According to the Best Friend's Animal Society, from May to November, an increase in kittens throughout the nation occurs due to female cats that are not spayed having most of their kittens which can lead to a high number of strays.
“We are projecting from now until October, we will have approximately three thousand kittens under the age of five months coming into animal shelters throughout Kern County and Bakersfield,” said Yael Oppenheimer The Regional Strategist for Best Friend's Animal Society.
Yael Oppenheimer with Best Friend's Animal Society says kitten season may sound adorable, but it is actually a very stressful time of the year with an increase in stray cats throughout the country. But she says they are working hard to help reduce the number of stray cats.
One community cat program based out of Tehachapi is also stepping in to help this kitten season.
“We go around and work colonies throughout Tehachapi, sometimes in Bakersfield, but mostly in Tehachapi, and get stray cats spayed or neutered,” said Gina Christopher The Founder of Fixin Feral Felines.
Gina Christopher, the founder of Fixin Feral Felines, and Oppenheimer both agree that one major factor to help with kitten season is getting as many cats spayed or neutered, and Christopher has some tips if you find a kitten that is a stray.
“You should really examine the situation, determine rather or not if that kitten is all by itself or if in fact it has a mother nearby. It is not usually recommended to pull the kittens from the mother unless they have reached an age where they can be feeding on their own, drinking on their own,” said Christopher.
Christopher says that the age is typically six weeks which you can tell by the color of the eyes which are blue with the exception of Siamese cats.
Oppenheimer says the overall goal for Best Friend's Animal Society is to make every community a no kill by 2025, and they are seeing progress.
“From over a 1,000,000 dogs and cats being killed in shelters back in 2016 to about around 300,000 towards 2021, so it is an incredible progress that has been done,” said Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer says once kittens are around two months and are able to eat and drink on their own, fostering and adopting is also a great way to help reduce stray cats, and animal shelters are a great resource for spaying and neutering.
