7 Kittens Founds Abandoned in Parking Lot Find Safety in Foster Home
“Kitten season” is the time of year (usually late spring) when homeless and feral cats start producing litters, and animal shelters and rescue organizations are often overwhelmed with the influx of new kittens. My own two cats are the result of a kitten season population explosion. I’ve got a mama and one of her kittens (the others were adopted elsewhere). The mama arrived homeless and starving at the foster’s house only hours before she gave birth.
My cats were the lucky ones. Too often, kittens are born on the streets, and with the dangers from predators, cars, and the elements, too often they are orphaned and left to die for lack of care, food, and shelter.
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During kitten season, rescue organizations and animal control can seen become overwhelmed with cases as more and more adorable and incredibly needy cats come out of the woodwork. But there are always more kittens than foster homes to put them in, and such young creatures need tender, loving care.
Related: Adorable Boys Rescue Kitten and Parents' Reaction Is Everything
Trap and Release Feral Cat Programs
For the kittens in this video, their situation was made somewhat perilous by a town’s “trap, neuter and release” program, or TNR. TNR programs are organized to help communities attempt to control their feral cat populations. Instead of gathering up and euthanizing feral cats, TNR programs trap cats, send them in for spay and neuter surgery, then release them back into he wild to live out their lives without making any more feral cats. It’s considered a more humane solution to the problem, but it’s not without its critics.
Those who disapprove of the program say it’s at best merely a Band Aid on a bigger problem
In this case, however, the TNR program trapped and spayed the kittens’ mother, which left these little babies alone and defenseless. While she recovered from their surgery, they need a place to live that was not a parking lot.
How to Care for Foster Kittens
Caring for foster kittens differs tremendously based on how old the kitten is when it comes into your care. Kittens under a month old have a very low survival rate without their mother. That is because they are incapable of moving, eating anything but mother’s milk or kitten formula, and eliminating waste on their own. They need round the clock care that can only be provided by their mother or an expert.
But once a kitten is five or six weeks old, it’s more playful, capable of eating gruel (wet food mixed with water) and can be litter box trained and clean itself and its kitten siblings. This is the time of life that it is more playful and curious. It still nurses from mom (if she’s around) and still has a lot to learn from her, so should not be separated from its mother if she’s still round. But as an orphaned cat, its chance of survival is much higher.
The kittens in this video are likely round seven seeks old, based on their size, appearance, and activity level. They were lucky that they were found and brought to a foster home who can continue to care for them and adopt them out.
“So many kittens don’t get this lucky,” the poster wrote in the caption. “Fosters are needed now more than ever! If you’re able to open up your home temporarily, whether it’s to our organization or another — now is the time! We all need you. Kittens can only be taken off the street if they have somewhere to go. The kittens need you.”
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