With spring here and temperatures becoming milder, local humane societies in Waterloo region and Guelph are gearing up for “kitten season.” 

It sounds like a cute problem – and it is – but it’s also a very busy and demanding time of the year.

“Kitten season refers to the time of year when unspayed female cats begin giving birth more frequently,” Kaleigh Siegner-Robertson, coordinator for marketing and communications at the Humane Society of Kitchener-Waterloo and Stratford-Perth, told CBC News.

“The sudden increase in [the kitten] population can really overwhelm our shelter and other rescue organizations,” Siegner-Robertson said.

She says it’s “typically due to longer daylight hours [and] milder temperatures,” which encourage breeding among unspayed cat populations.

According to the K-W Humane Society website, kitten season usually starts in early spring and continues until late fall. 

A host of challenges

Kitten season brings a host of challenges to local shelters, one being the sheer number of kittens born throughout the period.

Lisa Baer, animal care manager at the London Animal Care Centre, told CBC News that one cat can have up to five litters a year. “With an average of four to six kittens per litter,” each cat can have as many as 20 to 30 kittens every year, she added.

So far this kitten season, Siegner-Robertson says the K-W Humane Society has already seen a couple of kittens, “but nothing too crazy yet.”

“This year, we’re actually seeing a bit of a later start,” she said. “Last year we actually had our first pregnant cat come into the K-W Humane Society right around the end of February.”

Meanwhile, the Guelph Humane Society already had their first kitten of the season, which they named Chance. 

“It’s just starting for us now,” Jane Dawkins, director of communications and community engagement at the Guelph Humane Society, told CBC News. “It’s either partially [due to] the weather change, the light change, people running and coming into orphaned wildlife, just seeing them more than we do in the winter months.”

Unfortunately, Dawkins said many of the kittens that arrive at shelters require “labour-intensive care.”

Siegner-Robertson agrees, saying the need for urgent care is more common for kittens that are found without their mothers.

“If [the mother cat] is still there, it might not be as intensive care on our end,” she explained. “But if we don’t have access to the mother, that can sometimes require round-the-clock bottle feeding, warmth, medical care, all of those kinds of things.”

This is where the value of volunteers comes in.

Dawkins said the Guelph Humane Society relies on its foster network to deliver the needed care because the kittens are “growing and won’t be ready for adoption for quite some time.”

As part of the Guelph Humane Society’s volunteer recruitment criteria, they ask if a person has the ability to foster a kitten until they are ready for adoption, which Dawkins calls a “big commitment.”

How to help

There are several ways to help local humane societies during this challenging season.

Both the K-W and Guelph humane societies said they welcome volunteers and fosters. 

In case anyone comes across a lost kitten, Baer reminds people not to “kidnap” them, which means don’t just pick them up and bring them to shelters without looking for the mother. 

“We really need mom too, not to mention if mom’s left outside, then she’s just going to keep having litter after litter,” she explained.

Adopting is also an option, but at the very least, Siegner-Robertson said “making sure that your pets are spayed and neutered” already makes a difference.