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Homeless cats cluster in colonies around food sources and breed within the colonies. Their colonies may begin with abandoned, unaltered domestic cats. Colonies can often be found around restaurants, mobile home and apartment complexes and neighborhoods where residents are feeding them. At 6 months of age, young female cats can become pregnant. Since female cats produce a minimum of 2 litters per year with approximately 4 surving kittens per litter, it doesn’t take long for most colonies to grow out of control.

 

Community members feeding the colonies may experience hardship as the colonies increase in size and their feeding expenses increase. Also, the colony may become more unhealthy as the numbers increase, with high incidences of chronic respiratory illnesses, earmites, fleas and/or untreated injuries as the cats compete for food or dominance during the breeding season. Female cats that continuously produce litters may begin to abandon their litters resulting in dead or barely alive kittens that worried feeders must assist. Finally, community members that don’t like cats begin to complain about the high numbers of cats and their “nuisance” behaviors. Everyone – animals and community – suffer.