Kitten season

What is kitten season? Every year between March and September un-neutered cats start breeding at an alarming rate, leading to a massive spike in the cat population in your neighbourhood. At the DSPCA we see an average 700 kittens come through our doors during this time, each costing on average of €250 to be nursed back to health, putting a massive strain on resources.

Did you know that each female cat can become pregnant from as early as 5 months old and multiple times during the season. One un-neutered cat couple can be responsible for producing up to 18 kittens during their first kitten season, increasing to almost 12,000 in 5 years and OVER TWO MILLION KITTENS in 8 years of fertility.

Sadly, without intervention or help approx. 75% of these kittens will die within 6 months and those that survive will have had no interaction with humans and are not domesticated. They are commonly referred to as feral or wild cats. We at the DSPCA refer to these cats as Community Cats. They are fearful of humans and generally hide away and only appear at night when they feel it is safe. By neutering just one male and one female cat, more than 2,000 unwanted births can be prevented in just 4 years.

What does the the DSPCA do to help

PURR-VENTION is the best option for these cats

To help reduce the number of community cats in our neighbourhoods, we have launched our Kitten Season Task Force which aims to help neuter as many community cats in local communities by providing a subsidised Trap Neuter Return (TNR) programme. The service is available to individuals and other TNR groups.

The Trap Neuter Return (TNR) programme is a service specifically aimed at neutering healthy community cats and returning them to the community where they can live and thrive without the risk from over population and prevention suffering, injury, illness and death.

What is Trap Neuter Return (TNR)?

Trap Neuter Return (TNR) at the DSPCA is a subsidised neutering service for community cats with the primary aim of preventing suffering. It is a humane method of managing and reducing the population of community cats.

Here’s how it works:

Trap: Once you book a TRN we will arrange with you to come out and humanly trap the cat(s).
Neuter: The cat(s) are taken back to the DSPCA where our veterinary team will neuter them to prevent further breeding.
Return: After being neutered the cat(s) are returned to their original location where they feel safe and have a food source.

How to book

To Book a TNR with the DSPCA click HERE. The cost of a TNR is €35 per cat. When you book our TNR service we will contact you to take the details of the cat(s) that you would like the DSPCA to Trap, Neuter and Return. (Note other TNR services charge between €40-€50).

Our veterinary team have specific days for neutering community cats, Tuesday and Thursday. Traps are therefore placed on Monday and Wednesday evenings only and collected the following day.

Without neutering these community cats they have very hard lives which can be immediately improved through trapping, neutering and returning them back into their community where they are comfortable and where they have already established a food source.

Help cats in your community

TNR

Click on link below to Book a Trap Neuter Return (TNR) with the DSPCA to neuter a community cat(s) in your area.

Book A TNR Here

Foster

Foster kittens to help the DSPCA cope with the hundreds of kittens that come into the shelter during kitten season.

Donate

Donate and help the DSPCA save the lives of the hundreds of cats and kittens that come into the shelter throughout the year.

Donate now

Help

Click below to read helpful information on what to do if there are kittens in your garden.

How do I know if a cat has already been neutered?

You can tell if a Community Cat has already been neutered by checking to see if one of its ears has been tipped.

An ear-tipping is the removal of about one centimeter of the tip of an adult cat’s ear. This is a universally recognizsed, safe and humane procedure that is done while the cat is under anesthesia during neutering. This is don’t done for cats that are pets. It is only done for outside community cats, barn/farmyard cats.

Is trapping humane?

We will never do harm to any animal. We use only humane traps to catch the cat or cats for neutering. The cats will not be injured in the trapping and we will never proceed with trapping if there is any risk to the cat’s safety whatsoever. We won’t even trap in bad weather.

When do you trap?

Cats are crepuscular which just means that they are more active between dusk and dawn. For that reason we prefer to set the traps in the evening as the light is fading as after this time, especially the quieter it gets in the neighbourhood, the more chances of successfully trapping the cat.

Is there anything I should do to prepare?

The single most important thing to do is to stop providing food to the cat for 24 hours before the trapping. Although this can be very hard to do, the trapping will not be successful unless the cat is hungry. Most trapping fails from well-meaning people who continue to provide food within 24 hours of the trapping.

How do I find out if the cat is someone’s pet?

Generally cats for Trap Neuter Return (TNR) are reserved and fearful of humans. Although they are happy to be fed, they will tend to keep their distance.

If you are unsure at all, you should take a picture of the cat(s) and ask around your neighbour using social media to see if you can find an owner. Most neighbours have wonderful resources that can help with this like “Neighbourhood Watch” & “Residents Association” groups.

If the cat allows you to pet them, there is a good chance that they have a home nearby as cats can have a wide range of territory. If the cat is friendly and allows you, you could use our handy print and cut out paper collars to try to find an owner.