It's kitten season!

[spinbaby]

I had no plans to foster this year, but have three kittens living in my bathroom. Every local rescue or organization that deals with cats in any way is overrun with kittens. The low-cost spay and neuter I volunteer for is fixing 300 cats a month and still there are more. Every year is bad, but this year, we seem to have more neglected, abandoned, hungry kittens than ever. Panic is beginning to set in.

Please, if you can provide a good home for a cat, now is the time to adopt or foster. If you have no room for cats in your home, please consider donating money or kitten food to your local rescue organization.

[rampartc]

1. i feed 14 of the little dastards

only snowball is a housecat, and 3 or 4 of the others are friendly, but most are feral and avoid me except breakfast time.

[spinbaby]

3. I hope they're fixed

Feeding without fixing is how you get overrun.

[rampartc]

8. it took a while to get them all fixed, but now they are all getting old and fat.

i think we get a few dumped on the block occasionally.

i'm also feeding a few possums. they love cat food. i wonder if i could get them fixed?

[spinbaby]

10. Great that they're fixed!

You’re a good cat caretaker.

[japple]

14. My vet fixes dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, guinea pigs, ferrets, rats,

rabbits but I've never heard her say that she would sp/neuter possums. Keep them coming. With their high mortality rate, we need as many as we can get. They eat ticks and other gross things.

[lark]

7. I feed 8 feral cats at 3 places within a 2 mile radius.

All are spayed except the 2 kittens and I'm surprised the city hasn't caught them already. We tried to pick up one of them on 2 occasions, trying to get them in our cat carrier and to the vet, but they scratched me the one time and bit my husband the other. We are still hoping to tame them enough to be able to get them in the carriers and get them spayed and to our house. We want to give them a place to get out of the storms. The other 2 sets of cats have people that will open the garage for them when it's bad out, but the kittens don't.

[rampartc]

9. i use a trap

baited with sardines and use the trap as a carrier. i own this trap, but the local spca will lend you one.

[lark]

15. I will have to call them.

Thanks.

[rampartc]

16. your local spca may have a "feral cat specialist" who could be a great resource

not only for the trap, but she probably knows which vets do free/ discount spay and neuter, and perhaps foster humans etc.

i talk to my local cat lady every few months just to say "hi" and does she need anything.

[lark]

17. Thanks, good to know.

[japple]

2. I've got two little foundlings, one of which was rescued from trying to cross a busy

highway with crusty eyes. She has lost one eye and has a (recovering) corneal ulcer on the other. She is also FIV positive, but vet hopes it's just from her mother's antibodies. She is busy, feisty, playful, and doesn't let her eye problems slow her down. The other kit was found all alone in a shopping center parking lot. He looks so much like a little bear cub and he is the sweetest baby ever. I hope that there is a place for them to go when the get big enough to have their operations.

I've been doing this for about 11 or 12 years and, you're right, this is about the worst I've ever seen. Thank you for your post.

[spinbaby]

11. We're seeing a lot of that this year

We’ve seen a lot of kittens losing eyes this year and think maybe a virus is behind it.

[japple]

12. Yep. I think it is herpes virus. It is also affecting birds. We have had birds with limited vision

that fly into the windows near our bird feeders/birdbath. We've put decals on the windows to try to stop that.

[Duppers]

4. Doing our part...

We adopted a street girl from a rescue a month ago. She's a wild woman but in the best way.

🐱

[japple]

13. Bless you for saving a kitty! She is one of the lucky ones.

[luvtheGWN]

5. We have the opposite situation here in Ontario.

City folks looking to adopt a cat are finding the shelters empty and are going out to farms in the country. My niece has a big dairy farm and she's had several people asking for kittens. She was offered $250/kitten! The same thing has happened to her neighbours.

What brought all this on? The pandemic! People spending more time at home, realizing they need the distractions (and love) of a 4-legged friend. Purebreed puppies have quadrupled in price and doggie shelters are empty.

It's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say.

[Random Boomer]

6. Unfortunately, the inn is full

We have 6 rescue cats and can't take in any more. Of course, we were planning a full stop at four cats, but one kitten showed up on our back porch and the other one was starving out in the back alley (and old enough to get pregnant). We took them in with the intention of finding new homes for them.... but I got too attached to them and my wife finally relented.

Heaven help us if any more waifs show up.