Last month, nearly 20 Love Your Feral Felines volunteers gathered to learn more about how to care for the most at-risk kitten population—those 0-8 weeks old.
Thanks to a generous grant from Orphan Kitten Club (OKC), LYFF was able to purchase lifesaving equipment to give tiny neonatal kittens the best chance at thriving. Part of the grant also provided funding to train interested foster volunteers in how to take on the most critical kittens. We brought our volunteers together with our in-house neonatal expert, Kimmi Morningstar, and one of our partner veterinarians, Dr. Angela Hofmann, to discuss the ins and outs of caring for the tiniest, sickest felines.
Sessions Gave Fosters More Advanced Skills
While the grant that LYFF received from OKC covered equipment costs and a single training session on tube feeding and nebulizer use, LYFF decided to expand on the training by inviting other volunteers to a more general session.
- The advanced session covered a recap of bottle feeding and stimulation best practices, evaluation for illness/care needs, tube-feeding procedures, and using an incubator and nebulizer.
- The general session covered the basics of fostering basics, processes for bottle feeding and stimulation for pee/poop, evaluation for illness/care needs, and giving fluids. In addition, we presented demos on the use of an incubator, nebulizer, and tube feeding.
Adding More Foster Homes for Kittens
In the end, LYFF expanded our roster of foster volunteers ready to take on critical kittens in need of tube feeding, added to our list of foster volunteers willing and able to bottle-feed neonates, and even added brand-new foster families to our team! In addition, we created stronger community and mentoring relationships among our foster volunteers, which will improve our bonds and provide every volunteer with more support as they care for tiny lives.
What’s Ahead
LYFF has already made plans for a “critical-kitten-care refresher” session at the start of kitten season 2024, that will enable some volunteers who couldn’t attend the October session to participate. The specific date of that session will be flexible, depending on being able to pull some kittens in need of tube-feeding from local shelters, in order to give everyone hands-on practice. We’re also considering expanding the reach of future training sessions to generate more interest in fostering on the part of existing or potential LYFF volunteers.
We can’t thank OKC enough for their support that is already impacting the lives of critical kittens in San Diego County!