Animal shelters overburdened with cats in summer

In this photo taken on Monday, June 25, 2012, kittens are seen at the spcaLA P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village & Education Center in Long Beach, Calif. / AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

(AP) LOS ANGELES - Summer at animal shelters across the country means more animals, more work, more bills and more worries.

And there are sometimes fewer staffers, volunteers and donations to handle it.

At the majority of animal shelters in the country, kittens make up problem Nos. 1 through 10 every summer, said Dr. Kate F. Hurley, director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the University of California at Davis Center for Companion Animal Health.

"Kitten season" starts in the spring and ends in the fall in most parts of the country -- a single unspayed female cat can have up to two litters of four or more kittens each.

The Albuquerque Animal Welfare Department gets hundreds of kittens during the summer, but it "feels like millions," said director Barbara Bruin.

"People are more likely to get a dog fixed than a cat, more likely to microchip a dog than a cat and more likely to claim a dog than a cat. Cats are the throwaways and we end up with way too many litters," she said.

Many kittens die because they are brought in so young they have to be bottle-fed and there aren't enough hands, she said. Disease in younger kittens also takes a toll. "We lose a lot of kittens this time of year," Bruin said.

Yolo County Animal Services in Woodland, near the university, normally takes in about 150 cats a month. From May to October, though, that number jumps to 300, Hurley said. The Dumb Friends League, which operates shelters in Colorado, had 350 to 400 cats in February but 751 on June 1, said spokesman Chris Gallegos.

Adding to the population explosion at shelters are puppy litters, runaway dogs (kids leave doors and gates open), dogs hit by cars and dogs rescued from hot cars.

In the past, shelters in college towns would have a rush of abandoned pets when school let out, but that's been changing in recent years, Hurley said. There are a few owners who will dump their pets so they can go on vacation, but with that kind of owner, the pets are probably better off, Bruin said.

Extra animals don't mean more room, more staff or more money, Hurley said. "It's a huge challenge and it comes at the same time a lot of us think about our vacations."

Location can cause different sets of problems. June is the start of hurricane season, so in Florida that means extra feeding, cleaning and adoption events to place more animals and more time spent working in the rain and preparing for storms, said Janet Winikoff, director of education at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County in Florida.

In some cities, shelters lose volunteers because students go home, snowbirds go north and helpers go on vacation. Some shelters are lucky and the number of volunteers goes up.

The Richmond (Va.) Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals averages 350 volunteers between September and May and 415 from June to August, said chief operating officer Tamsen Kingry. "Much of this increase is due to college students and high schoolers spending time with us during their summer vacations," she said.

Lucky volunteers might be asked to work early or late to exercise animals when it's coolest, but most staff and volunteers have to deal with the heat if they are responding to cruelty and neglect cases, hauling equipment, mucking out stalls or doing other daytime chores.

Besides food bills and utility bills, summer medical costs go up at most shelters.

"Fleas and ticks are horrible in the summer, and this year is worse than ever because we had a mild winter that did not kill them off," said Whitney Jones, animal care manager at the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, Tenn. "We purchase flea and tick medication in bulk to manage these costs, but yes, treating active flea and tick infestations does get pricey."

Medicine for heartworm -- transmitted by mosquitoes -- is another necessity, especially in damper parts of the country.

All of this comes while donations universally go down in the summer. But there is a bright side: Adoptions generally go up.

"We usually have an increase in adoptions, especially in recent years with the downturn in the economy," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles. "More people declined family vacations or big purchases (like a boat or recreational vehicle) and instead chose to adopt a pet."

Last year in Richmond, about 30 percent of the animals placed all year were adopted in June, July and August, Kingry said.

"Many families come to us during the summer because they tend to spend more time at home, and children are out of school and can bond with the new family member," she said.

[credibility2]

Both male dogs and cats should automatically be neutered when they become of age to prevent this. Not sure why cats are the problem, since they clean themselves, whereas dogs don't. Fees for adoption at shelters should be high to make sure that people adopting genuinely will care for the animals. I'm sure that many animals in shelters are also the direct result of irresponsible owners.

[gjc1n1]

Ever check out the adoption fees at public and private shelters? It's not uncommom to have fees of $500 and up. Also, shelters have all kinds of ridiculous rules before they will permit adoption. I can understand that they want to ensure that the pet will go to a good, safe home where they are fed and otherwise well taking care of. But to demand things like people must be home during the day or that they have fully fenced in yards is ridiculous. Some of their dumb rules are stricter than those for adopting human beings! So shelters create some of their own problems. I have better things to worry about than catering to shelter control freaks.

[MegaProcrastination]

Many cities have low-cost spay and neuter clinics at shelters where veterinarians volunteer their time to do the procedures and pet owners pay at or slightly above actual cost. One shelter in our area also offers below cost feral cat clinics where cats can be altered for only $10 each. Otherwise through a regular veterinarian you can be looking at $200 and although in the long run it's a good investment into the well-being of the pet it can still be a fairly daunting price. Even so, $200 is far cheaper than dealing with the hassle of who knows how many batches of unwanted kittens over the years.

[knewsteerrrrr]

Get rid of the cats entirely, their owners dont pay one dime for a license and the entire costs to round up these dam cats is bourne by DOG owner's license fees, That's another reason I haven't licensed any of my dogs in over 30 years- I refuse to pay a TAX on my RIGHT to have dogs, and I refuse to pay a HIGHER tax penalty because I prefer they be intact as nature intended, plus I refuse to pay into the system where over 3/4 of the funds are squandered on CATS and cat problems while their owners pay nothing.

[inletbeach]

Kittens are viewed as the problem. Isn't it non-neutered mother and father cats that are the problem? Why don't more communities pay for neuter and release programs to prevent the seasonal birth of kittens?
Everyone knows what the solution is, but personal cost is the barrier. Free spaying is much cheaper than capturing and feeding so many additional mouths. On the positive side, kittens are cute, so that people may want to adopt them. Donate to fund spay and release programs, and save the lives of unwanted kittens.