One cat just leads to another. ~ Ernest Hemmingway

My friend Jane is a volunteer for TAILS Humane Society in DeKalb, Illinois. She does everything from hands-on interactions with the animals to fundraising. She fosters kittens until they are old enough to be adopted. She is also involved in (TNR) Trap-Neuter-Return, an effective, internationally recognized program to reduce, and eventually eliminate, feral cat colonies.

During the "kitten season" the shelter is overwhelmed with kittens. The season comes between May and September, with peak months for kitten births in June, July and August. During these months, the number of kittens and pregnant cats at shelters multiplies. This shelter is prepared to handle 60 cats and kittens at a time. As of June 1st there were nearly 100, I’m sure that number has drastically changed since than.

The shelter accepts as many animals as it possibly can, it also places kittens in foster homes while searching for permanent homes for them. The shelter provides its 10 to 15 foster cat owners with the medical supplies and food they need to care for the kittens. My friend Jane now has 15 kittens residing in her home.

Jane is deeply committed and speaks to me often about this problem. For every litter that comes into the shelter there's two or three that don't make it to the shelter, they are dumped at farms, parks, homes or in the wild. These kittens face the dangers of other wildlife, vehicles, bad weather and exposure to viruses their immune systems can't handle. If they survive to adulthood, they will likely mate, creating more homeless animals.

The problem has an easy solution: have pets spayed or neutered.

A common reason people don't get their pets fixed is because they claim it’s too expensive. There are veterinarian clinics that offer low cost spaying or neutering, information that is easily obtained from a local shelter, the humane society or Love that Cat website which provides a great listing.

REMEMBER
PLEASE DON’T LITTER! SPAY AND NEUTER!