Kitten season is just around the corner. In fact, baby felines are already starting to trickle in. Last Friday, the Aiken County Animal Shelter received a litter of two-week-old kittens after a car hit and killed their mama. Soon, Good Samaritans will be discovering newborn and toddler felines all around the County.
Kitten season is an annual phenomenon, starting in April, peaking in July and August, and usually concluding by late October. The most important fact to remember about the season is that a kitten’s best chance for a long and healthy life is with their mother. If you are walking outside and stumble upon a lone kitten or an entire litter, look for any sign of their mother. Before you pick up any kittens, determine if she is around. The mama cat instinctively knows how to nurture and protect her young, and her milk provides the kittens with powerful nutrients vital to their immune systems.
If the kittens are underage (less than two pounds or younger than eight weeks old) and mom is still around and taking care of them, leave the kittens where they are until they are weaned. To help the mama cat, you can provide shelter and put out food nearby.
If the kittens’ mom is not around, wait at least two hours to see if she comes back. If she doesn’t return, please consider fostering the kittens (or find someone who is willing to foster) until they are at least two pounds.
We have kitten kits to help you foster
Since the shelter does not have the capacity to properly nurture and socialize underage kittens, we need community members who find feline babes to step up and foster them. Once they are old enough to be spayed/neutered (two months old), the shelter staff will ensure they are adopted to good homes.
FOTAS provides “kitten kits” containing instructions and the supplies you need to take care of found kittens until they are old enough to come to the Aiken County Animal Shelter. The shelter has kits customized for infant kittens as well as older kittens.
While kittens under four weeks old must be bottle fed, older kittens just need a little of your time to nurture and socialize them. If you are unsure of their age or care needs, you can bring kittens to the shelter for assessment. We can help you decide on a plan for adoption or direct you to other options, including our TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) program, which is free to Aiken County residents, or the spay/neuter voucher program.
Foster volunteers needed for kittens
Citizens are sometimes unable to bottle feed and socialize the kittens they find, so we have a small team of FOTAS fosters who take in babies and give them the care they require. These volunteers save many felines every year. To join this special team, please go to fotasaiken.org or call the shelter at (803) 642-1537, option 3.
Their lives are in our hands
By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director
