Cat Charity Urges Owners to Neuter Cats & Not Abandon Kittens
| Published: 20th August 2008 20:11 |
Cats Protection's North Hertfordshire branch has warned that the continued failure of some cat owners to neuter their pets is making it difficult for them to cope this summer. The branch is currently struggling to look after the cats and kittens which have been abandoned throughout North Hertfordshire.
Gillian Harding, the branch spokesperson, said "The number of cats being dumped is a major problem for us because it can take weeks and sometimes hundreds of pounds to nurse just one unfortunate cat back to health. We are also seeing a worrying trend of very young kittens being abandoned on the street."
A case in point occurred recently when a box of kittens was handed in to a local vet after being found in Monks' Wood, Stevenage. At just five weeks old the three kittens would have died if they hadn't been found - and it was very lucky that they were found given where they had been left. In another case a mother cat was left to look after her four kittens on her own in Stevenage Old Town. Frightened by workmen nearby, she ran off, leaving her one day old kittens behind. The workmen contacted Cats Protection and volunteers spent the night at the site hoping to be able to rescue the whole family when the mother came back for her kittens. Although she did come back, she moved three of her kittens to a safer (and unknown) location, leaving one kitten behind. That kitten was immediately taken into care but it took another four weeks and a considerable amount of patience and perseverance on the part of Cats Protection volunteers to rescue the mother and her three other kittens. Cats Protection would also like to thank the members of the public who helped to find them. Fortunately all of these cats are now safe in foster homes and will be able to be rehomed in due course but the outcome could have been very different.
"Though there is a tendency to regard cats as independent animals, they are like any other pet and need a loving owner to provide them with shelter, food, warmth and veterinary care. Kittens are extremely vulnerable and any young kitten who is removed from his mother at too early an age will die without human intervention. Unfortunately, we seem to be living in a throwaway society where some people think nothing of just getting rid of innocent new born kittens and older cats and I think it is an extremely sad state of affairs."
In fact, around one-third of all the cats taken in by Cats Protection across the UK are stray or abandoned, so it is a problem the charity's volunteers are desperate to highlight.
"If anyone has a litter they can't care for, please contact us or another animal charity. Don't just abandon them. We would also like to remind all cat owners that the only way to avoid pregnancy is neutering. Anyone who adopted a new kitten this year should remember that cats reach maturity around six months old and that if a cat isn't neutered at that time she could have a litter by the time she is nine months old."
Cats Protection North Hertfordshire runs a neutering scheme to help with the cost of neutering. For further information visit their website or call 01438 228877.
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