As spring approaches, so does the breeding season for pets. While this is great for breeders or people who have the ability to care for the babies, there is a large problem with stray or feral animals breeding and giving birth without any restrictions. For cats, in particular, this is a huge problem.
Cats can have several litters every year, the majority during the spring and summer. This is a problem because cats born feral are more likely to die as kittens, contract and spread diseases to other unvaccinated cats, or grow into breeding adults that will continue to add to the feral cat population. The uncontrolled breeding of the individuals causes countless needless deaths of newborn kittens and the spreading of preventable diseases.
Even if the kittens are rescued and raised, it grows the pet cat populations beyond capacity, causing a large number of the rescued ferals and even other rescues to stay in shelters and eventually be put down because there aren't enough people taking the animals home.
However, this all can be prevented by the TNR program. TNR, or trap neuter release, is a program that allows people to humanely trap feral communities of cats and take them to get either neutered or spayed, then released back into the wild. While being neutered, most cats are also given shots for preventable diseases such as rabies. This is an extremely beneficial practice because not only are the lives of breeding individuals helped because unregulated breeding can cause extreme stress on females who carry several litters a year, but it saves the lives of future kittens who could be saved by a simple procedure.
Kittens can start to reproduce between five to nine months, or around 4.4 pounds. A sexually mature cat can have kittens as soon as her very first heat cycle. Each pregnancy in a cat lasts around 65 days, and a cat can go into heat immediately after giving birth. Female cats typically go into heat in the warmer months of the year and can be in heat year-round if the climate they reside in is warm enough. A cat typically gives birth three times a year, with an average of four kittens per litter. That is 12 kittens per year. Cats have the ability to breed through their elderly years, though their ability to reproduce decreases as they age.
A cat lives an average of 15 years, so let's say a feral cat has her first litter at one year old and her last litter at 13, with three litters per year and four kittens per litter. That is 144 kittens from a population of one breeding male and one breeding female within a lifetime. Let's say that your local feral community has four breeding females and one breeding male to begin with. That population of cats could have 48 kittens per year. Around 75% of all feral kittens die within the first six months of their life, which in this population would be 36 kittens.
Assuming those 12 remaining kittens stay within that population and eight are female with four males. That is 12 breeding females and five breeding males. Those 12 breeding females could have 144 kittens with one male, and the other four males could breed with other cats of a different community. This is a huge problem, not only for the lives of the cats themselves but for the ecosystem which could easily get overrun with cats.
The problem cannot be solved without human intervention. Cats are animals, and just like every other animal they have the natural instinct to breed and will continue to breed until they are unable to do so. Communities can help stop this problem at the source by neutering feral populations. Vet clinics generally offer a discount to people bringing in TNR cats. You can tell a cat has been neutered if the tip of its ear has been cut. If you notice a growing feral population, remember the lives of cats you could save by taking them in and getting them neutered.