A kitten from the Waikato SPCA, Hamilton centre, waiting for its furr-ever home. Photo / SPCA
A kitten from the Waikato SPCA, Hamilton centre, waiting for its furr-ever home. Photo / SPCA
As peak kitten season begins, and with animal shelters at or near capacity, people are being urged to get their pets desexed.
SPCA has about 3000 cats and kittens in its care nationwide, and was urging owners to act before the peak breeding season.
Kitten season overlaps with the warmer summer months when cats were actively looking to mate, with the season’s peak usually around March to April.
SPCA general manager for animal services Dr Corey Regnerus-Kell said the Waikato centre in Hamilton had already experienced big numbers of cats and kittens being brought in.
“We really hit that peak in November and there was a day towards the end of the month where we had 28 cats and kittens brought into the centre.
“What we are finding now is that unwanted, unowned, stray, and feral cats, are all at the moment getting pregnant and therefore having litters of kittens so it is a massive influx across the country.”
Regnerus-Kell, said reports of unwanted litters was a daily occurrence.
A litter of kittens at the Hamilton SPCA centre, cuddling with their siblings. Photo / SPCA
“At the moment we get calls multiple times in a day, daily of people finding cats or kittens, and asking what to do with them.
“An important piece of advice is that SPCA looks after the injured, the diseased, and the vulnerable. We look after those animals we can’t find an owner for, unwell animals and we’re seeing a lot of stray cats right now being skinny and having skin conditions or having parasites, and animals that can’t look after themselves.
“Young kittens less than six to eight weeks of age, and have been seen with their mum, are left with her because she won’t re-mate while she’s lactating. As soon as they hit the age, we want to catch them and separate mum from babies and get her desexed, because as soon as she’s done lactating she can cycle again and have another litter in 52 days.”
He said every cat or dog owner, except registered breeders should be desexing their pets because “animal nature has a very strong drive” and cats in particular were generally not confined to their owner’s property.
“So when it’s kitten season and cats are actively out looking to mate, it’s just their natural drive and you can’t stop that.
“It’s challenging to keep them contained and not get pregnant because if a cat wants to get pregnant, she will. The only way to truly prevent it is to get them desexed.”
Waikato SPCA is at full capacity and it would appreciate anyone that can help. Photo / Danielle Nicholson.
Regnerus-Kell, said they would expect one and a half, to two and a half litters per cat per year during the season, and they could have anywhere from six to 12 kittens in a litter.
“By desexing a cat you’re preventing nearly 21 unwanted cats or kittens being born in a year for the lifetime of that cat, which is helping to prevent the long-term overrun.”
Based on the New Zealand Companion Animal Register’s annual report in 2020, it would cost over 60 million dollars to de-sex all cats and dogs in the country with the standard vet rate.
Regnerus-Kell said the SPCA provided snip and chip vouchers for desexing, which subsidised the cost.
“It really is a societal need to get on board and proactively help us in this approach because if numbers keep going up with unwanted litters, that number is just going to keep going up.”
He emphasised that centres nationwide were at full capacity and the SPCA would appreciate any help they could get.
“The pressure is on when our centres are at full capacity and volunteers are really helpful in that space. We struggled with volunteers post-covid and as we’ve seen the increase of the cost of living crisis, those that volunteered have to look for paid work now.
“We had more foster parents because people were working from home more during covid-19, so we always need more fosterers because it can get animals out of the centre, which means the staff in the centre can have a bit of a break and know that these animals are being cared for.”
For those interested in volunteering or becoming a foster parent for a furry companion, information and applications are available on the SPCA website.
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.
