On occasion, the shelter takes in animals that are too young to be adopted. Sometimes they come with their mamas, and sometimes they are orphans. The shelter is a loud, stressful place with potential exposure to contagious diseases, and neonatal animals have almost no immune system. Therefore our goal is to move all neonates and nursing mamas out of the shelter, so they can have a calm, relaxing, safe, and clean space to grow and thrive until they’re ready for adoption. Kittens and puppies are ineligible for adoption until they’re at least 8 weeks of age, at which point they can come in for spay/neuter, and be adopted into their forever homes. Until that time, we rely on our foster families to help these guys grow, socialize, and prepare for the rest of their lives!
Foster homes are vital to this process. Without them, we are limited in the number of neonates and nursing mom dogs and cats we are able to intake into our shelter.
The number of open foster homes we have directly equals the number of animals we are able to help when it comes to baby animals and their families!
This population is fragile and does require a bit extra TLC. Fortunately for our foster families, even if you’ve never taken care of this population before, we’re here to help you! Fosters are provided with hands-on training opportunities to learn how to care for kittens, puppies, and nursing moms, and they’re assigned a volunteer case manager to help them along in their journey. We are here to provide whatever supplies are required, and the emotional support needed to help these babies grow and flourish.
To learn more about our nursing mom and neonate cat foster program click below