The Catalyst mantra, “making every cat a wanted cat,” is a reflection of our mission to stem the tragedy of feline overpopulation. To better understand why wanton breeding is considered tragic, allow me to relate the following…

Ten weeks ago a Santa Maria queen found a car with a broken window, jumped in and gave birth to six kittens. Mom was friendly, obviously had been someone’s unspayed pet, but no one claimed her and her babies now. The woman who owned the car drove to one of our volunteer’s home and dumped the whole family on us.

We test all nursing mothers when they come to us to find out if they and their kittens are infected with FIV (Feline HIV) or FeLV (Feline Leukemia), two nasty diseases which abound in the North County. This was a Sunday when no veterinarians were open, so the queen could not be tested prior to going into foster with her brood.

Once in foster, the matter of testing was sidelined until the first two kittens went in for spay and neuter surgery at eight weeks; the results showed a faint positive for FeLV. They were immediately retested with the same results.

With this potentially deadly news, momma was rushed in for her own test and surprisingly those results were negative. Now faced with conflicting information, the remaining four kittens were also tested. Three came back positive and the fourth matched momma’s negative result. What a conundrum.

Whenever one of our kittens tests positive for either FIV or FeLV, we hold them in foster for sixty days and then retest. We do this because an infected mother can pass on the virus to her offspring through her milk and normal grooming. Sometimes the virus is sloughed off by the kitten’s natural antibodies and will no longer be at risk. If they again test positive after the holding period, we face the very sad decision to put them down.

Adult cats with FeLV are put down routinely as they cannot be TNR’d and returned to the streets to infect other felines. Their kittens may also be put down or separated from queens and hand-raised, hopefully saving their lives from this virus through the gift of time.

Fostering kittens is very rewarding until you find yourself caring for those in a situation like the family above. After weeks of hands-on loving, the thought of losing seven lives all at once can be almost more than one can bear.

Desperate to avoid putting all seven down and not wanting to prolong that possible decision for another agonizing eight weeks, I took the whole lot back to the vet for further more expensive testing. This test involved drawing a lot more blood, something very difficult to do on kittens as the veins are so tiny.

There is nothing so heart-breaking as being one of three people holding a kitten down during this delicate process. The kitten cries in pain while momma growls in her carrier at my feet, unable to protect her babies. She, too, cries and struggles when it is her turn even though she is in a restraint bag. This is the only way unless the animal is first sedated, rarely done due to the general risks of anesthesia.

It was an excruciating two hours for all but in the end it was worth it as every test came back negative, saving them from the needle and clearing them for adoption. Hallelujah, but what a sobering week it was.

A different foster has been working night and day to save another unwanted litter of four, this one born in the wild at a local winery. The caregiver lost one little kitten on Monday and another on Thursday despite heroic efforts of administering subcutaneous fluids four times per day to combat dehydration, force-feeding every two-three hours, and even having blood transfusions and tests done.

Expenses cannot be measured in dollars alone but also in lives lost. These two litters have generated over $1,000 in medical bills in just over a week and this with our non-profit discount. The tears shed by all of us who rescue cats and their kittens carry no price tag but the paw prints they leave on our hearts.

Volunteers put heart and soul into their work, and while there is much to celebrate there is heartache which comes from sick and dying kittens that should never have been born. So many cats roam the streets unaltered and not vaccinated against disease nor protected against fleas and other parasites. Left to breed per nature’s way, the tragic results are suffered by their kittens; this cycle is repeated two-three times each season.

There will always be kittens, but please help us make every one of them wanted. Spay and neuter your pets and protect them from disease and parasites. Call us if there are breeding cats in your area, now before kittens appear.