Data-Driven Kitten Care: Insights for kitten season from the Kitten Lady
09Apr’24
Data-Driven Kitten Care: Insights for kitten season from the Kitten Lady
Though trends in animal shelters and rescues are constantly changing, there is one thing we can count on: Kitten season shows up every spring like clockwork, a result of the longer days triggering more cats to breed.
About 47% of cats that entered shelters in 2023 were kittens under five months old. Yet despite representing nearly half of all feline intakes, kittens remain one of the most vulnerable populations in animal shelters and rescues.
We sat down with the Kitten Lady Hannah Shaw to get her best advice for shelters and rescues this kitten season.
Determine a kitten’s age and track the data.
“We need to accurately age kittens because they need something different every week of the first few weeks of their lives,” Hannah says.
In order to make sure this information is known, she teaches organizations how to evaluate and accurately age every kitten.
In her extensive work with shelters, Hannah has found that three- to five-week old kittens are often just as vulnerable as kittens under two weeks. “This is because kittens in the three- to five-week range are often weaned prematurely,” she says. “Early weaning puts kittens at risk of an array of medical problems, including death. By accurately assessing and aging kittens — and tracking this data — animal welfare organizations can better evaluate the success of their kitten care programs and protocols.”
Understand not every kitten should enter the shelter.
Of the 47% of cats entering organizations as kittens (under 5 months old), 13% had a non-live outcome in 2023.
“It’s not in the best interest of a two-week old kitten to be taken from their mom and placed in a high-volume, institutional environment where they’re likely to be exposed to disease that their bodies are too fragile to fight,” says Hannah.
Instead, Hannah recommends shelters honestly communicate with Good Samaritans about their capacity, their ability to care for unweaned kittens, and what will give kittens the best chance of survival. To assist in these efforts, she teaches a method of evaluating every kitten based on age, health, and the capacity of the finder called CASA that helps animal welfare organizations and individuals assess every kitten based on their condition, age, situation, and ability.
“Our first goal should be to reduce the number of kittens coming into the shelter,” Hannah says. “By proactively educating our communities, we can encourage kitten finders to be partners in lifesaving. We can help them assess found kittens and work with us to decide if their best option is to come into the shelter or remain in their community until they’re old enough to be spayed or neutered.”
Recognize community cat programs are the foundation of kitten lifesaving.
Hannah emphasizes community cat programs should no longer be considered optional.
In 2023, SAC organizations reported more than 60,000 cats were trap-neutered-returned. This service was consistently provided each month of the year.
“Many kittens entering our shelters are not from ‘oops’ litters from owned pets,” she says. “When we invest in community cat programs, there are so many benefits. We can reunite found kittens with their moms, monitor kittens and bring them into the shelter when they’re no longer dependent on mom, and provide targeted TNR.”
Is your organization providing critical TNR services?
Be sure to submit that data!
Harness your community’s desire to help.
“Most people who find kittens want to help and many are willing and eager to become kitten foster caregivers,” shares Hannah. “There is a lot of room to improve our diversion programs by nurturing relationships with finders and helping them become foster caregivers.”
Hannah recommends offering group and individual training for new and returning foster caregivers taught by knowledgeable staff members (as well as foster mentors!). She encourages organizations to have ready-to-go ‘kitten kits’ onhand for fosters and to build a network of support among foster caregivers so more experienced kitten fosters can help first-time kitten fosters be successful.
“As animal welfare organizations, it’s our duty to help the animals that need us the most, and kittens are still the most vulnerable populations in most shelters. But these kittens are not hopeless — they just need us to invest in programs that give them hope.”
Hannah recommends organizations take these simple, specific steps:
- Implement a community cat program.
- Train and support staff and volunteers to care for neonatal kittens.
- Learn how to accurately age and assess kittens.
- Engage the community to foster kittens and teach them how.
- Provide education, medical support, and supplies to fosters to set them up for success.
- Seek donations and grants for kitten lifesaving.
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