Understanding Your Cat

Posts Tagged ‘spay and neuter’

By Bev Greco • February 24, 2009

It’s that time of year again: The first litter of infant kittens arrived at the Cumberland County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter last week. Hundreds will follow, along with at least a couple of thousand adults.

Cats are extremely prolific; they can come into heat by the age of 4 months and can produce as many as five litters per year. One mother cat can easily have 15 or more kittens between February and November. Keep in mind: The kittens she had early in the season can become pregnant that same year. Here at the shelter, we dread the beginning of kitten season, knowing that the vast majority of those adorable little creatures don’t have a snowballs’ chance in …

Can you imagine caring for those adorable little creatures, even for a short amount of time, knowing they have no chance to survive? Very few people can resist the charm of baby kittens; folks come into our lobby and see a playpen of those little fluff balls frolicking, or even sleeping, and they are immediately smitten. Unfortunately, we could fill that playpen up a few times a day; there are far too many animals and not nearly enough adopters.

There is an answer. It requires a commitment on a personal, local and state level. SPAY AND NEUTER! Yes, it really is that simple and that complicated, we as a society have been unable to adopt this answer on a broad scale.

As pet owners, we must live up to our responsibilities by making sure that our owned animals are fixed.

As citizens, we must promote responsible city ordinances and state legislation to require spay and neuter and provide funding for low-cost clinics. As municipal and county governing bodies, we must implement and enforce such measures to reduce the numbers of stray animals and, ultimately, the horrifying statistics of euthanasia.

Bev Greco is executive director of the Cumberland County SPCA.

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