I always joke that here in Florida, we have two seasons: summer and not summer. We also have kitten season and more kittens season.
It’s sometimes hard to remember that it doesn’t work that way in the rest of the country. I have driven legs of transports that took kittens north during the winter to rescue organizations who didn’t have any kittens available. In the depth of winter, the snowy parts of the country see the number of kittens in shelters and rescue organizations dwindle to nothing. Female cats have enough trouble fending for themselves under the difficult conditions and don’t procreate successfully that time of year.
But when it’s kitten season, there are cats and kittens galore, more than rescues can handle, right?
Well, that’s why I was surprised to learn that in some parts of the country, this year there aren’t as many cats and kittens needing care as last year or the year before that. The shelter intake numbers are actually down. From where I sit in the part of the country that seems to be a feral cat factory, this seems impossible to imagine. What’s going on?
Cats, by the Numbers
The ASPCA noticed this trend, and they dug into the numbers to figure out what’s going on. Most important, the numbers reported by their partner shelters across the country confirmed that overall cat intake is trending downward.
When they took a closer look at the American Pet Products National Pet Owner’s Survey, they found that in the past 12 years, they discovered that while the numbers of cats living with families has increased, the way that people add a cat or kitten to their family has changed. Less people report adding cats to their family as a result of kittens born from their own cat. Less people are also reporting they got a cat from a friend or took in a stray. At the same time, people who say they adopted a cat more than doubled.
If people are responsibly having their own cats spayed or neutered, they’re going to have to turn to these outside sources for new pets to join their families, so that’s actually really good news!
What Could be Causing this Change?
Just like the dropoff of supply in kittens in winter happening in some parts of the country and not others during the winter, rescue organizations and shelters everywhere don’t seem to be seeing these gradual shifts in numbers yet. But the trend seems to be real enough that years of spay and neuter campaigns and trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs to try to control the feral cat population are finally starting to show results.
Everyone who has reminded a friend or neighbor to spay or neuter their cat has made a difference. Every time you let people know there are reduced-price options for sterilizing their cat when they can’t afford a full-service veterinarian has made a difference. Every feral cat you feed who you also get spayed or neutered has made a difference. The effort isn’t over, but it’s making a difference.
It’s hard to believe when change seems so slow to come, especially if you are in one of the parts of the country like mine where the supply of cats seems absolutely endless. But there’s evidence on a broad scale even if it’s not in your community yet that the years of effort to educate the public into caring better for the cats among us is paying off.
That’s something we can all be happy about.
Image credits: depositphotos/cynoclub, depositphotos/Lusoimages, depositphotos/Cherry-Merry
Slow change often means permanent change, so this is actually a really good thing! Like you, we don’t have a specific kitten season in our area – so TNR is even more important!
Ha Ha Summer and Not Summer that is funny.
I have always heard kittens are born in warm months so I can surely understand why there are so many in Florida.
Great post
Hugs madi your bfff and Mom
Around the UK cats don’t have a time line for being born and there are not too many cats who aren’t in a forever home.
This is such wonderful news! I hope that the years to come will see fewer and fewer cats and kittens entering into shelters.
We sure hope this trend continues. And people continue to spread the word about spaying and neutering their cats.
This is great news! It’s nice to see that all the efforts made are slowly turning into tangible results/numbers. Let’s keep it going!
we certainly noticed that kitten season seemed to start later this year…and wasn’t quite so bad at first. interesting that after studying the numbers it seems to be a trend. let’s hope it continues…and moves south 🙂
I was shocked when an article showed up in our local paper that reported the “revolutionary” new policy in one municipality in the region – TNR. A rescue group apparently convinced one municipality to change their policy from catch/kill to TNR. I still can’t believe that in this day and age, catch/kill is the norm in this area! And the comments online were ugly – with many people not understanding that “ferals” aren’t dangerous. I was both disgusted with the attitudes and wanted to cry. Any time you use the word “extermination” and “cat” in the same sentence, we’re going to have a problem. I hope this research helps expand TNR; I’d love to change the “norm” in the area!
II am glad that TNR is having good results. It breaks my heart to think that some places still just trap and kill these poor innocent kitties.
we have had such success with getting the word out that most of my foster kittens have been imported from other places..
while I’ve always said I’d love to be put out of business I never really meant it.
Wow, imported kittens? That’s AWESOME!!
guys….thiz iz awesum nooze N we can hope de trend
continmewz….de shelter wear me N sauce came frum act shoo a
lee had NOE PETZ…..PERIOD, heer a few back; each N everee one
had finded ther foreverz …….total lee awesum huh ! ♥♥♥
🙂
pee ezz….be safe ♥♥
tuna of moon ~~~~
pWe thought kitten season was over too, then here came some kittens. Less than last year though.
That is so interesting an absolutely wonderful! I know here in VT there is a definite difference depending on the time of year. When spring rolls around people are excited that kittens will be available. Personally, I wish they would give more consideration to an adult cat.
This is fantastic news! We see a difference in feral populations in winter and summer. Our wish is for all kitties to have a home.
We have a definite kitten season here in Connecticut. It was off to a slow start but is picking up now. TNR is such an excellent solution, I’m very glad the number of unwanted kittens is decreasing. Plus, with fewer kittens in the early Spring, PAWS had some great adoptions of older cats.
That is encouraging news!
This is pawsome news and may be because like we were talking on FB about today, shelters and rescues aren’t adopting out cats until they’ve been S/N. That way it doesn’t leave it up to the adopters to get it done.
MOL @ the Florida seasons….we agree!! Interesting facts about the kittens. Let’s hope this trend continues.
The Florida Furkids
Yay ! Great news ! We’re glad to hear that it makes a noticeable difference. Purrs