Outdoor cats start breeding once the days get longer. That means lots of kittens—many of whom are looking for forever homes. Kitten season is firmly here—and it might be the best chance for you to adopt the type of kitten you’ve always wanted.
Depending on where you live, spring and early summer coincides with the beginning of outdoor cats’ breeding season, which after a few months becomes kitten season. Why? Simply, there are so many kittens born between early spring and mid-fall. So many.
Because of such an influx of new cats, United States shelters can get pretty strapped for time and resources, so they welcome monetary donations and people who volunteer to foster the new babies. It’s a busy time, but it’s also the “most magical” time of the year, if you’re looking for a cute fuzzy feline bundle of sweetness to welcome into your “forever home.”
So why is Spring the “magic” time of year for the kitten explosion? You can blame the longer days, because female cats respond to environmental stimuli as we shift from the shorter, colder, darker days of winter to longer, warmer, and lighter days of spring. They go into heat and then, as nature would have it, the fellas come along.
A couple of months later, you will see litters and litters of kittens, so now is the best time to adopt. With so many kittens in the shelter you’ll have the best chance to find the kitten or kittens you’ve always wanted. A shelter in a larger city will have weeks old cats of all shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities in the summer and fall months.
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