Kitten Crisis!

The 1st of April this year was my 22nd anniversary in my role at Bridgend Adoption Centre as Centre Manager.  It seems so long ago but only yesterday at the same time!  During my time with CP, I have had the privilege of working with my team at the centre to find forever homes for over 33,000 cats, an achievement which I am extremely proud off.  When I reflect on the figures though, there is a certain amount of sadness mixed in with the joy as each cat and kitten coming into our care has found itself to be homeless, or unwanted.  There are many genuine reasons for cats coming into our care, such as an owner becoming too ill to care for their beloved cat, owner sadly passing away etc., however many more are unwanted pregnant cats and kittens often stray, born outside in poor condition.  In the last 10 years alone, we have admitted 15289 cats and kittens into our care, 6742 of them were kittens, 3244 of whom had the reason for relinquishment as ‘unwanted’ or ‘stray litter’.  

James and Jessie were born outside and admitted into us in poor condition

This year it is predicted that the number of unwanted kittens is expected to get worse after a survey carried out of 1000 cat owners highlighted that many owners were unaware of the importance of neutering and the consequence of not neutering cats at the earliest opportunity: 

77 per cent were unaware that a female cat can become pregnant as early as four months of age 

86 per cent didn’t know that an unneutered female cat can have as many as 18 kittens in a year 

30 per cent of cat owners said it was acceptable for a female cat to have a litter of kittens before being spayed    

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Millie was admitted to us at 10 months of age, she has already given birth to and weaned a litter of kittens.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in fewer vets doing neutering, Cats Protection estimates that as many as 84,000 extra kittens could be born this summer and possibly more in the light of this survey.  This is worrying news for us and sadly we are already hearing and seeing the impact of COVID-19 at our centre with members of the public with their cats giving birth to kittens as they have been unable to get them neutered due to the COVID-19 restrictions.  We are also getting more frequent reports of kittens being found in gardens, sheds as well premises such as school grounds and cemeteries.   

Silky gave birth to her kittens during the COVID-19 Crisis

We have continued to help cats and kittens during the COVID-19 crisis concentrating on cats and kittens in emergency situations due to the restrictions in place and resources available.  During this time, we have admitted 110 adult cats and 106 kittens, all cats and kittens were collected by our cat carers following government guidelines in place for rescue centres.  Unfortunately, some cats and kittens we weren’t able to help despite our best efforts due to government COVID-19 guidelines.  These are mainly cats and kittens who are very frightened and run away when approached or semi ferals.  We have kept a record of these and ensured that all of them have kind members of the public to feed them and keep a check on them until we are able to trap them to admit them into our care or neuter and return them to site.  

Humus, Honey and Hashbrown were born outside in a garden

One of the biggest developments during my time at CP and one which potentially could have a huge impact on the cat and kitten welfare is the early neutering of kittens.  Cats Protection advocates neutering from 4 months of age and there are many vets that are neutering from this age and younger, in the case of semi feral kittens.  Cats Protection has a kitten neutering vet database to help you find your nearest practice to neuter your kitten, you can search it using your post code here 

Many people have concerns over neutering kittens at such a young age, this is understandable but kittens are extremely resilient and recover well from their surgery.  We started neutering kittens at 10 weeks of age over 10 years ago and reduced the neutering age to 8 weeks last year and it never ceases to amaze me to see kittens up playing a few hours after surgery,  we see far fewer post-surgery complications in kittens than we do in adults, and the use of dissolvable stitches mean kittens are ready to leave our care to their forever home 48 hours after neutering.   

As the restrictions continue to ease and vets become fully operational, please ensure that you get your cat/kitten neutered to help prevent the predicted number of unwanted kittens.  There are steps you can take in the meanwhile to prevent your cat becoming pregnant such as keeping un-neutered cats indoors, and keeping different sex kittens apart.  Cats Protection have produced an infographic with some more useful tips, this can be viewed here  Please share this with friends and family via social media. 

Cats Protection & RSPCA Cymru are running a £5.00 neuter and chip scheme for people on benefits and low income, you can find out more here

Cats Protection also gives free educational talks to prepare cat owners of the future, this is a key part of raising cat welfare standards and reducing the number of unwanted kittens in the future, you can find out more here

With all of us working together and making use of the resources available we can make a real difference to the welfare of cats and hopefully in the future make the annual kitten crisis a thing of the past. 

Bye for now! 

Sue Dobbs