Looking to Adopt a Kitty as Sweet as Her Name? Meet Chai!

Aurora from the Humane Society of West Michigan was my guest this morning on Wet Nose Wednesday. We talked all about cats, especially Chai!

Chai is a very gentle, young, orange and white girl who came to the Humane Society with brand new babies! She nursed them until they were able to be weaned, and they're all healthy and up for adoption now.

Chai is two years old and adores attention! She'll politely ask for more pets if you stop petting her, and loves to meet new people. As we get into kitten season, everyone wants to adopt kittens, but don't forget about our adult cats, too! There are so many sweet ones looking for homes, just like Chai.

Learn more about this cat and other pets in our care at www.hswestmi.org

Our Kitten Shower is THIS WEEK!

Kitten season is here, which means we're expecting... KITTENS!

You're invited to celebrate all of these incoming bundles of joy at our Kitten Shower, Bottle Baby Bash, happening this Saturday, April 29th from 11am to 2pm! This fun party fundraiser will help us support these little babies all summer long. Admission is just a donation of canned kitten food--though we'd love to see some of the gifts off of our Kitten Registry, at bit.ly/kittenshowerregistry.

We're going to have treats and donuts from Olly's Donuts, games, refreshments, raffles, and of course, LOTS of adorable kittens for all of our guests to cuddle and enjoy, you won’t want to miss it!

What is Kitten Season?

Our goal for the Kitten Shower is to raise money for "kitten season." A lot of people may not know what kitten season is, but it's exactly what it sounds like!

Kitten Season, otherwise known as feline breeding season, takes place during warm months (typically March through October, but varies across the country), and many shelters experience the bulk of their cat and kitten intake during this time--including us! We get hundreds (and sometimes even thousands) of kittens come in each year who may be orphaned, and we also get a lot of moms with kittens coming into us as well.

Not only are we accepting large amounts of felines during this time, but we also find ourselves with lots of litters of bottle-baby kittens that require round-the-clock feeding and care that we can’t provide in the shelter, which is where YOU come in!

Become a Kitten Foster!

We need a LOT more kitten fosters to get us through kitten season this year! Last year, we sent about 800-1000 kittens to foster to allow them to grow big and strong enough to get their spay and neuter surgeries.

If you're interested in becoming a kitten foster, please sign up under the "Foster" tab on our website at hswestmi.org! We need fosters for bottle baby kittens (meaning newborn kittens who are orphaned and need to be bottle fed because they don't have their moms), kittens WITH moms, and even older kittens who are weaning, or eating on their own!

Have questions about fostering? Reach out to our Foster Team at foster@hswestmi.org

Find a Kitten Outside?

It’s common to find kittens outside during kitten season, so if you DO come across some, what should you do?

You want to see if mom is around first, because if mom is taking good care of them, you can leave them be (you’ll know mom is still around if they're clean, plump, quiet). If mom doesn't seem to be around and the kittens seem restless, sick, distressed, or dirty, mom is likely not around and they should come in so we can take care of them! If mom is still around, then we recommend making sure they have a safe, dry place to grow up, and when they're old enough to be weaned from mom, they can be surrendered to us to be socialized and adopted.

Not sure? You can always contact us for more information on how to determine if kittens need to come into us or not. Reach out to our Admitting Department for help at admitting@hswestmi.org