We have come to dread the spring.

Yes, we love the perfect temperatures — not too hot, not too cold.

We enjoy the breeze on the lanai.

But every year, just when the weather in Southwest Florida turns perfect — warm sunny days, cool breezy nights, we get the perennial notification: “Kitten season in full swing.”

For those of us who consider our four-legged furries family members, it’s a buzz kill worse than the start of mosquito season.

Each spring, shelters such as Lee County Domestic Animal Services get inundated with guests that might be better called frightened and confused conscripts. Many are cats and kittens and it is harder for shelters and rescues to find homes for them as compared to dogs and puppies.

Each year, the numbers are high.

Too high for any pet lover.

What happens to these animals?

According to Lee County Domestic Animal Services, most have what could be called a positive outcome. A handful are claimed by their owners. Some are brought to the agency as trap-neuter-release strays and they are treated and released back to their colony location. Many are transferred to various rescues. Some are adopted into their “forever” home, a best-case scenario.

For the rest, a trip to the shelter is a death sentence.

For those troubled by what is euphemistically called euthanasia, let us emphasize that this is not a problem with Domestic Animal Services.

We will again quote Pogo:

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Those of us who do not spray or neuter.

Those of us who think it’s OK for pets to free roam.

Those of us who buy a pedigreed or trendy cross-breed only to discover that we should have done some research before paying plenty for a companion with traits that require lots of training or expensive care.

But back to “kitten season,” AKA breeding season.

Each year, Lee County Domestic Animal Services, along with other shelters like the Cape Coral Animal Shelter, see a large increase in cats and kittens.

And sometimes, in mother dogs and fresh litters of puppies.

We all love little fur balls but allowing pets to have litters is the reason — the primary reason — for the number of cats and kittens, dogs and puppies in shelters, rescues, fosters and more.

The best solution remains prevention, getting pets spayed or neutered and, if you have a hankering to add a new family member of the four-legged kind, to adopt one from a shelter that really, really, REALLY needs a home.

The Lee County Domestic Animal Services websites lists a handful of low-cost clinics at leegov.com.

The Cape Coral Animal Shelter also offers low-cost veterinary services, including spay and neuter.

A list of services offered, including a cost schedule, may be found at capecoralanimalshelter.com.

Each site also features a wealth of “adoptables,” young and senior alike.

Spay. Neuter. Adopt, don’t shop.

It’s the solution for what ails us.

Breeze editorial