Gainesville animal shelters are expected to crawl with kittens in the coming months.
Kitten season peaks during late spring and continues through the summer, said Eric Van Ness, associate director of Alachua County Humane Society.
With an estimated 36,000 stray cats in Alachua County, local shelters will need the assistance of volunteers and foster homes, Van Ness said.
A foster home provides a kitten with a temporary home until the kitten can be placed with a permanent family, he said.
The time kittens are in foster care can vary, but they are ready for adoption at eight weeks old.
"At that point, we like to have them back in the facility so they can be adopted as soon as possible," Van Ness said.
Alachua County Humane Society provides the food, supplies and vaccinations. All that is required from the foster parent is a commitment of time and care for the kitten.
"We have a generous community and contribution levels are still high, but we always have more kittens than foster homes," Van Ness said.
As shelters reach capacity during kitten season, some are left with no other option but euthanasia.
Unlike other shelters in the area, foster care is not an option for its animals at Alachua County Animal Services.
Although the shelter's staff hasn't had to euthanize its animals in several months, if room runs short, they will be forced to euthanize older cats to make room for the new litters, he said.
According to Flagler, adoptions can help reduce the number of cats being euthanized, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem.
"The solution is to reduce the amount of animals breeding by educating the community on the importance of spaying or neutering their pets," Flagler said.
Operation Catnip is a local nonprofit organization that aims to reduce cat the population in Alachua County.
With the trap-neuter-return program, Operation Catnip is able to capture all feral and stray cats so they can be spayed or neutered and returned to nature, said Shaye Olmstead, program coordinator for Operation Catnip.
Operation Catnip has spayed and neutered over 26,000 stray and feral cats in the last 10 years, Olmstead said.
Every month the organization holds a spay and neuter clinic at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. The next clinic will be held on June 14.
