‘Kitten season’: How shelters are handling the influx

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — West Michigan shelters are starting to see more kittens come through their doors.

This time of year is often referred to as “kitten season,” when a spike in population typically occurs.

The director of the Kent County Animal Shelter, Angela Hollinshead, says the organization is working to make more people aware of the importance of spaying and neutering.

“We prepare for it every year,” Hollinshead said. “This time of year we see about 60% of our feline intake is kittens.”

Hollinshead says if you come across a litter, the best option may be to leave it alone if they are not in immediate danger and are being cared for by their mother.

“Really the safest place for unweaned kittens, or kittens that are reliant on their mother for food, the safest place for them is actually with the mother,” she said. “Unweaned kittens that come into the shelter system, they have a reduced likelihood of survival.”

The shelter partners with other organizations that help with fostering kittens who no longer have their mother, but the process is far from easy.

“Unweaned kittens require around-the-clock care. They have to be bottle-fed. They have to be stimulated to go to the bathroom. They’re very fragile medically. They tend to get sick very easy. They have to be kept warm,” Hollinshead said. “It takes a lot of volunteer force to really raise a litter of kittens on their own.”

The shelter says efforts to spay and neuter the population have made an impact.

“We at the Kent County Animal Shelter have spayed and neutered over 1,600 community cats in the last three years,” Hollinshead said.

Maureen Herendeen with the nonprofit Feral Cat Solutions helps spay and neuter community cats and care for kittens.

“We usually start seeing kittens around March, April. It gets really heavy May, June, July, August, all the way through until probably October,” Herendeen said. “We’re really urging people to bring any kittens they see in, so we can not having them reproducing over the winter.”

If you do find kittens, she says the best approach is to reach out to shelters for guidance and, if you need to surrender the animals, to establish contact in advance to make arrangements.

“The most important thing is to plan ahead. Reach out, get your help lined up,” Herendeen said.

To learn more about how to adopt, you can visit the Kent County Animal Shelter website.

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