EACH YEAR, BETWEEN March and September, unneutered cats start breeding at an alarming rate. This often leads to a massive spike in the cat population which you may have already noticed in your local area. Understandably, this puts a massive strain on shelters around the country and the DSPCA need your help.
As a direct result of ‘kitten season’, the DSPCA see approximately 700 kittens come through their doors, with each one costing around €250 to be nursed back to health.
Since 2021, the intake of kittens during this time of year has doubled and is expected to rise again this year. Many of these kittens are abandoned and are left to try and survive as strays.
Each female cat can become pregnant from as early as four months old, and reproduce multiple times during the season. According to spayusa.org’s calculations, one unneutered cat couple can be responsible for producing up to eighteen kittens during their first kitten season, increasing to almost twelve thousand in five years and over two million kittens in eight years of fertility.
Unfortunately, without intervention, research suggests that close to 75% of the kittens born in this surge will die or disappear within six months. Those who survive will generally do everything they can to stay away from humans, hissing and spitting in fear.
Prevention is often better than the cure, and that’s why the DSPCA has launched its Kitten Season Task force. It aims to reduce suffering and manage the drain on resources that occurs every kitten season.
The DSPCA, which has been in operation in the capital since 1840, is focused on the most humane way of managing this resource drain while prioritising animal welfare. By neutering just one male and one female cat, more than 2,000 unwanted births can be prevented in just four years.
The Kitten Season task force operates the Trap Neuter Return (TNR) programme. TNR is a subsidised spay and neuter service for community cats. With the primary aim of preventing suffering, it is a humane method of managing and reducing the population of these cats.
It works via collaboration between communities and DSPCA volunteers. Once a stray cat is brought to the attention of the DSPCA, volunteers or animal welfare officers can catch them.
The cats are then brought to the DSPCA, where the team of vets carefully spay or neuter them. This is to prevent further breeding and spread of infectious diseases. The cat will also receive other necessary medical treatments.
After being spayed or neutered and treated for any medical needs, the cats are returned to their original location, where they feel safe and have a food source.
The intervention from the DSPCA removes the risk to the health of mother cats who can have three litters a season, the risk of injury through fighting to tomcats and ultimately stops the suffering of sick and abandoned kittens who may not get the medical attention they need in time.
Donate now to the DSPCA’s Kitten Season task force as they tackle this busy period.
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