Many visitors to local animal shelters are unaware that there is an ongoing crisis behind the scenes that surges during the spring and summer. Each day, orphaned kittens flood into shelters, and the harsh reality is that shelter staff cannot possibly care for all of them. And while shelter volunteers provide invaluable help, the greatest need is for more community volunteers who are willing and able to foster kittens in their homes.
Newborn kittens up to eight weeks old are the most at-risk animals in shelters because they are fragile and physically vulnerable to illness, infection or disease. In order to survive, they require specific care and feeding every few hours from birth to six weeks old if there is no mother cat to nurse them. There are also other foster needs, including pregnant cats awaiting the birth of their kittens, nursing mother cats with kittens, or cats and kittens with special needs, injuries or illnesses.
Fostered kittens are cared for in private homes until they reach eight weeks old, two pounds in weight and are healthy. Then, they are ready to return to the shelter for spay/neuter and adoption.
The Hardakers & Atlas
When Tanya Hardaker and her daughter Daisy, 14, learned that Pam Love had foster kittens available, they decided it might be time to adopt since their cat had passed away.
“Instead of just adopting, we began fostering a newborn orphaned kitten,” Hardaker said. “Daisy easily learned to bottle-feed and care for the baby she named Atlas.”
Love – a longtime Avondale resident and passionate animal rescuer – taught Daisy to bottle-feed and introduced her to another kitten foster, Merry Carter, who hired the enthusiastic teen to help care for her foster kittens through Springfield Kitty Cat Shack Rescue.
Carter said all rescues and shelters need volunteers to bottle-feed, tame, socialize or care for newborn, ill and injured homeless kittens and cats.
“I hired Daisy to help with my foster kittens because I hoped that with early experience, a motivated teen like Daisy would carry her love for them forward,” said Carter, who was a Florida State College professor of medical laboratory science prior to her 2015 retirement. “I believe she will continue to foster, encouraging others to do so.”
Daisy’s mother believes fostering kittens has been a positive experience for her.
“Daisy is learning to help in her community and other positive life skills, including responsibility and interacting with others,” said Hardaker, whose family of nine includes three biological and four adopted children ages 8 to 17. “Our family has a heart for fostering and adopting children without homes. Daisy transferred that into helping homeless animals.”
Daisy agreed.
“I love caring for the kittens,” she said. “Adults and kids around my age can learn to do it with no problem. It’s important to help others, even animals, who cannot help themselves.”
The Earleys & Harry Potter
Heather Earley said her daughter Sarah, 10, always wanted a kitten and expressed her desire constantly by wearing kitten ears and outfits with cats on them. But Benny, the family’s Australian shepherd, had other ideas and was aggressive toward cats during walks. The family’s loud Conure birds, Jenn and Sunny, were two more reasons a cat did not fit the family.
Things changed, however, when Sarah’s father Larry Earley, a home inspector and contractor, heard mewing at a vacant home. He found three newborn kittens in an open cooler lying on its side. The next day, when he returned, two of the kittens were gone. Only a male kitten with closed, infected eyes had been left behind by the mother cat. Illness is one reason mother cats abandon kittens.
Earley brought the kitten home. After several different pet-feeding bottles were purchased but failed to work, the family sought help on Nextdoor. Pam Love responded, taking the kitten into foster care and starting treatment for its eye infection.
Sarah, then 8, and her younger brother Mathew had fallen in love with the kitten she named “Harry Potter” due to his long hair. Sarah begged her parents to allow her to visit the kitten and help care for him.
“Sarah began learning how to bottle-feed a kitten at a young age with her parents’ support,” Love said. “Then, they allowed her to learn kitten care once his eye infection cleared.”
The runt kitten who survived abandonment and a serious eye infection charmed the entire Earley family, who adopted him. Harry Potter is now a healthy, handsome leader of the pack who controls the family dog and ignores the birds.
The Haffner Family & Nimbus
Jim and Brenda Haffner and their adult autistic son, Jonathon, became Jacksonville Humane Society (JHS) kitten fosters through the encouragement of their daughter, Marin, who shifted gears from her law degree and found her calling in the animal care field. Now a JHS employee, she recruits family and friends to foster.
The Haffners previously fostered dogs and puppies with Paw Paw’s Pet Rescue, but they never fostered newborn kittens for JHS until 2023.
“Our current foster kitten, Nimbus, has won our hearts,” said Brenda Haffner. “Our son has severe anxiety, and through learning to help care for kittens, he found comfort, stress relief, learned new skills and has benefited from exposure to new experiences with them.”
How to foster
There is a critical shortage of volunteer kitten fosters for Jacksonville’s major animal shelters, situated at two different locations on each side of the St. Johns River: Animal Care & Protective Services (ACPS) located downtown at 2020 Forest St.; and the Jacksonville Humane Society at 8464 Beach Blvd. Both shelters provide free veterinarian services for foster animals, plus supplies, care instructions and staff support.
Anyone who cares about orphaned kittens can learn how to become a temporary foster and care for them at home, helping shelters save countless kittens. Families, couples, teens, singles, retirees, youth (with adult supervision) and people with special needs can all learn to care for orphan kittens. New volunteer fosters can visit either shelter to apply or go to their websites for more information.
Staff or experienced volunteers can provide training for all stages of kitten feeding, including bottle-feeding, which is necessary from birth to approximately six weeks of age. In addition, Love is willing to assist those who find orphaned kittens by offering the training an
