Why the eight-week mark is one of the most important milestones in a kitten’s life

During kitten season, animal shelters across the country see an influx of kittens in need, many of them too young to be adopted. Best Friends Animal Society is calling on cat lovers across the country to take on the cutest task imaginable – fostering neonatal kittens through their most vulnerable weeks.

Research from Best Friends Animal Society, in collaboration with Dr. Julie Levy, director of the Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida, identified the “magic moment” in a kitten’s journey: around eight weeks of age. While newborn kittens face their greatest challenges during their first weeks of life, those who reach eight weeks are suddenly healthier and more resilient, making them highly adoptable. Sadly, most kitten deaths occur before this milestone. Kittens younger than six weeks old account for 47.5% of cat deaths, making foster care during those first weeks of life critical.

Neonatal kittens require specialized care, including bottle feeding, warmth and frequent monitoring, making foster homes the best place for them to grow strong enough for loving homes of their own. Foster families give these kittens the individualized attention they need while also freeing shelter resources to care for more homeless pets.

“Foster volunteers are critical in saving the lives of pets in shelters,” said Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society. “Whether you are caring for newborn kittens, helping a shy dog build confidence or giving a senior pet a quiet place to rest, foster families provide the love and stability adoptable pets need. Whether you foster or adopt, you are becoming part of the solution to bring about a time when no dog or cat unnecessarily dies in shelters.”

To learn more about fostering or to adopt a kitten, visit the Farmington Animal Shelter website: www.farmington nm.gov/767/Fostering.

This week’s featured pets from the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter are a couple of kittens, Carrot (female) and Beetroot (male). These two balls of fluff came to the shelter as strays after they were found under bushes all alone. After determining there was no mom in sight and one didn’t return, they were brought to the shelter. The guess is they are six to seven weeks old. It is estimated that these two little ones still need one to two weeks in a foster situation before being adopted out to their forever homes. The shelter has a fostering program, which provides crucial overflow space for animals between homes, those too young to be adopted, or those recovering from illness or injury. These kittens simply need a safe, nurturing environment where they can grow, play, be socialized and gain weight. Find out more about Carrot and Beetroot by visiting the shelter.