Maverick Cat Coalition
Spring is the time for skipping baby lambs, long-legged foals and big-eyed calves.

One might be forgiven for thinking it’s the time for fluffy new kittens – but cats know no seasonal restrictions when it comes to giving birth.

“They continue to have kittens all year round,” said Cylia Wong, treasurer of the Maverick Cat Coalition.

“Even though you don’t see the kittens in the middle of winter, they’re still being born. But you don’t see them because they don’t always survive.”

It’s something she and the other 30 to 50 volunteers at the coalition know too well.

Wong tells of one woman who called because the cat she fed decided to give birth to kittens on the woman’s porch one winter.

The coalition was called, but two of the six kittens had already frozen to death by the time they arrived.

The mother and remaining four were cared for until the kittens were weaned.

The coalition looks after wild cats, street cats, homeless cats – the ones that need help surviving even if they can’t move into someone’s home.

“When people think of cat-related groups, they think of the more-established ones,” Wong said. “We are in our third year and not so well known.”

The Maverick Cat Coalition supplies cat food to people who have started feeding strays – and soon found themselves feeding a large number of cats, far more than they can support.

“We try not to buy too much cat food,” Wong said. “We rely on donations.”

There are many other calls for their money when they do receive a cash donation.

“A lot of our clients are seniors and people that are low income,” Wong said. “(They) start doing a good thing, then it becomes a problem because people are on fixed incomes.”

Quite often, she noted, the problem is not of these people’s making – it originates with owners who don’t ‘believe’ in having a cat spayed or neutered.

It then gets outside and becomes pregnant, or makes another cat pregnant.

The coalition also helps get stray cats fixed or treated by a vet when they’re not well.

They are looking for help in a number of areas.

“We are very low on cat food and, of course, we need volunteers,” Wong said.