This feature comes from our Spring 2016 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.
Darling looks typical of a two-week-old kitten. His ears are flat and his eyes are starting to fully open
Kitten season is here! This time of year, advocates work harder than ever. From spring through late summer, kittens are born at a rapid rate. In southern states, kitten season lasts 10 months out of the year! We all love kittens, and the idea of charming little fuzzballs tottering around our neighborhoods sounds adorable. But in reality, neonatal kittens (kittens up to four weeks old) are fragile and need round-the-clock care. They face many dangersand animal shelters are one of the largest.
Well-meaning people see kittens outdoors and bring them to shelters, not knowing that most shelters lack the programs to save their lives. The heartbreaking truth is most young kittens brought into shelters are killed. And the volume of kittens coming in during kitten season is staggering.
“During peak kitten season, we would receive up to 40 kittens a day at our shelter in Reno,” said Bonney Brown, past Executive Director of the Nevada Humane Society. The NHS started a dynamic foster care program for bottle babies as well as a TNR program. Now the number of kittens arriving at the shelter has drastically decreased.
Alley Cat Allies helps save kittens by providing training on proper neonatal kitten care for shelter staff and volunteers, and helping shelters implement programs to stop the killing. Many shelters have already adopted lifesaving programs, so ask your local shelter staff how they care for kittens. If they don’t have a program in place, speak up and encourage them to create one to save kittens’ lives. And as always, Alley Cat Allies is teaching communities about the value of Trap-Neuter-Return, the best way to protect kittens.
“Tens of thousands of orphaned kittens are surrendered to shelters annually, and the vast majority come from community cat situations. TNR is the best hope we have of reducing these numbers,” said Susan Spaulding, a founder of the National Kitten Coalition. The Coalition provides training and education on kitten care to shelters, volunteers, rescue groups, and fosters. It receives daily requests for help during kitten season. Learn more about the Coalition’s great work at www.felineore.org.
We’re working to save even more kittens this kitten season, and we’re thankful to have you join us. Want to learn what to do if you find kittens outdoors? Check out www.alleycat.org/Kittens for tips and information.
Protecting Kittens With a Wait Until 8 Program
With our help in early 2015, the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center in Florida enacted its Wait Until 8 program that is saving hundreds of kittens! The program empowers people to care for neonatal kittens until they are eight weeks oldthe safe age for spay/neuterbefore bringing them to the shelter. Now when someone brings in neonatal kittens, shelter staff provides them with instructions and a free Alley Cat Allies “kitten care kit” of formula, bottles, and more. Once the kittens are eight weeks old, caregivers can bring them back to be neutered and adopted.
We hope Hillsborough County’s program will be a model for other shelters and save even more kittens!
The Blizzard Kittens
All four blizzard kittens are healthy and safe, and placed in homes in Maryland and Virginia.
January’s historic blizzards hit many on the East Coast hardincluding four tiny week-old kittens near Washington D.C. When a compassionate family found the kittens huddled together in a window well outside, their mother not in sight, they took action. They brought the kittens inside and bottle fed them through the night.
Alley Cat Allies staff member Rebekah DeHaven lives near the family and was quick to help. She set up a humane trap and was able to catch the kittens’ mother. With mom and kittens reunited, the kittens got the care they needed to grow up strong and healthy. Today the kittensPie, Blizzard, Kelly, and Chesterare much bigger and living happily in their forever homes! Their mother, Mama Mia, was spayed, eartipped, and
returned to her outdoor home. The people who found them all are now her caregivers.