It’s kitten season. What does that mean? That means that local shelters will quickly become inundated with adorable kittens. I volunteer to help. Why? Kittens have taught me how to work.
How can you help?
Donate!
- Money
- Specific items
- Time
For example my local humane society, the Humane Society of Westchester at New Rochelle, loves donations. Money is valuable as then they can use it where it’s needed most. They maintain a wish list of specific items that are useful. I am very thankful for disinfecting wipes and disposible gloves when my kittens have poop problems, cleaning a litter box can be messy. The wipes that are scrubby on one side, I find those are super nice If you donate disposable gloves I’m going to ask for a range of sizes including small. Like the kittens, everyone working and volunteering comes in a range of sizes. Perhaps your budget is tight, maybe you can donate your time or even consider fostering. Fostering has two-fold benefits for shelters: first the kittens are socialized and are more adoptable, second you free up space by allowing the kittens to grow and learn how to be kittens before they’re placed in the shelter to wait for their forever home.
Yes, you can also help by adopting!
These three kittens are members of the first group I’m fostering this year. They’re very active and love to climb, explore, purr, and snuggle. Don’t you want to help them?
Last week I went with a friend to TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) two cats in our area. This is something I hope to do more of in the future. What is TNR? This is a program to help control the community cat populations without senseless killing. By returning the cats to where they were found, they’re more likely to survive as the already have shelter and know of food sources, yet by being neutered the colony population will not overwhelm an area. True, being returned isn’t a cozy warm pillow, but adult feral cats are generally not candidates to be brought indoors, you can learn more about socialization from Alley Cat Allies. We trapped both, one already had his ear tipped so he was released immediately. Overall, this program has been incredibly effective in our area.
If you happen to find kittens under two months without their mum, please don’t quickly whisk the kittens away (unless they’re about to succumb to rising water or are at the side of a road). Their mother may be off getting food and will do a much better job raising them than we ever could. You can learn more from Alley Cat Allies.