WITH THE weather getting warmer and the evenings getting brighter everyone is looking forward to the Summer. However while your busy dusting off your BBQ’s and getting out the Summer wardrobe spare a thought for the helpless kittens who may end up suffering as Kitten Season begins.

Unfortunately the arrival of Kitten Season means that animal welfare organisations throughout the country will be inundated with homeless litters of kittens as cats who are not spayed give birth.

A combination of the warm weather and female cats reproduction cycles mean that female cats will go into heat attracting male cats from far and wide from now right up until October stretching the resources of all animal shelters.

The kittens aren’t the only ones to suffer however as the adult cats looking for new homes will find themselves overlooked with an abundance of cute kittens suddenly available. This over supply of kittens also increases the incidence of feline illnesses and death.

So it is at this time of year more than ever that animal organisations are urging the public to remember that the best way to reduce the problem of unwanted cats is to spay or neuter yours to prevent thousands of unwanted cats flooding animal shelters in Ireland.

Meanwhile if you happen to come across a stray cat and her kittens in your area, while you might think you are doing the kittens a favour by rescuing them, nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is these little helpless kittens need their mothers to survive so DO NOT separate them from her. Sadly sometimes a well meaning member of the public thinks they’re doing a good deed by bringing a litter of unwanted kittens to a shelter because they’ve think the kittens have been abandoned by the mother when in fact she is actually off looking for food or is trying to keep humans and other unwelcome prey away from her nest area. By all means give them food and shelter until they can be rescued but always keep them together and then ring your local animal shelter to report any abandoned family of cats. If however the mother and her kittens hiss and warn you off, then it’s likely they’re feral so be careful as they may be terrified and try to defend themselves by biting or scratching you. In this case leave it to the experts as they will know what to do and remember even if they are feral in the hands of experts they can be tamed, spayed and rehomed and the mother can also be spayed so that the problem doesn’t repeat itself. After all feral cats deserve to be looked after just as much as tame ones, remember they are the victims of owners who still refuse to have their cats spayed in the first place.

Either way, it is crucial that you never ever remove or separate the kittens from their mother because without their mother’s milk and nurturing they will likely perish.