Foster parents urgently needed for L.A. city shelters’ orphaned kittens

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It’s kitten season again, and with it will come hundreds if not thousands of neonate kittens to the doors of L.A.’s animal shelters. (A neonate kitten is one that’s too young to survive on its own. But without a mother, a neonate kitten will need a lot of human help to survive
-- often more help than the overwhelmed staffs of local shelters can provide.)

Neonate kittens account for more than a third of the cats taken in at L.A.’s six city shelters, Department of Animal Services general manager Ed Boks writes on his blog. They also represent a huge percentage of animals euthanized by the shelters, accounting for more than 20% of all animals put to sleep in the shelter system last year.

Shelter staffers, stretched thin, are unable to provide the amount of care required for tiny kittens, which are extra-susceptible to upper respiratory viruses and other illnesses in shelters.

The good news? If a foster home is available, these needy creatures are sent there.

The bad news? If no foster home is found, the babies are put to sleep.

Being a foster ‘parent’ to a needy kitten (or litter of kittens) may not be easy, but Animal Services offers assistance in the form of training, formula and bottles, veterinary care and 24/7 guidance over the phone to volunteers who participate in its Bottle Baby program. Fosters keep their tiny charges until they’re 8 weeks old.

Volunteers can take in anywhere from a single kitten to multiple litters, depending on their level of experience, available time and space. Orphaned puppies are also in need of foster homes until they’re old enough to be adopted.

Animal Services ‘always needs volunteer foster parents and is always welcoming to anyone who would like to join the program,’ said Bottle Baby training coordinator Valerie Markloff. (And, we’re assured, should a foster parent fall in love with their tiny charge, they’re given the option to keep it when it reaches adoptable age.)

More information, as well as a downloadable foster application, are available at the L.A. Animal Services website.

--Lindsay Barnett