UKIAH, CA., 5/31/26 — The kittens are beginning to show up at the Mendocino County animal shelter in Ukiah. A few at first. Then a few more each week. By mid-summer, there will be a lot of them.
“We’re getting ready to go into kitten season,” said shelter director Amy Campbell. “We just start to get more kittens coming in, and kitten season goes through the summertime.”
She paused mid-sentence to look down at one of them. “You’re a baby, darlin’.”
Kitten season is exactly what it sounds like. Warmer months bring litters from unspayed cats, and more of those kittens end up at the shelter. Things slow down in winter, but they don’t stop.
“Luckily that dies down in the wintertime so we can kind of take a breath on the cat side of things,” Campbell said. “But we’re definitely gearing up.”
The shelter would rather not be gearing up at all.
The way to prevent it is spay and neuter work. That’s where the system runs into a problem that has little to do with cats.
There aren’t enough veterinarians.
“It’s very well-known that there’s a shortage of vets,” Campbell said. “We have a handful of vets who get us by.”
The shelter says it does have funding set aside for spay and neuter services, but filling those contracts has been difficult.
“We actually have open contracts and money set aside if we can find vets to fill these contracts,” she said. “We have money available to do that. But it’s very hard with vets right now.”
Every unspayed cat this year becomes another litter next year. The shelter has funding aimed at breaking that cycle, but not enough veterinarians to do the work.
“We’re always actively searching for any vets available to come in and give us days,” Campbell said.
The shelter is also relying on fosters — people willing to take kittens into their homes temporarily until they’re old enough for adoption. Even short stays help ease crowding, and longer ones help more.
“Things are hard in the animal world for shelters and rescues,” Campbell said. “We’re just busy across the board. It’s just never-ending, honestly. So we’re just trying to keep up and help as many as we can.”
For now, the kittens keep coming. The shelter has the money to slow the flow. What it doesn’t have is enough veterinarians to do the work.
Those looking to adopt or foster a pet or make a donation to the Ukiah Animal Shelter can call (707) 463-4427.