February is National Prevent a Litter Month. We who are working with animals are campaigning to raise public awareness of the necessity of spaying and neutering dogs, cats, puppies and kittens to ward off the vast numbers of litters that arrive at animal shelters each spring.
When pets are not spayed or neutered, the results can be overwhelming. A single unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring,producing two litters per year, with approximately three surviving kittens per litter, adds a dozen kittens to the feline population. While that seems to be a rather benign number, the numbers climb very quickly since the kittens produced can then have another generation of kittens five months later.
Littermates can litter, and soon there are 35 or 40 cats. Each year close to four million unwanted cats and dogs, kittens and pups are euthanized. In addition, there are several million free-roaming, stray and feral cats that multiply unchecked unless responsible feeders and caregivers bring them in to be "fixed."
The needless suffering and euthanasia of millions of pets each yet could be easily diminished if each family alters their own pets-or strays they feed-before litters are born.
Rebecca Cumer
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Pequot Lakes
