The San Diego Humane Society is preparing for its annual kitten season by hosting a virtual Kitten shower to encourage the community to donate essential items.
The Kitten Shower starts on March 7 to help prepare for the thousands of kittens under 8 weeks of age that will come into the shelter, and require round-the-clock care to grow into healthy cats.
According to event organizers, the community is encouraged to donate essential items, including kittens formula bottles, heating pads, scales, and blankets from the San Diego Humane Society’s online baby registries. The registries are hosted by Amazon, Target, and Walmart and can be accessed directly at sdhumane.org/kittenshower.
Every donation will be used to provide lifesaving care for the kittens to survive.
“Neonate kittens have many essential needs that our staff and volunteers meet in the
absence of a mother,” said San Diego Humane Society Director of Nursery & Placement Jackie Noble. “They need to be fed every two to three hours, they need temperature regulation, they need help eliminating and they need to be groomed — all things their mom would do if she was raising them.”
Purchased items are delivered directly to San Diego Humane Society.
The San Diego Humane Society opened the county’s first around-the-clock kitten nursery in 2009. Now known as the Jim Lester Kitten Nursery & Foster Center, it develops and shares practices for kitten care with shelters across the country.
According to the San Diego Humane Society, the center also works with hundreds of trained foster volunteers to provide care in their own homes. The Center also offers a daycare space for fosters who need help caring for kittens during the day.
