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Kitten Season Begins...
In our community, about 2,000 kittens each season are taken to shelters for adoption. Unfortunately only about half make it into loving homes -- the rest are euthanized for a variety of reasons -- no foster home, not socialized well enough , contracted an illness while at a shelter, and even more sadly -- there simply weren't enough homes to go around! So, as cute and loving as kittens are, we need to rethink what we do when we find a feral pregnant cat. If the pregnancy is not in the final stage, is it more humane to spay her and abort the kittens -- or let them be born and become a shelter statistic? By simply spaying and re-releasing early- and mid-term feral pregnant cats -- and making sure our pet cats are sterilized -- we can easily make a dent in the numbers of kittens born annually. It won't get us immediately to zero population growth -- but it will help tremendously. A cat is a prolific breeder -- one female can have up to 3 litters per year of an average 4 kittens each. Her kittens can start breeding at 16 weeks. The increase is geometric. The math is staggering. Even after we prevent as many kittens as we can, we are still faced with a goodly number we can't prevent. Feral cats are inherently fearful of people. They do their best to maintain a low profile and we frequently have no idea they are living in our yard, behind our business, or on our campus. The first we know of them is at the point their kittens are born.
If you find a litter of kittens and want to save them from an outdoor
existence, consider fostering them and placing them in loving homes.
Remember that shelters are not set up to care for them at this early
age.
The kittens need the love, attention and peace of a foster home where
they can thrive and learn to enjoy human companionship.
Rescue groups and shelters are always in need of volunteers to foster
the kittens they receive and would welcome your assistance.
This makes a great hobby for someone who loves kittens.
To learn more about this type of volunteer work, contact us for details.
The better socialized the kittens, the more likely they will be adopted
into permanent, loving homes.
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Lucky Cats!
What a difference this shower of attention is making! Cats that come to us a little on the shy side soon learn that people are fun. They become more relaxed and gregarious as they live with us. Exposure to many different people, as well as watching their fellow cats enjoy the petting and cuddling, brings even the most shy cat out of her shell. By the time they move to a permanent home, they are much more sociable and at ease around people and other cats.
If you'd like to spend time with these genteel examples of the feline
aging process, contact us to find out more about our volunteer program.
We hold orientations the first Sunday of every month where you can get a
preview of just how nice these kitty cats are.
It's just a two-hour commitment per week, and our cats will be forever
grateful.
They don't know what they would ever do without you!
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We have a colony of the luckiest orphaned cats around!
Over the last six months our elderly charmers have managed to attract
and keep a core of about 40 volunteers to provide them with love and
attention.
Our cats receive TLC twice a day -- in 2-hour increments.
To make sure that every cat gets its share of pets, we schedule 3
volunteers per shift.
They greet each cat and cuddle them; then breeze through a clean-up
routine of the colony room and litter box area; then sit down for some
serious one-on-one attention.
For those cats that prefer active play to lap-sitting we have an assortment
of interactive cat toys to keep them sharp.
Then, as the shift winds down, one by one, the cats select their favorite
sleep spots and nod off.
They need their rest to be fresh for the next set of volunteers.