Kittens

STOP and think before you bring a kitten under 3 months old to an animal shelter. It is no place for any animal much less a young kitten, maybe un-weaned or without his mother. Shelters are truly a last resort. The unfortunate reality in any shelter environment is that cats come in contact with URI (upper respiratory illness) and it's highly contagious. Adult cats have a difficult time surviving it and kittens have even less of a chance to survive it. The odds are against kittens because their immune systems are still very vulnerable and weak. I've seen kittens come in healthy and die in just a few days. I've seen entire litters wiped out from this terrible illness that there is no known cure for. The staff can give meds and treat the symptoms, and try everything they can to save them but sometimes they just don't make it. It's a terrible thing to loose innocent animals like this because it was all preventable had they not been brought to the shelter to begin with. If you have a litter or find a litter of kittens try and keep them as long as you can before taking them to a shelter. If they weigh at least 3 lbs they can be neutered and put up for adoption, and may be able to get out of there quick enough before anything happens.

What else can we do to stop this? #1 Spay and neuter your pets and any strays you may have in your neighborhood. #2 If you do find any kittens, but can't keep them permanently, try and keep them or find them a temporary home until they are old enough to withstand the shelter environment. #3 Foster. This is why we say fostering saves lives! That is no joke. Right now there are rooms full of kittens that should be in foster, but not enough people sign up to do this life saving service. #4 Adopt. Visit your local shelter and give some deserving animal a permanent loving home.

Since pet homelessness is a community problem brought on by humans it's our duty to fix this deadly problem. It's always good to educate ourselves about how we can better serve our community.