Last year, on the first really beautiful spring day of the season, the intake office at the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society was humming with activity.
That day, against a backdrop of crystal-clear blue skies, GMHS took in 34 cats and kittens, the majority of whom were pregnant females, mothers with their newborn kittens, or orphaned kittens who required bottle feeding every four hours to survive. And so kitten season had begun.
Kitten season is the time of year when cats give birth, flooding animal shelters and rescue groups with homeless litters. Kitten season is really three seasons in one, and in Virginia, begins in March and ends in November.
You may be thinking—this sounds amazing! Who wouldn’t want to spend nine months caring for a steady stream of cute little fluff balls? Don’t get us wrong, kittens are adorable and cuddly and a number of other positive adjectives that reduce even the most composed staff members to baby talk and cooing sounds. But kitten seas...