FALLSTON, Md. — A stray cat and its four kittens are among more than a hundred felines at the Humane Society of Harford County in Fallston, hoping people, like Dave Chenoweth, give them a new lease on life.
Smitten with kittens
“I’m just sort of looking… sort of looking,” said Chenoweth. “An adult cat would be fine, or a kitten could be fine.”
But these kittens are more fortunate than those left to fend for themselves.
“Momma’s going to do all the hard work for you,” explained Program Coordinator Brittany Hasselbeck. "You're basically taking care of Momma and hanging out with the babies.”
That’s where volunteers who foster any of the multitude of newborn kittens at the shelter can make the difference between life and death.
“They are very time-consuming, especially with bottle babies,” said Hasselbeck, “They need around-the-clock care, especially the fragile, one-week old or less. They need feeding every hour or two hours. Only people can only do that for so long before you get burnt out.”
Newborn kittens are at great risk of sickness in a shelter with their undeveloped immune systems, and 24-hour care isn’t possible, which makes building a team of fosters that much more important until the animals are cleared for adoption, and it’s not just the cats.
Right now, the shelter is caring for some 59 dogs, and only seven of them are in foster families.
Of those, one has been in their care for 117 days.
That’s 'Ruby,' a male dog, which is now in foster care awaiting a forever home, and adding more volunteers to even take dogs home for weekly breaks from the shelter can better their chances of survival.
“Dogs that get out for a weekend are 14 times more likely to get adopted,” said Hasselbeck.
Since its recent appeal, the Humane Society has already received more than 50 new foster applications, providing hope for the animals where little existed before.
