Neonatal kitten training class debuts in Marysville
Jun. 28—Kitten lovers and cat enthusiasts will be excited to learn of a new class being offered at the Hathaway Cat Resource Center in Marysville.
Twenty lucky participants will be introduced to the basics of neonatal kitten care along with the opportunity to bottle feed newborn kittens. This free class will be offered on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those interested can register online or by contacting the FieldHaven Feline Center. This class is geared to suit people of all ages and skill levels, however, those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
"I personally love it when little kids learn to bottle feed," said Dallas Butterfield, operations manager for FieldHaven. "I think it teaches them a lot."
While an evening of cat play may sound like a lot of fun, the true purpose of this event is to help expand the organization's feline foster care programs and give more people the tools and resources to care for rescued kittens on their own. The staff at FieldHaven have already taken in hundreds of kittens and continue to receive dozens of daily inquiries to help with more. Butterfield said FieldHaven is prepared to provide the supplies, training, round-the-clock support, and cover the medical expenses for any kitten in its foster care system. All they need from foster caregivers is a safe place to temporarily house some baby cats.
"The time commitment really depends on the kitten's age," said Butterfield. "In the first few weeks of life, the kittens will need to eat every two hours. As they grow, these increments expand. When at all possible, kittens should be left in the care of their mother, but in cases of abandonment, death, or other factors, bottle rearing may be the only option in saving these young cats' lives."
FieldHaven's main shelter is located in Lincoln, with the Hathaway Cat Resource Center acting as a "satellite" location in Marysville. The partnership between FieldHaven and the city of Marysville was started in 2018 with the goal of sterilizing all the stray cats in the city.
"Since then we have TNR'd (Trap-Neuter-Release) 1,500 cats and taken in over 800 kittens just from within the city itself," said Butterfield.
In addition to TNR programs, the Hathaway Center helps local residents find solutions to safely and affordably feed, fix, vaccinate, microchip, and transport their cats and kittens.
During the pandemic, most clinics were temporarily forced to close, including FieldHavens spay and neuter programs. Since then, staff has been trying to play "catch up," and said their numbers have been through the roof.
"Basically, we're trying to equip the community to be able to handle the bottle babies they may come across," explained Butterfield. "The things that we teach at this class are very specialized things. You can definitely look stuff up online but it's really nice to have hands-on experience with this type of learning."
Those who attend the class and are interested in fostering can fill out a form that will be provided after the session. This form will add participants to a list of potential kitten foster homes that FieldHaven can access when needed.
The Neonatal Kitten Training Class will be run by Amelia Davies along with a few other volunteer members. In addition to all the cute and cuddly shenanigans, the class will offer light refreshments and a small fundraising raffle with more cat-related items.
This event will be a first for the Hathaway Center, but Butterfield feels it will most likely be beneficial for them to continue this type of training more frequently during kitten season. Those that miss the Marysville class may be able to attend a similar event in Lincoln near the end of July.
The Hathaway Cat Resource Center is located at 630 B St. in Marysville. Registration forms can be accessed at form.jotform.com/221724940818156, or by contacting FieldHaven at info@fieldhaven.com. For more about FieldHaven Feline Center, visit fieldhaven.com or call 916-434-6022.
