Animal Friends Humane Society
WHAT: Seventh Annual Birthday Paw-ty
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Pet adoptions will run from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: 1820 Princeton Road, Hamilton.
There’s a passel of kittens at the Animal Friends Humane Society. A plethora. An abundance.
Just plain too many.
“This time of year we always see an influx of people that have cats,” said director Meg Stephenson. “People have cats that are indoor and outdoor and not spayed and neutered. We get a slew of unwanted litters of cats and kittens.”
Each year the shelter sees a massive influx of cats and kittens around the spring, summer and fall months, according to Stephenson.
To combat this increase in intake, the shelter is offering discounted adoption fees.
A $10 adoption fee includes spay/neuter, microchip, vaccinations, feline leukemia testing, and a free bag of cat or kitten food.
The shelter currently has around 75 to 100 cats under its care, according to Stephenson.
“It’s typically called kitten season because of the influx,” she said.
The increase in cats at animal shelters is being seen regionally.
For the first time in at least a decade, the number of cats at the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center could surpass the number of dogs, director Mark Kumpf said. He said dogs typically have outnumbered cats 2-to-1. But as of last Friday there were 79 dogs and 50 cats, with the number of cats up by about 25 percent over the shelter’s usual August amount.
The easiest way to control the number of kittens born during kitten season is to spay and neuter cats. The Humane Society of the United States also suggests other ways to help the cat population, including donating to local shelters, caring for feral cats in your area, becoming a foster cat parent and adopting a cat.
A female cat can become pregnant at five months old, according to the Humane Society.
Increased human activity outdoors during summer also plays a roll, Stephenson said.
“In the winter time, it’s much lower,” she said. “We’re not seeing the same volume (in the winter) of cats and kittens. People are out and about more in the summer weather so they’re coming across more stray cats and they aren’t sure what to do so they pick them up. In the winter time, less people are out and they don’t come across them as much.”
As part of an event celebrating the seventh year in its current location, Animals Friends will offer $7 adoptions on Saturday for cats at the shelter. Cat adoptions normally cost $10.
“A lot of people can get free cats anywhere,” Stephenson said. “The cats that are spayed, neutered and vaccinated, we want those cats to get into a home.”
Staff writer Lynn Hulsey contributed to this report.
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