Thursday, June 12, 2014

Kitten Rescue - Need Help!




This last year, we have noticed an dramatic increase in cats in our neighborhood. I have three older cats in my backyard who have been spayed. Since I have food out there for them, more cats have started hanging out in our yard - some of them have collars. I don't know who they belong to, but the owners have not had them fixed. I've caught several of them and have taken them to the low cost spay and neuter clinic here in town, but I can't afford to get them all fixed. As a result, three of the cats got pregnant and decided our yard was the best place to have their kittens.




The first litter was born on April 19th to a cat who was mostly feral. Soon after, she got a terrible abscess wound on her stomach, so we were able to catch her and bring her and the kittens inside. We treated her, and she has completely healed. She had four kittens.

The second two cats are co-parenting, which is really interesting to see them taking turns nursing and cleaning all of the kittens. They had their litters on May 7th and May 13th, and they keep them all together. It's so cute. One had a litter of four and the other had five. So there are 13 kittens altogether.

My plan was to take care of them and get them used to people, so that, at eight to ten weeks, I could take them to a cat rescue, where they would be spayed/neutered, and put up for adoption. However, I started calling around to the different no-kill shelters, and everyone is having the same problem. There are way too many cats/kittens who need help, and the rescues/shelters are overflowing. The animal control places who euthanize animals will take them, but there is no way I can do that. It's not an option.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to adopt these little kitties out myself, but I don't want to add to the growing feral cat problem. I don't want give these kittens to people not knowing whether or not they are going to have them fixed. I would like to work with the low cost spay and neuter clinic to get all the kittens and their mothers fixed before I send them out to new homes. However, I can't afford to pay for all of them. It costs $35 for males and $56 for females. I don't want to be part of the kitty problem here, so if there is any way you can help, I would appreciate it. I am doing a Go Fund Me campaign to try to take care of the kittens myself. If there is money left over, it will go towards food (kitten food is expensive) and vet bills (one kitten had an eye infection, and it cost $81.00). I would also love to be able to pay for them to get their first shots. Any money that isn't used directly for the kittens will get donated to one of the local no-kill shelters. Thank you for taking the time to read about our bitty kitties!

You can find out more about the kittens and follow them on their journey on Facebook. And follow us on Twitter @KittyPosse1.

No comments:

Post a Comment