Realistic Fact Of The Day

Realistic Fact of the Day:

This is another fantastic post by Christina Byrd:

One thing people do not understand in general is… 80% of kittens, especially ones born outside to colony cats, do not make it to 6 months old without human intervention or help. That is WHY cats have 3-4 litters a year and multiple per litter.

Around 80% are naturally expected not to make it to breeding age due to illness, congenital defects, accidents, weather conditions, having to give birth themselves too young (they can get pregnant at 4 months old and give birth at 6 months old!), young mothers abandoning their kittens, birth complications, parasite overload, or various other reasons. Same for dogs and other animals who have multiple litters a year and larger litters. They breed so often and have so many because a lot do not make it to adulthood. Even WITH help… some do not make it and we in rescue are left picking up the pieces and battling through emotions while we continue to push forward to help more.

The reality is, most do not make it without help. Spaying and neutering is SO important. I wish people understood more. It’s not just because our rescues are flooded. Our volunteers, vets, staff and fosters are burning out watching the suffering nobody else sees… You might think “Oh but this colony is so big, they can’t all die that often right?”

Perspective. A colony I’m working on now has about 20 cats. At least 8 of them are pregnant or have kittens already. ONE cat can give birth of 15+ kittens per YEAR. If all 8 cats had 5 kittens, even just two times a year, that is EIGHTY (80) kittens. That isn’t including the females who are not pregnant… Most colonies are not seen growing that fast because… a lot die before they are ever found.

PLEASE… spay and neuter your pets. Spread the word. Educate and help. Offer resources. Ask for help. FIX your pets. FIX your Feral’s!