Medical Edge: Help needed for cat breeding season
Like 0 Dislike 0 Published on 7 May 2014
CINCINNATI (Liz Bonis) -- You might think of it as "cat-tastrophe!"
The SPCA Cincinnati says there is a critical need for families who can help provide medical care for cats. It's not too cozy inside the cat house right now at the SPCA. But within weeks the overcrowding is expected to begin:
Kelly Burroughs, the SPCA development coordinator, said, "Last year between July and September we saw 750 kittens. That doesn't even count the pregnant mommas or the other cats. But 750 kittens in those four months."
That means if you are even thinking of adopting a cat Kelly Burroughs is hoping you'll open your heart and your home soon! In addition to that part of the reason we are sharing this story is that many of these cats come in with special medical needs. And that means the need for fostering goes up as well.
Fostering programs work by giving you all the things that you need bring a cat to good health and then if you are not what they call a "Cat Foster Failure," (meaning you end up adopting the cat!) you can bring it back so someone else can adopt it.
Kelly continues, "So if they come in with and upper respiratory infection, which is fairly common, we send you home with medications, antibiotics, eye drops any thing they need to get better."
Foster families also help with pregnancies or cat litters that need a little extra attention.
"You send us an application and we put you on a list, and we call you when we have a pregnant mamma, or we a nursing mamma with kittens, or we have orphaned kittens that need to be bottle fed. You get the joy of having kittens in your house, the cute kitten antics, and then you get to give them back a few weeks up to few months," Kelly said.
Unless of course you have what happened with Megan Kearney's cat named Bacon.
Megan tells us, "I fostered him and was a "foster failure" and ended up adopting him. He was a sick cat."
You see sick cats get better in private homes, Kelly says, "A shelter just isn't' a great place for young bodies, or weak immune systems. So a nice comfortable warm home is wonderful."
CLICK HERE for applications to be a foster family.
And don't forget! We hope you'll tune in Saturday, April 19th to watch the SPCA telethon on Local 12 from noon to 3p.m.
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