It's Raining Kittens

To the excitement of the shelter staff, lovely Luna and Harriet were both adopted into fantastic new homes. Luna went home with a family full of children and another rambunctious kitten, and Harriet went to a family that will shower her with affection.

In addition to these two happy adoptions, there have been a lot of other wonderful things going on at the shelter for the past few weeks and months. Volunteers have been trimming and planting and watering, transforming the shelter into an oasis for the animals. Partnerships with Petco and PetSmart have expanded the potential of Southern Pines to reach families in the community. Our volunteer photographers have been working hard to keep up with demand and to hone their craft, because they know that their photos could make all the difference for the animals they photograph. Everyone is working hard to make the shelter the best it can be for the animals in our care, and the incoming animals are never-ending.  

For instance, a cat named Nefertiti was recently surrendered to the shelter with her kitten Tiberia.

Nefertiti was a very young mother at only nine months, and Tiberia was only about three weeks old. She was an attentive and gentle mother to her sole kitten.

So, when a litter of three motherless two week old kittens was brought to the shelter, we had high hopes that she would take them in and care for them as if they were here own. She far exceeded our expectations, immediately nursing and nurturing the kittens as if they’d always been hers.

 Unfortunately, Nefertiti, we quickly realized, was unable to produce enough milk to feed three new kittens as well as her own. She’d had only one for so long. But she continued to clean them and keep them out of trouble while we bottle fed them, and the litter flourished under her vigilant care. Tiberia was thrilled to have new playmates. She had two little brothers, Nile and Egypt, and a little sister named Attia, a beautiful dilute calico.

Once they are old enough, all of the kittens and Nefertiti will be available for adoption at Southern Pines.

Unfortunately, due to lack of space, resources, and available foster parents, the shelter can only manage to save very few unweaned kittens every year. With so many cats coming to us in need, the shelter has to make difficult decisions about how to administer extremely limited resources. Thus, most baby kittens, especially those that are brought in without mothers to care for them, do not share the same happy fate that Tiberia and her sisters and brothers will have. While as many as possible are saved, the sad reality is that there are simply too many unaltered cats in the community, and that translates into too many unwanted litters. That’s when sweeties like Nile, Egypt, and Attia end up at the shelter, alone and hungry.

We have to continue to spread the message about spay and neuter. Our community is especially blessed to have our very own low cost Spay and Neuter Clinic, and it is our job to help keep them busy.