It's kitten season. Don't panic! What to do if you find young felines in your backyard

As flowers bloom and the weather warms, Albuquerque officially enters kitten season.

Each year around springtime and through the fall, alley cats and street dogs start having babies, as many as 2,000 of which end up at city shelters, according to Animal Welfare Department spokesperson Desiree Cawley.

That being the case, Animal Welfare is asking people to step up and foster these little ones during what AWD Deputy Director Jack Hagerman called “the most critical time” of their lives. The shelter provides all foster parents with the education and supplies needed to care for kittens or puppies, free of charge, Cawley said.

“The only thing you have to do is give up your time,” Hagerman said.

Indeed, if you see kittens alone and seemingly abandoned in your backyard or neighborhood, don’t panic, Hagerman said. Wait and watch for their mother to return, he said, because except in dire circumstances, mama cats don’t abandon their young.

Monitor the kittens for several hours. If you’re unsure if the mother is slipping by while you’re away, sprinkle flour around the litter and check periodically for paw prints in the flour, an Animal Welfare news release advised.

If the mother doesn’t return after several hours, or if the kitten’s behavior changes drastically, it’s time to get in touch with the shelter, Hagerman said. There, staff can evaluate their condition and set you up with supplies if you choose to foster.

Most times, however, Mom is nearby hunting, and you shouldn’t step in, AWD advises.

“There is absolutely no substitute for Mama, right?” Hagerman said. “And what often happens is people will intervene too soon.”

That’s exactly what happened in the case of three kittens under the care of the neonatal nursery at the Eastside shelter. These kittens were separated from their mother and brought to the city shelter at 2 weeks old by someone who didn’t know better, said Neonate Nursery Lead Jim Matthew.

Volunteer Annette Evangelista holds one of the triplets wrapped in a washcloth close to her chest, waiting for him to wake up and be bottle-fed. Orphaned kittens need to be fed every few hours, Matthew said, or, just like human babies, whenever they begin to cry.

If you have a cat family living in your backyard, it’s best to leave them be and bring both the kittens and mother to the shelter once they’ve reached 7 weeks old so they can all be spayed or neutered, Hagerman said. If you’re uncertain of their age, shelter-ready kittens typically explore away from their den, eat kibble and are playful, according to the release.

As cuddly as they may be, each kitten, if left on the streets unspayed, could go on to have 18 to 20 additional kittens next season, compounding the pet overpopulation problem. And climate change is only making the issue worse.

“What we’re seeing now, in the last few years, as it’s getting warmer and warmer, is that the kitten season is stretching longer and longer, too,” Hagerman said.