Kitten season is here: how to help and what to do if you find babies outside

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Central Ohio animal rescues are beginning to feel the effects of kitten season, an annual baby boom that can cause a plethora of issues for felines, wildlife and humans.

In central Ohio, kitten season begins in March and lasts through the summer, as warmer temperatures and longer days trigger cats' reproductive cycles. During this time, many shelters become overwhelmed with kittens and are forced to stop accepting animals. 

When rescues fill up, kittens can suffer the ultimate price. Only 25% of cats born outside that do not receive human assistance survive past 6 months old, according to the nonprofit Humane World for Animals.

Colony Cats is an animal welfare organization that has served central Ohio for more than 20 years. The organization fixes and provides resources to feral cats, as well as maintains an adoption center in Dublin. Executive Director Mona McKinniss said during last year’s kitten season, the organization helped care for over 350 kittens and at one point had about 250 in foster care at once. 

“Within the last two weeks, a lot of cats have started delivering their kittens,” McKinniss said. “In the span of like five days we took in four mothers with 22 kittens, so [kitten season’s] definitely here and it's only gonna get worse.”

McKinniss said Colony Cats prepares for kitten season annually by ramping up the number of foster homes in their network, and ensuring their fosters have all the supplies they need. However, this does not stop the rescue and numerous other organizations from reaching their capacity at some point during kitten season and being forced to turn felines away.  

“The numbers are just so staggering all across the community, not just for us, but for every rescue and shelter in the area,” McKinniss said. “There are way too many for all of them to find homes quickly.”

Female cats can get pregnant as young as 4 months old -- they can have one to nine kittens per litter and up to five litters per year.

Not only does the outdoor cat population result in overcrowding at shelters and premature deaths for kittens, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources previously told NBC4 that outdoor cats cause “significant harm” to native animal populations, specifically small mammals and birds. 

The state agency said it “highly encourages” all cat owners to keep their felines indoors to lessen the impact they have on Ohio’s native wildlife. In the United States alone, domestic cats kill about 2.4 billion birds every year, according to the American Bird Conservancy.

An increase in outdoor cats can also cause problems for homeowners, when the animals begin using residents' yard as their litter box. Feral and stray cats can also cause property damage by digging holes and can spread disease to other pets.

The best way to combat the problems that come with kitten season is to prevent the influx of litters by spaying and neutering outdoor cats, according to McKinniss. She said if residents own a cat they let outdoors, whether it is male or female, they should make sure it is fixed.

Spaying and neutering feral cats is also crucial to keeping the outdoor population low. “Trap-Neuter-Return,” also known as TNR, is the process of capturing a feral cat that is too timid to be handled, getting it fixed by a vet, then releasing it back outdoors. McKinniss said if an individual is feeding a feral or stray cat, that person should get the animal fixed. Animal rescues can often assist with this process. 

Outside of people fixing their pets and keeping them indoors, fostering is another way to help shelters take on the flood of kittens. 

McKinniss said there is a common misconception that if an individual sees a litter of young kittens outside, they should try to pick them up or bring them inside. As long as they are not in a place that poses imminent danger, McKinniss said people should wait to see if their mother comes back, before reaching out to a rescue for guidance. Kittens that are not weaned have a better chance of surviving with their mother.

There are numerous organizations in central Ohio residents can reach out to if they find kittens, including Colony Cats, Columbus Humane, Cat Welfare Association and Columbus Dog Connection.