reason as limited space? They’re so cute that they get adopted right away, right?”

Wrong.

If you’ve never visited an animal shelter in June, you might not be able to imagine the hordes of kittens up for adoption during the height of kitten season.

• It’s heartbreaking to know that not all these kittens will find homes.
• Many of these at-risk kittens are among the roughly 3.2 million cats entering shelters each year.

“These at-risk kittens make up a large part of the roughly 3.2 million cats entering shelters each year, of whom approximately 860,000 [or 27% of them] are euthanized,” says Matt Bershadker, president and CEO of the ASPCA.

The Role of Community Collaboration in Managing Kitten Season

During kitten season, the influx of kittens can overwhelm local shelters, making it difficult for them to manage the sudden increase in animal populations. This is where community collaboration, or “cat-laboration,” becomes essential. By working together, shelters and animal welfare organizations can share resources, expertise, and responsibilities to improve outcomes for the kittens.

• Pooling Resources: Different organizations can contribute various resources, whether it’s foster homes, medical supplies, or manpower. This ensures that no single shelter is overwhelmed by the demands of kitten season.
• Coordinating Efforts: Through regular communication and strategic planning, organizations can coordinate their efforts, such as arranging transport for kittens to areas with more adoption opportunities or organizing spay/neuter clinics to prevent future overpopulation.
• Setting Collective Goals: Establishing common objectives, like reducing euthanasia rates or increasing foster placements, helps unify the community’s efforts and track progress throughout kitten season.

Community collaboration not only alleviates the pressure on individual shelters but also leads to more successful outcomes for the kittens, providing them with a better chance of finding forever homes.

When Is Kitten Season?

Kitten season typically runs from late March through October each year.

• According to Best Friends Animal Society, “Thousands of [kittens] can roll in all at once, making kitten season the most challenging time of the year in shelters around the country.”
• The season “tends to start with a few litters showing up in shelters in early spring,” and by summer, “they’re pouring in.”

In warmer climates, like southern California, Michelson Found Animals Foundation notes that kitten season can last even longer. In fact, southern California experiences two kitten seasons due to the milder winter temperatures.

Mama Cats at Risk During Kitten Season

What about the mother cats?

• Once their litters have been placed, the mama cats need homes too. However, many potential adopters prefer a fluffy wee kitten over an adult cat.
• The euthanasia rate for adult cats, including mothers, increases significantly during warmer months.

Feral litters present an even greater challenge. While young and healthy kittens may find homes, the mama cats are almost always euthanized.

• Most feral kittens aren’t healthy, often suffering from conjunctivitis and upper respiratory infections.
• Although these illnesses are treatable, infected kittens are usually euthanized immediately unless a rescue group steps in.

Shelters simply don’t have the budgets to treat all those sick kittens, making kitten season particularly harsh for both mothers and their young.

Kitten Season: How You Can Help

If you’d like to take a stand against the animal overpopulation problem, especially during kitten season, here’s how you can help:

• Spay and neuter your cats, even if they never go outdoors. Kittens as young as 2 months old and weighing 2 pounds can safely be altered.
• Donate funds, supplies, and time to your local cat rescue or animal shelter.
• Volunteer to bottle-feed homeless kittens for your local rescue or shelter. Although it’s a lot of work, the sight of a tiny kitten sucking milk out of a baby bottle is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.
• Foster an entire litter or hard-to-place adult cats. The need for fosters can be even greater than the need for adopters during kitten season. According to the ASPCA’s Bershadker, fostering adult cats is particularly important since they seldom get adopted during this time.
• Practice TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) with feral cat colonies. TNR involves trapping feral cats, having them spayed or neutered and vaccinated, and then returning them to their habitats. This effective method helps reduce feral and stray cat populations over time without relying on shelters or euthanasia. As the National Humane Education Society explains, TNR is a humane solution to the overpopulation crisis.
• Consider joining a barn cat program if it suits your lifestyle.
• Adopt your own cat, especially an adult one. If you choose kittens, keep in mind that two kittens are better than one—they will keep each other company and entertain you with their antics. Try our online adoptable pet search.

Find out more about kitten season in this video:

Spread the Word About Spaying or Neutering

One of the best ways to help? Spread the word about the importance of spaying or neutering cats.

Here’s the best argument I’ve found:

• You might think having “just 1 litter” isn’t much of a problem.
• But if even 1 female cat is left intact, she and her offspring can produce hundreds or even thousands of cats over the next few years.

And that’s a major problem that we—and cats, of course—can do without. So please try to do your part to prevent animal overpopulation.

How Spaying and Neutering Help Combat Kitten Season

One of the most effective ways to combat the challenges of kitten season is through spaying and neutering. These procedures are crucial in preventing the excessive birth of kittens, which can quickly overwhelm shelters during this time of year.

• Reducing Overpopulation: By spaying and neutering cats before kitten season begins, the number of unwanted litters is significantly reduced. This proactive approach lessens the burden on shelters and decreases the number of kittens that end up homeless or euthanized.
• Long-Term Benefits: Spaying and neutering not only help manage the immediate influx of kittens but also have long-term benefits for controlling the overall cat population. This ensures that shelters can better manage their resources and provide quality care to the animals they take in.
• Community Impact: Encouraging spaying and neutering within the community is essential. When more pet owners take this step, it collectively contributes to reducing the strain on shelters during kitten season, making it a community-wide effort to tackle animal overpopulation.

Promoting and practicing spaying and neutering is a vital strategy in mitigating the challenges posed by kitten season, ultimately leading to fewer homeless cats and a more sustainable environment for animal shelters.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

References

• “What Is Kitten Season?” Best Friends Animal Society. https://bestfriends.org/stories/features/what-kitten-season
• “Everything You Need to Know About Kitten Season.” Michelson Found Animals. https://www.foundanimals.org/everything-need-know-kitten-season/
• “No Such Thing as Kitten Season.” Animal League. https://www.animalleague.org/blog/beths-blog/no-such-thing-as-kitten-season-feb2022/