One female cat can produce about 14 to 15 kittens a year. If each of those kittens and the mother have three litters the following year, that would equal 210 new kittens from the same family tree.
The Bin Kitty Collective is a non-profit animal welfare group that empowers people to help the abandoned and stray population.
Our message is “improving animal welfare starts with you” and we aim to encourage personal responsibility as a solution to the animal welfare problems in the UAE.
When it comes to the community, we help people who find stray cats and contact us to get access to veterinarians who have agreed to provide a reduced fee for services like neutering and vaccinations for stray cats. We also provide practical advice on how to care for the animals and how to rehome them.
Through fostering, stray animals become well-socialised pets. They get used to people and receive love and affection. It is an arrangement that is beneficial to both the cat and the fosterer, as the fosterer helps get the animals off the street until they find a good home and enjoys the rewards of having an animal in the home.
Neutering is also important because there is currently an excess population of stray and abandoned pets, and adding another kitten isn’t going to help the situation.
When someone contacts us, we first help them evaluate the animal. For example, has it been abandoned? Is it healthy? Has it been neutered? Can it be rehomed?
We encourage the community to neuter, foster and adopt.
Abandoned animals do not have the skills to hunt and fend for themselves, as they have never been wild. This results in them starving to death. By taking in an abandoned animal, a person can save it from suffering and provide a link in the chain on its way to a forever home.
The Bin Kitty Collective has just celebrated its first birthday, and to date has had well over 300 cats neutered through our Trap, Neuter, Release program (TNR) and found loving homes for 200.
Our main forum of interaction with the community is through our Facebook group. The fate of animal welfare can be quite emotional and it is a good way for people to stay connected, talk to one another about their experiences and make the information easily available.
We currently have over 1,500 members, and our group has developed into a very positive community. We do not focus on the negative, but on what people can achieve, the difference they can make and how they can make it.
People can also reach us through our email: binkittycollective@gmail.com.
Another way we help is by hosting monthly adoption days at the Dubai Garden Centre, where fosterers can bring their cats and kittens to a central location and talk to potential adopters and make sure that the cat or kitten is going to a compatible family.
So far, we have had 13 adoption days and have been able to rehome over 150 cats and kittens. Our next adoption day will be held on November 17.
Everyone can do a little something and make a big difference to the abandoned and stray animal problem in the UAE. Every little bit helps and we are here to help you. You can neuter, foster or adopt, it’s very simple and achievable.
The reader is co-founder of the Bin Kitty Collective based in Dubai.
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VIDEO
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