Many communities are seeing kitten intakes decline at this time of year but here in the RGV, there doesn't appear to be any slowing down. Due to our warm fall, the kitten breeding season is much longer here than in cooler climates.
In August, PVAS took in 773 cats, and nearly three quarters
were kittens. The intake team sees kittens coming in daily, and in every condition. Our team sees kittens that are doing well and eating on their own, those missing their mom and needing 24-hour care, and those with serious upper-respiratory infections (URIs) that threaten their life. The intake department is the first stop for each animal when they arrive at PVAS, where they are vaccinated then the medical team takes over and assesses each animal to make sure any medical needs they may have are addressed. The intake team vaccinates all of these animals and the medical team assesses them so that any with injuries or other issues receive the proper care they need immediately.
We are excited that 91 foster families stepped up to help us save these kittens. Kittens do much better in a home situation than the shelter. Since kitten intake isn't slowing down in September we still need your help with fostering these little ones. A week or even a night of helping to bottle feed these tiny felines will help. If you see kittens in the wild, wait to see if their mom returns before bringing them in or calling Animal Control. Often their mom is nearby, and kittens survive much better outside with their mom than in a shelter. However, when they do come in, we try to place kittens with foster families as fast as possible.
The PVAS foster team has been busy working to build support for foster families who are taking in these high-risk kittens. Due to the high number of special needs kittens, including neonatal kittens needing to be bottle-fed, and kittens with ringworm, the foster team is kicking off courses through Maddie’s University to help fosters learn the ins and outs of helping these little lives.
Ringworm, for instance, sounds like a scary parasite -- but actually it’s just a skin condition like Athlete’s foot. Treating a ringworm cat in a foster home means they will heal much faster than in the shelter, the lower stress level really helps. For kittens needing to be bottle-fed, the sacrifice of waking up to feed them for a week or two means saving their life. The foster team wants to make sure anyone interested in helping can take these classes and feel confident in knowing how to help.
Interested in fostering? Even a few days can help these little lives - email foster@pvastx.org