After I posted my blog about the plight of the feral cat in Flatbush (and other places) and the importance of spaying/neutering our cats, a reader/friend sent me a note, She has been feeding feral cats in her yard for some time. She says: “I was just thinking about the 11 kittens I had spayed/neutered way back in 2011. The mother had three litters in my yard, then disappeared, probably died, otherwise she would have 
been back with another litter.
Five of those kittens were girls. One was already pregnant when I got her fixed. Just think, even if they had tiny litters, each could have a new litter of 3 kittens 3 times per year. Each girl could have had 9 kittens the first year. That’s 35 kittens.
Looking at the crazy number of cats that can be born always sounds outrageous. But thinking about my 5 girls bringing 35 kittens to my yard in one year is pretty scary!”
Keep multiplying and those five girls and their female kittens and their female kittens could produce hundreds of kittens within just 5 years.
Think about this—according to someone who did the math, one pair of breeding cats can produce 420,000 kittens in 7 years.
If you feed feral or stray cats, take the extra steps to trap them and have them neutered/spayed.
I have a friend and her daughter trap and neuter/ spay them. The problem is they can’t bring themselves to release them again so they strive to find them loving homes. It may only be one at a time but that is one less cat producing unloved kittens.
So true. Bless your friend.
Patricia