Warmer winter may spark kitten season surge

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – December 2024 was unusually warm and we are still seeing the effects of that now at the Idaho Falls animal shelters.

Right now it's slow at the shelter when it comes to adopting kittens, which is not uncommon during the wintertime.

But this year some cats captured by the shelter's (TNR) Trap-Neuter-Return program have already had cats coming in pregnant, likely a result of warmer temperatures.

The concern is the warm spell could lead to a boom in our kitten season.

The shelter says there are some things we can do now to help control the problem.

"You can call us and set an appointment to trap, neuter, and return. What we do with a Trap Neuter Return is we do a spayed or neuter depending on the cat. We ear tip them so that you can tell who has been spayed or neutered and we vaccinate them so that we're stopping the spread of kittens and the spread of disease," said Julie Szilard the animal shelter's front desk clerk.

The shelter rents out live traps for a $100 cash deposit, which you can get back when you return the trap.

You can schedule an appointment with the Idaho Falls Animal Shelter to bring in those cats free of charge.

If you already own a cat that needs to be spayed or neutered, the East Idaho Spay and Neuter Coalition will release 50 feline vouchers on January 15 to offset those costs.