Pig News

This week's Pet of the Week at the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is Angel Soft, a five-month-old, neutered male kitten. He's an affectionate, super soft young cat with a wonderful purr and sweet disposition. Angel arrived with two siblings - one has been adopted, but Angel Soft and his brother Charmin are still waiting. Although not required to be adopted together, they've been nicely sharing a space and enjoy one anothers' company, so they could be adopted together as an almost-matched set.

Angel Soft and his brother aren't even 6 months old, but they've already been neutered - which is actually PERFECT! Cats and dogs reach maturity much faster than humans do, so these 5 month olds are already considered "teenagers" in cat biology - that is, they are already old enough to start reproducing! Cats reach reproductive age between 4 and 5 months of age, and from that point on, if they're not "fixed," females can have up to 3 litters in a single year! Since that mother cats' first litter matures quickly, her daughters are likely to have at least one litter themselves in that same year, or possibly even two, and who knows what the boy kitties might get up to during that time! That means you may go from 1 unaltered cat to suddenly having 16 or even more than 20 in a single year! Dogs aren't too far behind - they take a little longer to reach reproductive age, usually 5-7 months, and they don't have quite as many litters in a year, but their litters are often larger. So you can have a population explosion before you know it.

Angel Soft and Charmin came from just that situation: a property where folks started seeing one cat around, and then, within just a few months, they spotted the kittens running around! Luckily, they stepped in quickly, caught the cats and brought the family indoors to tame and socialize them, and got the mama spayed as soon as the kittens were weaned. They brought the kittens to us so they could also be fixed and chipped before heading out into new homes.

Angel Soft will do best as an indoor-only cat in his next home - as a light-colored cat he is at a higher risk for being spotted by a predator like a coyote, bobcat or even a bird of prey during active hunting hours. Additionally, lighter colored cats may be at risk for skin cancer if they spend a lot of time outdoors so keeping these light-colored socialites indoors is likely the best.

For Angel Soft's whole story, listen to Pet-O-Rama Thursdays at 11:00am or visit the shelter, located at 1001 Rodriguez St. in Santa Cruz and open from 11am to 6pm every day.

» Back to Pig News