By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director
Kitten season is here.
During the period from spring to early fall, an explosion of newborn kittens occurs across the country, and Aiken County is no exception. Currently, an average of two to three kittens a day are being dropped off at the Aiken County Animal Shelter (ACAS) and that rate is only going to increase in coming months.
Kittens are cute, fluffy and impossible not to love. But they also are some of the most vulnerable and at-risk animals in our shelter because they require so much time and special attention. This is especially true if their mother is no longer around to wean them.
That’s why the ACAS and FOTAS are urgently seeking volunteers to foster these baby felines.
The shelter needs people to take home and care for kittens until they are old enough to be adopted. This includes spending time with the tiny babes to help socialize and prepare them for their ultimate forever home. Although it can be a lot of work, fostering is also a rewarding experience. These volunteers are saving lives and helping kittens find families.
“To hold these tiny creatures in your hands and experience them responding to kindness having had little to no human contact is amazing,” said Cindy Paulson, one of the shelter’s kitten foster volunteers. “And looking down at them with their little alien-like ‘ET’ eyes so full of trust and wonder makes me feel like in the scheme of life, with all its craziness, I am doing just a little something to make a difference.”
FOTAS and the shelter not only provide fosters with food and other supplies; they are always available to provide guidance and support.
“FOTAS is there right by my side helping me, and they are sincerely as involved with each little kitten as I am,” Cindy said. “I am not alone in this and they make me feel confident with how to properly care for the kittens.”
Becoming a kitten foster is simple. Just come to the shelter at 333 Wire Road in Aiken and fill out a foster application. After your form is received, you will be contacted for a site evaluation, just to assure that the animal will be in a safe environment. Once the site evaluation is completed and you are approved, FOTAS will get you started.
“The reasons to foster kittens are many,” said Muf Fuller, another kitten foster mom. “They make you smile when you are greeted in the morning with multitudes of mini mews; laugh when they tumble and pounce on each other; and sigh when they nestle with each other as they sleep. But the most rewarding part is when you receive notice that a family has decided to adopt one or more of these little bundles of energy and joy.”
For more information about fostering kittens and other shelter animals, please call (803) 514-4313 or send an email to volunteer@angelhartlinedesigns.com.
Their lives are in our hands.
