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Facing an overwhelming and never-ending supply of kittens and pregnant cats at the Jackson County Animal Shelter, shelter officials are throwing themselves a good old-fashioned “baby shower” of sorts.
Gift requests include food, toys, bedding and other goodies, but if shelter staff are being honest, some cold hard cash would top their desperately crafted wish list.
Shelter Manager Kim Casey said kitten season had morphed from a several-times-per-year influx of baby felines to a constant, year-round scenario.
Casey said the shelter spends close to $25,000 each year — not counting spay and neuter costs — to manage its foster program.
Foster families are provided with food, medical and other supplies when they care for a cat or dog in foster care.
Without an extensive network of foster homes, Casey said, the shelter would face some tough decisions.
“We always get into kitten season and end up taking on a lot of kittens. What’s been going on is we are completely full, and we are not currently able to even accept owner surrender dogs or cats. We are stretched extremely thin,” Casey said.
“We’re struggling with full and regular access to spay and neuter appointments, and our shelter is just busting at the seams. It is a nationwide issue, and we’re feeling it especially hard here in Southern Oregon.”
Casey said foster families essentially help to expand shelter capacity, saving more lives.
“We’re not euthanizing animals for time and space, but what that means is we are also not taking in additional animals that we cannot provide care for,” she said.
“Our saving grace is that we have a lot of animals in foster care. Right now, that number is very quickly nearing 100 kittens, and we’re still headed toward the peak.”
Eliza Kauder, a foster parent and FOTAS volunteer for over a decade, said the supplies are often a big help when housing several litters of kittens at any given time.
Kauder and her husband have fostered some 200 kittens over the years, often helping to post photos and share info about the cats they care for to minimize the number that have to spend time, and add to the roster, at the shelter.
“What we call ‘kitten season’ definitely used to be more seasonal but is now pretty much year round for sure,” Kauder said.
“Foster families provide round-the-clock care with socializing and other things. For us, we usually try to help find adoptive families before it’s time for them to be placed at the shelter. Kittens just fly out the door — everybody wants kittens — but there’s a lot that has to happen before they’re old enough for their forever homes.”
Casey said shelter officials would be thrilled with items or monetary donations during the shower, which runs through the end of June, but cash would better enable the shelter to get bulk discounts on needed specialty items and prevent waste.
In addition to food and day-to-day supplies, medical supplies are often in short supply as most kittens arrive at the shelter with respiratory trouble or other illnesses.
A huge need, for example, is kitten milk replacement formula, which costs almost $300 for a 20-pound bucket, and the shelter uses up to eight buckets per year.
Additional needs range from sub-Q fluids, needles and syringes to antibiotics, probiotics, canned food, bedding and litter.
Casey said the shelter is grateful — and a little desperate — for any and all community support.
“We have a very supportive community, and we appreciate any help that is offered. We really would rather people not buy things because we know best what we need,” Casey said.
“So I guess it’s not entirely like a typical baby shower, since we’re saying not to bring gifts — just give us money — but really, it's just that we REALLY need help. And we need it now.”
For a complete list of needed items, or to donate funds, see www.fotas.org/kitten-shower.
For information on providing foster care, see www.fotas.org/foster.
Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at buffyp76@yahoo.com.