Make Kitten Season Live Release Season
It is getting to be (or already is, depending upon where you live) kitten season – with the intake of kittens rapidly rising to form what my friend and hero Dr. Sandra Newbury, DVM, UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, calls a “Data Kitten Mountain.” In many cases of open admission shelters, the number of kittens who enter the shelter far exceeds the capacity of the shelter.
Neonate kittens coming in from pet homes pose an ever bigger challenge than just capacity – they require a significantly increased level of care and level of disease control. So much so that in many shelters they are simply deemed untreatable and do not receive a live outcome.
Brick-and-mortar shelters built without the proper housing and air systems are not healthy places for neonate kittens – and over the years, many of us have experienced images that are now burned in our memories of neonate kittens struggling to survive and the staff struggling to keep them alive in housing that just is not conducive to keeping neonates healthy.
Harnessing the power of our volunteers and their networks can be huge for saving the lives of neonate kittens in our shelters. While our ultimate goal is to stop the intake of these kittens through outreach of targeted spay/neuter and safety nets, until the day when kitten mountain becomes flat, how about an emergency brigade of neonate foster homes – those that can take a mom and babies, and others able to take neonates without moms?
By analyzing previous years’ and recent months’ data, you can anticipate high-intake days. By building a life-saving team of fosters that are able to pick up on the day those kittens come in – and can then help not only raise those kitties, but also adopt them out for you (see our information on fosters as adoptions agents) – we take a certain death and turn it into another life saved.
Back in 2007, one of our ASPCA Partnership communities was working with us on their data, and we noted the high risk of shelter death for neonate kittens. The partners worked together, and the limited-admission humane society took advantage of the big volunteer and foster pool they had. The result? Take a look (click to enlarge):
Note that kitten euthanasia decreased by almost half in 1 year alone!
Where can you find those foster homes? I suggest not only trying to raise them yourself, but also team up with the limited admission facilities and amazing rescue organizations in your area – as well as those very engaged and vocal animal advocates in your community. What better resource for life-saving than those who already have a knack at connecting within your community and a passion to save lives?
Related links:
ASPCA Research: Fosters as Adoption Agents
“Take Five Friday: Messaging Kitten Season, Birthday Cake for Rats and the Cutest Adopter Ever”
Tips for Using Foster Families as Your Adoption Agents
Tags: Foster Care, Research, Research & Data, Saving Lives, volunteers
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Shirley Miller Says:
Fur-Ever Kinda Love received it’s 502c3 non profit classification in January 2012. Guam has a high euthanasia rate especially for feline infants. We believe that education, legislation, enforcement of current laws and community involvement are all critical elements to assure that the animals (especially the babies) are assured a clean, safe and abuse free environment in which to live. Our foster program is growing daily. Plans to have monthly adoption drives to find forever homes for our fosters. This SPCA newsletter came at just the right time as we need to be sure our foster families have all the necessary information and training to save more animals on Guam.
Laura Uecker Says:
Three years ago I found out the local Humane Society was euthanizing anything less them a pound that was admitted. I worked with a vet on their staff and we stated taking in roughly 250 kittens less them a pound each year. Plus a few pups that come thru there doors. I have a great group of foster moms. Our save rate is 90%. These kittens are all spayed/neutered prior to being up for adoption. The personalities of bottle feds is wonderful and they make great pets. I have a group at the University of Vet students that also bottle feed for experience for us this year. I have people that come back after adopting one of my bottle feds to find another as a buddy and are amazed at the personalities. I have a passion for bottle feds but do appreciate the sleep in the off season!
Feline Cool Says:
It’s about time something was done to decrease the kill rates for kittens – can you imagine killing 4,057 helpless infant kittens? Any org. that does that should not have “Humane” or “Prevention of Cruelty” in their name.