Taking responsibility for a cat

Ownership accountability …

between the months of October and February, a cardboard box arriving at a shelter can only mean one thing, kittens. With the best of intentions, when someone finds a litter of kittens they assume that they are abandoned and take them to the shelter, not realizing that the mother cat is never far away. By removing the kittens, you bring the mother back into season and she can be pregnant again within six weeks. You are now in the same position as before, you still have a stray cat problem, and in fact you have accelerated her breeding capacity.

Animal Aid want to get the message across that simply bringing the kittens in achieves very little in the big picture. If they can obtain the mother cats as well, they can desex them and essentially halt that colonies potential to get out of control. The community needs to understand that it is no longer acceptable to say “it’s not my cat; I just put food out for it” – it simply doesn’t wash. If you do have this attitude then unfortunately you are part of the problem. The onus is on you, to either take responsibility for that animal and make it your own and make sure it is de-sexed or hand it over to the appropriate authority, such as your welfare shelter or local council.