Thursday, September 30, 2010

I Love Kittens



Volunteering at the Bottle Baby Nursery for Austin Pets Alive poses challenges for sure: avoiding getting ringworm while making sure the kittens affected get plenty of food and love; suffering through the very few kittens who just don't make it; washing dirty bottles and dishes by hand - just like at home; finding occasional fleas; finding occasional worms (shudder); kittens with the equivalent of diaper rash; and sometimes the sheer volume of hungry kittens EEEEEEEEE-ing at me to be fed right now!

The rewards of caring for these helpless feline orphans far outweigh any challenging situations. I love: the twitch of kitten ears as they suckle happily from a bottle of Kitten Milk Replacement; hearing tiny purrs; watching strong kittens romp and play with each other; seeing fat kitten bellies; watching kittens who recover from various maladies at the nursery flourish into beautiful, healthy, adoptable kitties; squee-ing over all the cuteness; petting soft baby fur; burping kittens after their bottle; and the most rewarding of all, knowing that I help to save kittens from being killed at the shelter simply because they are too small for round-the-clock care at the understaffed, limited resources, city-run shelter.

While I do love kittens very, very much, please spay and neuter your pets to prevent pet overpopulation and the subsequent killing of pets. Encourage your friends and family to spay and neuter their pets. Adopt your next pet from a shelter or rescue group. Say no to disreputable breeders.