Kitten Season

We're coming up on what is commonly known as "kitten season".  That time of year when kittens start streaming in from people who have found them under their porches, on their farms, or in an old shed.  They come in for the most part without a mother, some too young to eat on their own, and others a bit older and showing signs of becoming feral. 

These kittens typically end up on a foster home.  The very young ones will be fed by bottle and pottied by hand.  The older ones will be handled, played with and hopefully learn that living with humans is not such a bad thing after all.  Many times they come out of their shell and become more social. 

When I first started working at HAWS 12 years ago kitten season came rushing in with baskets, boxes and carriers of kittens coming through the doors starting in March and running right through until the end of October -- sometimes even later.  Then most of our cat adoption ward was filled with cages upon cages of 8 week old kittens.  And even though the little ones were adopted quickly, there was a never ending stream to take their place. 

We've noticed a huge change in the last few years.  Kitten season has started with a trickle, and doesn't really get going until the middle of June.  The students in my education programs during the school year repeatedly ask to see kittens, and it's rare that I have any to show them in the spring.  And while our cat adoption ward has many cages of kittens at the height of kitten season, it's not nearly to the level that it was years ago. 

I give credit to HAWS for this transformation.  Our spay and neuter clinic offers free spay/neuter to farms with barn cats, and to residents taking care of community cats; the cats that have no owners. We've also created alliances with other organizations to take cats if we are over-full and they are able. 

HAWS has a goal to create a no-kill community.  Right now we fulfilling that definition with dogs and our small animals.  And we are ever so much closer to that goal with the cats that we take in; we get closer every year.   Spay and neuter to reduce the population works, and HAWS is proof of that. 

It's Kitten Season!

People who aren't involved in animal sheltering often laugh when I use that term. But it's a common phrase used by those of use who work or volunteer at an animal shelter -- especially in the northern climates where we actually have a winter.

While cats can have up to 3 litters a year -- up here in the great white north animal shelters get very few kittens in the winter. Part of it may be that un-spayed pet cats lucky enough to be kept in the house are less likely to go outside and get themselves in trouble. Part of it may be that the survival of outdoor kittens born in the wintertime is a long-shot.

Kitten season here in Wisconsin generally starts in March -- but don't stop in hoping to choose a kitten from several litters as we don't have many up for adoption. The kittens we're getting in right now are too young to be away from Mom. They're found by members of the community in sheds, under porches, and anywhere else that a mother kitten might think it's safe to raise a family. Most of the time they're brought in without their mother.

It might seem cruel for a baby animal to be taken away from Mom, but the reality is that it's better for the kitten. Most of the kittens being brought in are born to barn or feral cats -- felines that aren't used to interacting with humans and behave more like wild animals. If their kittens aren't handled at a young age they will become feral themselves.

We have a whole slew of human foster parents on stand-by waiting for kittens to come in. Our volunteers take them home along with kitten baby bottles, formula and heating pads to give them a chance at life. Foster parents get up for middle of the night feedings, worry about sick kitties, and occasionally cry over the ones who weren't strong enough to make it. But when the kittens reach 8 weeks and are old enough and strong enough to go up for adoption it makes it all worth it.

Stop in at HAWS in the middle of May -- that's when the kitten season for adopters begins!