Kitten and puppy season is upon us. What does that mean? It means the litters from unaltered pets are being born at a rate that rescue cannot keep up with. There are so many unspayed and unneutered cats and dogs in our area, that when they breed their babies often end up at animal control because the owners don’t want them. Within four days over 60 cats/kittens were surrendered to Harrison County Animal Control. For the ones that do not get adopted, they will sadly have to be euthanized. What is the simplest solution to this problem? SPAYING & NEUTERING.

 

Here are some cold hard facts about dogs cats with population control. Cats can start getting pregnant at 4 months old. That’s right – 4 months! So you need your cat spayed by no later than four or five months old to prevent unwanted litters. And cats go can back into heat a month or two after they give birth to a litter. So as soon as they wean one litter they can potentially get pregnant with another. A cat can potentially have three to four litters in one year.  Dogs can go into heat as early as five months old so they need spayed no later than four or five months old to prevent their unwanted litters as well. They usually have two heat cycles per year, but some breeds, especially smaller breeds have the potential to get pregnant up to three times in a year.

 

Now that I gave you the facts let’s talk numbers. One pair of unspayed and unneutered cats and their offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years. One pair of unspayed/unneutered dogs and their offspring can create 67,000 in just six years. Why do these numbers matter so much? Because those litters that are deemed unwanted will be surrendered to animal control eventually. And local rescues and the humane society can only pull what they have room for, and so sadly the remaining animals would have to be euthanized. It is a sad reality. We, the Humane Society, as well as other rescues, can also use foster homes for these animals. Fostering is easy, we can set you up with everything you need, and you have helped to save a life or a litter! Contact us if interested in becoming a foster at 304-592-1600.

 

What can you do to help? If your own pets are not altered, please spay and/or neuter them. If you cannot afford to do it, there is help out there. The Humane Society of Harrison County has a limited amount of vouchers that we give out every month, and many other rescues in the area such as PURR WV, has either clinics or vouchers to alleviate some of the costs as well. If you are willing to donate to the Humane Society cause of spay & neuter- you can sponsor a voucher. For one cat the cost of a voucher is $40, a dog is $50, and we also have a kindest cut voucher which costs around $100. You can find more info at our website www.hshcwv.org. If you see pets being given away on Facebook or Craiglist, encourage them to spay/neuter before the pet is given away, and educate to people that there are programs out there to help. Have a stray in your neighborhood? – ask some neighbors to chip in and have someone take the cat to get altered and vaccinations. If you would need a trap to catch them, you can rent one from your local animal control.

 

Anything you can do to help with controlling the population is appreciated. It not only saves us thousands of pets from being euthanized, but can help to alleviate health issues that can run rampant throughout a cat population. Not only do we in animal rescue thank you, and the thousands of animals being born unwanted thank you, but the community as a whole thanks you.