Have you heard the caterwauling of mating cats yet? Kitten season has started with a vengeance, and it’s just barely Spring. Yes, it’s raining kittens. Did you know that an above average rainy season means larger (more than four) litters? It seems that everything grows better with water. We held a Spay-a-thon in Santa Maria on March 2 for ferals. Of the 54 brought in, 32 were females, 18 of which were already pregnant with several more in heat! It was a real wake-up call to us all, and it’s time to remind our community to help us catch these strays NOW before kittens start appearing in backyards and fields.

Sadly, the plight of feral kittens is far from that of the privileged house cat. Oh, for a soft pillow in front of a fire with a bowl of tasty kibble nearby. Instead, death by starvation and exposure is rampant among kittens, as well as infestations of fleas, ear mites and ticks, and the ever present predation of hawks, owls and coyotes.

Feral cats will sometimes band together in female family groups, subsisting on local wild food sources of rodents and birds. While declining populations of gophers, mice, moles, and the like is good for the surrounding human neighborhoods, during kitten season the food source drastically depletes as mothers compete to feed their litters and themselves. Weaning begins at four-five weeks, along with hunting lessons. If game is scarce or the kittens are unable to master the art of bringing down a mouse, they will starve. In the meantime, the mother has likely gone into heat again and will soon bring forth another litter.

Time is of the essence. You can help stem the tide of endless suffering kittens by a simple phone call to Catalyst for Cats. Trapping, spay/neutering and returning (TNR) the adult cats is essential to curbing tragic stories of starvation or worse. Returning these cats to where they are trapped provides the good pest control only a feral can cat render to our communities. There will always be a plethora of feral kittens, as we can’t catch them all, but we send out a plea to the community to contact us immediately upon finding an unfamiliar cat in your yard. We will trap it and, if it isn’t feral, the owner will have a chance to find it. If it is wild, it will be spayed/neutered, inoculated against diseases and fleas, and then returned to live out its natural life, but without the voracious breeding urges.

Catalyst for Cats is a Santa Barbara County nonprofit organization dedicated to the welfare of feral cats. Through its TNR and feeding programs, scores of strays have a regular food source, find relief from the endless breeding urges and homes are found for those who are able to be socialized.