Warmer weather in Tucson means shelters will fill with kittens

As weather warms up in Tucson, shelters anticipate what they informally call kitten season, a time of year when there’s an uptick in births.

“We ask people to wait (before taking in a stray kitten) and check and make absolutely sure there is no mother because the sad reality is that kittens who don’t have their moms are more likely to die,” said Nikki Reck, public information officer with Pima Animal Care Center.

If there is some doubt as to whether a stray kitten has a mother, Reck recommends sprinkling baking soda around found kittens. If the ring is disturbed within a few hours or a day, the kitten has a mother.

If not, PACC recommends giving it to the animal food and shelter until it weighs 2 pounds and is ready to be spayed or neutered. Call PACC at 520-724-5900 to confirm orphaned kittens.

For more information on what to do when you find a stray kitten, visit PACC’s website.

At Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter, capacity issues that kitten season poses may not carry the same weight, but it still brings difficulties.

“It’s very heartbreaking. It’s hard because there are a lot of kitties out there. The ones that make it into shelters and are given a good quality of life and everything, they’re OK, but there’s also the ones that don’t,” said Karina Levine, financial coordinator and social media specialist for Hermitage.

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Although dogs do not have the same uptick in births this time of year as cats, kennel spaces are also limited.

At PACC, kennel space is currently at extreme capacity, one level below critical. At critical capacity, hospice animals will begin to be euthanized.

“We’re trying not to. We’re all dead set against it, and this community doesn’t want us to do that,” Reck said.

To keep capacity down, Reck also recommends trying to find a dog’s owner before taking it to a shelter.

“We’re not telling people to not bring strays to PACC; we’re just saying, if you really want them to go back to their owner, which is the goal, try to help us find the owner first.”