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Kittens Kittens, Kittens!

Kittens...482 of them!

Yes. you read that number that correctly. Since July 1st, the Lynchburg Humane Society has taken in 482 kittens under the age of 6 months. Of those, 260 were under 8 weeks old. We see day old kittens who need bottle feedings every 4 hours to litters of 6-week-old kittens who just need a little time to grow. The shelter is not a hospitable environment for a tiny unvaccinated kitten because of all the viruses and illnesses that can be present. Our foster program is instrumental in saving these precious lives. Since kittens are not able to be adopted until they are 8 weeks old, the foster program allows us the freedom to use the space at our Center for a pet that is ready for adoption. It also gives the kittens a jump start into socializing, staying healthy and learning what home life is all about. And another bonus - foster parents are really great at finding homes for their kittens!

We have been asked about what affects kitten season and how do we handle it. So let’s get started... kitten season. Kitten season usually starts in April and runs through September. Every shelter and humane organization around us sees a large uptick in their cat/kitten population during this time of the year.

The two most common reasons we receive kittens are 1. Good Samaritans find a kitten(s) and bring them to the LHS, sometimes with the mother and sometimes without 2. Community cats at large. These two reasons are closely related and a project we have been working to address. Community cats may be a cat that lives in your neighborhood but no one really takes ownership of. A community cat could also be a colony of feral cats. There are simply too many unaltered outside cats. This is the root of kitten season and why we are faced with so many kittens each year.

How can we address it? Can you say $25 cat fix? We will spay/neuter any outside cat for $25. Just call us and we can give you information on when you can bring community cat in for spay/neuter. If you are dealing with a feral cat and can’t get your hands on them you can use TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return). We loan out humane traps and we will show you how to set it. We believe in this so strongly that we are underwriting this program! The cost to spay/neuter a cat is much more than $25 but we know that this is the only humane way to reduce our cat population in central Virginia. We want to prevent the future population growth.

There are so many ways you can help. You can be a foster! You can trap cats! You can volunteer at our spay/neuter clinic! You can donate!

Life-saving takes help. Thank you for all that you do for the pets and continuing to help us be a no-kill community.



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