So Many Kittens!

Every year in the metro area, just as teachers and children are starting to look forward to the end of the school year and area gardeners are looking toward planting their spring plot, an explosion happens.

It's a population explosion and it brings with it hundreds of kittens born to unspayed females cats in the area.

Animal rescuers and shelter personnel refer to it as "Kitten Season" and they wish fervently it wouldn't happen. Although most shelters are full year around, at Easter every year abandoned kittens start pouring through their doors, stretching their resources and staffs to the limit. The constant influx doesn't slow down until well into the fall.

An un-fixed female cat will go into heat at 6 months old and can have two-three litters of kittens per year with the average litter being four-five kittens.

There simply aren't enough homes for them all.

Many kittens end up abandoned or are turned into county shelters, where they are often euthanized after not being adopted or from getting sick. A shelter environment is not the healthiest place for any baby animal, and kittens are no exception.

"Kitten Season" is one reason LifeLine Animal Project opened their first spay and neuter clinic almost 10 years ago and opened their second over a year ago. 

Spaying and neutering dogs and cats is widely accepted as the most humane way of curbing the problems and suffering that accompany pet overpopulation. A routine surgery, spaying a female pet or neutering a male animal also provides some health benefits for pets.

Mickie Blair, LifeLine's field coordinator and cat adoption counselor, has seen many Kitten Seasons and reports that the stresses and sadness of it is wearing for animal rescuers.

"It's sad," she said, "Those poor kitties. There are so many of them and not enough homes. When kittens are abandoned by people who don't want them, they often die."

She's working around the clock to save abandoned kittens even this late in the summer.

A box was discovered on a local sidewalk in the blistering heat of mid-July. Finally someone thought to open it and found it contained two 3-week old kittens who had been thrown away.

LifeLine rescued the kittens, who barely had their eyes open and were covered in fleas.

"Fleas can kill kittens this young," said Blair, who immediately bathed the baby cats and spent an hour picking the bugs off of them by hand.

She's had to be like a mother cat to them. She feeds them using a syringe filled with formula every few hours, even late at night and early into the morning hours.

Even so, Blair says there's no guarantee the "Sidewalk Kitties", as they have been dubbed, will survive.

"They have about a seventy percent chance at this point, " she reported, "They are doing well so far."

The spunky kittens, who are likely siblings, will be up for adoption in a few weeks if they stay healthy.

They are starting to play with each other now and are getting mischievous. They will periodically try to grab and ride on mops used by volunteers and staff to clean the area where they live.

They are not the only kittens and cats rescued by LifeLine this season. The numbers are extremely high and the Avondale Estates nonprofit does their best to keep up with the needs of the homeless pets they rescue.

"We need help," sighed Blair, "To get them treated by vets and get them ready for adoption costs us much more than our adoption fees cover."

To donate to the rescue and care of the Sidewalk Kitties contact info@AtlantaPets.org.

To inquire about adopting them or any of the cats in LifeLine's Kitty Motel, contact mblair@AtlantaPets.org