Last Thursday I went to volunteer orientation at Liberty Humane Society. In addition to needing volunteers to do things like clean cages and walk dogs, they mention needing kitten fosters. A shelter isn’t a great place for any animal, it’s noisy and stressful, but kitten in particular tend to pick up illnesses, so they’re always looking for people to foster kittens for a month or so until they can be adopted.
I think we can all see where this is going.
When I said we wanted to foster a kitten, the girl at the desk asked "how many do you want? Do you want a whole litter?" We decided two would be a manageable number to start with. We filled out some paperwork, picked out our cats, and walked home with a carrier full of mewing kittens.
Liberty Humane Society currently has about 200 cats, half of which are kittens. While we were picking out the two to foster, 9 kittens and one mom cat came in. Liberty doesn’t turn away any animals, which means this time a year they’re full to the brim with cats. Although they do euthanize animals, they only do so when the animal is violent or terminally ill. There isn’t a time limit on how long an animal can be there.
Both these guys had fleas on them, so despite their most furious kitten protests they both got baths. Luckily at this size there isn’t much they can do to fight back. After bathing we clipped their nails, dried them off, and left them to sulk. They napped while we were out at dinner, and had almost forgiven us by the time we got home.
Both cats are boys, although they had girl names on their cage cards at the shelter, so we’re trying to come up with more manly names for them. The dark grey one is a serious lap cat, he’s all about climbing into a comfortable position on you and purring until he passes out. The striped one is more of an adventurer, he boldly explored new and exciting places like "behind the toilet" and "next to the vanity." They’re quarantined in the spare bathroom until we’re sure they’re flea-free.
We have them until the end of September, at which point they’ll be ready to adopt out. So if you want a cat next month… we’ve got them.
You’re sorely testing my self-control.
You can make a Flea Trap by taking a desk lamp and putting a shallow bowl of water under it with about two drops of dishwashing liquid in it. The Fleas are attracked to the water by the light and jump in. Normally they can swin on top. The two drops of dishwashing liquid breaks the surface tension of the water and the Flea go to the bottom and drown. Isn’t science fun and useful. You will be amazed how many you catch.
I love the sea of kitten fostering in my life right now! My mahler-cat is almost 4 months, and weirdly as gregarious and slutty as mr papi once upon a time…
Yay! Love +we shld talk soon, jojo-on-her-crackberry
Aw!! I’m always so entertained by your writing and stories…”behind the toilet”….hahaha! Sorry I missed catching up with you when you stopped by the office the other day, I hope we can catch up soon.
Mary
Thanks for getting involved on behalf of these beautiful animals.
For a reminder of the remarkable work being done by Humane Society chapters and their volunteers across the country, please take a look at this short video — ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/4169 — which tells the story of one woman’s “aha moment” and how one special dog lead her to become to be a Humane Society volunteer. I think you’ll find it very inspirational.
All the best,
jack@ahamoment.com