Kitten frenzy at Whanganui SPCA as breeding season kicks off early

Whanganui SPCA foster family volunteer Jacquie Barnes has been looking after Patches and Teddy until they are ready for adoption. Photo / Eva de Jong

SPCA’s Whanganui centre is preparing for a flood of kittens with its first litter of the breeding season arriving early.

In the 2023-24 financial year, a total of 533 kittens came into the centre, down from 704 the previous year.

But centre manager Francie Flis-Pryce said despite their de-sexing efforts, the kitten season was not slowing down.

“It’s going to hit in the next couple of weeks.

“Predominantly young litters of kittens are coming into the centre in volume.

“I think on our busiest day last year we had 26 kittens in one day.”

SPCA Whanganui kittens Patches and Teddy are part of the first litter of the breeding season. Photo / Eva de Jong

The kitten season lasts through spring and summer, but last season it continued until June and July.

“Seeing it kick off again early; we haven’t even had time to recover from the last lot.”

The first litter - including Teddy and Patches - will be desexed next week and then put up for adoption.

Flis-Pryce said because most kitten litters came from unvaccinated street cats, the kittens were often sick and had to receive medical treatment before they were ready to be adopted.

She said there was only one way to slow down the number of kittens coming into the centre.

“Desexing is the answer to try and get numbers down.”

SPCA kitten Kaitlyn needs a home - she has been at the Whanganui centre for four months. Photo / Eva de Jong

During the Covid lockdown period, desexing was not considered an essential service which caused a boom in the population of stray cats.

In SPCA Whanganui’s 2021-22 financial year, 627 kittens came into the centre.

Flis-Pryce said she thought the cost of desexing could be a barrier to families as individual vet clinics determined their price point for the procedure.

“If you can’t afford it, talk to your vets and come up with a pre-payment plan to really prioritise that.”

Microchipping animals helped the SPCA to identify if an animal was a stray or already had a home and was lost.

Scar, a 5-year-old former street fighter, is looking for a family. Photo / Eva de Jong

In a recent case, a Hamilton family’s cat turned up at the Whanganui centre and, despite being so far from home, was able to be reunited with its owners due to it being microchipped.

Kitten adoptions were not restricted to a family’s city of residence.

Last week, SPCA’s Whanganui centre flew a cat to Auckland on an Air Chathams flight to be adopted by a family who had fallen in love with the animal online.

“The amount of cats coming in is obviously higher than the numbers going out, and that’s when we rely on the greater SPCA network to transfer animals to other centres where there are higher adoptions,” Flis-Pryce said.

In previous cases, animals had been sent on pet buses to the South Island for adoption.

How to help

• The SPCA is always looking for foster families to look after kittens temporarily until they are ready for adoption.
• Desexing your pet ensures that your animal won’t contribute to the large number of kittens the SPCA finds homes for each year.
• Microchipping pets helps to ensure the SPCA can identify your animal if it gets lost and taken to a centre.
• Adopting from the SPCA means animals are already desexed and have been through thorough health checks.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.