It's that time of year again when animal rescues become overwhelmed with the sheer number of newborn kittens and their mamas that need care and a safe place to grow and thrive. Kitten season comes early in the South and lasts for several months. Newborn kittens are especially fragile and vulnerable, and the Entangled Cat Cafe team is so grateful to our partners at Circle of Friends Animal Society along with the many animal rescue groups, foster families, animal hospitals and other organizations everywhere that donate their time, energy, and resources to help save and shelter these precious kitty families.
Jill with Circle of Friends shared a little information with us about what Kitten Season looks like for their organization. COFAS always rescues the mama cat with her kittens when pulling from animal control facilities rather than separating the kittens from their mothers, and the family goes into foster care together, which means they tend to have many female adult cats that are in foster care longer. It's easier to find home for kittens than for the adult cat moms. COFAS also takes in pregnant cats and cares for them in a foster home until they've given birth, raised their babies, and found a forever family of their own.
Another issue COFAS runs into is the number of kittens that will be born to each pregnant cat in their care. When taking in a litter of kittens, they know exactly how many kittens they'll be caring for and can plan for the correct amount of food and litter. With a pregnant mom, they never know exactly how many kittens she'll have, and there's no way of predicting how much it will cost in the long run. The average litter size is four, but they have had litters up to nine kittens born in their care!
There are additional items that need to be purchased for kittens, such as kitten replacement milk, Nutrical Supplement, Snuggle Safe Pet Heating Pads, specialty litter for litter training, and wet food for weaning. Other items to be accounted for are things like laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. Those may seem like such a little thing, but COFAS goes through a ton, especially during kitten season!