Kitten Season Chronicles Part 1

Mark — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:00:54 +0000

This post is a bit of a departure for me. It’s the first of several you’ll see in the coming weeks focusing on what’s known as Kitten Season in the animal-welfare world. For those who don’t know about Kitten Season it essentially runs from spring through fall when the warmer weather converges with female cats’ heat cycle and animal shelters start bursting at the seams with unwanted kittens. Organizations such as the San Francisco SPCA are on the front line dealing with this kitty deluge through fostering programs, adoptions and spay/neuter clinics. Other, more species-specific welfare organizations here in the Bay Area such as Nine Lives Foundation (to be featured in an upcoming post) are also extremely busy this time of year.

For this first post I’m focusing on a foster family for the SF SPCA that’s taken on five 4-week-old kitties until they’re stong and old enough to be put up for adoption. It’s tough and exhausting work: the kitties need constant feeding, cleaning and attention and are very vulnerable. The shots below were taken on their second day at the foster home.

Caveat: while photos of kitties are inherently cute I really want to stress how serious an issue Kitten Season is (or pet ownership in general, for that matter) and urge anyone reading this to help by spaying or neutering your cats, volunteering at a shelter, becoming a foster parent or adopting.

Ernie the Foster Kitty

Ernie on the Prowl

Oscar up close

Ernie well in hand

Ernie Grooming

Ernie on watch

Bert the ninja

Bert batting his baby blues

Mary - syringe feeding kittens

Foster Kitten Feeding from Syringe

Bert, Ernie, Cookie & Oscar after dinner (covered in food)

Cookie Gets a Bath

Was that so bad?

Cookie hangs out with Shannon (foster dad)

Smile Like a Dog » Kitten Season

Kitten Season Chronicles Part 1

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