Hit Counter

Please be patient - due to the large number of pictures on this page, it may load very slowly.

Lakeland Animal Welfare Society (LAWS)

Lakeland Animal Shelter

Elkhorn, Wisconsin

Donate

Events

Shop!

To view a larger picture, click on the thumbnail image. Use your browser's "Back Button" to return to this page

Kitten Season

01/24/2012

What do we mean by "kitten season"?

Every spring, unaltered cats everywhere answer nature's call to reproduce, and the next generation of cats begins. With an average of 2-5 kittens per litter, the numbers rapidly climb, and in a short time, our population increases exponentially.

See the results of one cat who wasn't spayed on Rebecca's story!

This volume of incoming cats puts a tremendous strain on the shelter's resources. Some of these kittens are orphaned and may require bottle feeding. Others are unsocialized and require extra attention while learning to love and trust people. Some come to us with injuries caused by cars, other animals, or sometimes even humans. Even if they don't have special needs, kittens do not have developed immune systems, and a continuous flow of sick cats coming through our doors places all of them at risk for severe, and sometimes even fatal, illness.

Whenever possible, our first choice for all of these little ones is foster care. Kittens raised in foster homes have a better chance to grow strong and healthy and develop strong immune systems before being exposed to many of the all-too-common feline viruses. Nursing moms can raise their kittens in a much less stressful environment, and mom is usually healthier and can provide better care for her babies. Kittens raised in foster homes are more used to a home setting, making them adapt more quickly when going to a permanent home. Those moms and kittens who develop symptoms of upper respiratory and other viruses will generally recover much more quickly in foster homes than in the shelter. In a foster home, a kitty may get over a cold in a week or two, while in the shelter, recovery frequently takes a month or longer due to the stress of the shelter environment and the constant challenges to undeveloped or weakened immune systems. While we wish all kittens could be raised in foster homes, the space available is never equal to the number of kittens coming in, but we do our best to help our kittens in foster homes find permanent families quickly so that our foster home can be available to help more kittens.

Meeting our foster kittens

If you stop at the shelter for a visit, we may or may not have adoptable kittens that are not in foster care in our adoptable cat room. The posted foster kittens are not housed in the shelter, and many are not quite ready to go home yet. If you are interested in any of the foster kittens, simply put in an adoption application and let us know who you are interested in. Once your application is approved, we are more than happy to arrange meetings with our foster kittens, either in the foster home or at the shelter depending on the situation, so that you can decide if a particular kitten (or kittens) is right for you. However, because our foster homes are very busy caring for all of the little babies as well as their own families, and visits do require additional planning and time, we will not set up special visits without an approved adoption application. We have resumed our practice of bringing 1-2 litters of foster kittens that are ready or nearly ready (within 2-3 weeks) to the shelter on Saturdays. Whether you have an adoption application on file or not, feel free to email fosters@lakelandanimalshelter.org to find out which kittens will be at the shelter on a particular Saturday. Also please remember that timelines and availability change, even for kittens posted on this site, if health status changes or new issues are identified.

Want to help make a difference?

Here are a few ways you can help us to help them.

Adopt a shelter kitty, or better yet, two. A pair of kittens can keep each other amused for hours while amusing you with their antics. Looking for a calmer addition to your household? Many older, more mellow adult cats wait for months just to have a chance to show you how loving and devoted they can be.
Become a foster home. If you are interested in becoming a foster home, you can fill out our foster application on our "animals needing foster" page. A commitment of a few weeks to a few months can bring countless rewards to you and your foster animals, and if you are interested in adoption, you can get to know the animals well before they permanently join your family.

Consider donating much needed supplies or money to help us to provide the best possible care for these kitties. Kitten formula, bottles, canned and dry kitten food, and clay cat litter are always needed, and financial donations are needed to offset the additional medical expenses during this critical time.

Help us by becoming a part of the solution, instead of contributing to an already serious problem, by spaying or neutering your own pets.

Help make spay/neuter surgery available for those who cannot afford it by contributing to the John Vogel Spay/Neuter fund.

Interested in adopting one of these kittens, or want to go through our approval process to choose a cat or kitten later? Our adoption applications can be found on Spottie's page.

Want to see the weekly updates on a Mama and her babies? We have chosen one mom cat and litter to follow through weekly written, photo, and video updates! Click the photo below for Mama's story and to follow the kittens, born April 3rd, 2008.

PLEASE NOTE THAT MAMA AND HER BABIES HAVE ALL BEEN ADOPTED.

---------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------

These kittens come from multiple litters who arrived at the shelter at various times. The two Siamese mixes, Rica and Rina, actually arrived during the summer. While we would normally have placed them in foster homes, the kittens were fighting a significant upper respiratory infection, and we had no openings in foster care where their illness would not pose a threat to other foster kittens--so they remained at the shelter. The kittens were started on antibiotics, but in the challenging shelter environment, with new strays arriving on a daily basis, it took several weeks before their symptoms started to fade. In the meantime, they were joined by 3 other kittens: Lydia, Mia, and Simon. All 5 kittens remained in treatment until early November. At that point, they were still fighting some lingering upper respiratory symptoms, but hadn't fully cleared. Knowing that being moved to a more isolated environment would help them to eliminate the remaining symptoms, we took advantage of a new opening in foster care to move them and finish out their treatment. At this point, we expect they will be ready to join new families in early December. (photos taken the day they joined their foster home, 11/12/11)

Lydia

Mia

adopted

Simon

Rica

adopted

Rena

adopted

------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------When the photos were taken in late Novemeber, we were still being treated for kitty colds, but we continue to make progress and hopefully will soon be completely healthy. Bella and Bailee are siblings, while Tibeau, Tawny, and Tessa are a separate litter, and are approximately 2 weeks younger than Bella and Bailee. We hope that all of the kittens will be ready to join families in early - mid December.

note: updated pics 12/31 with green background

Bella