A Peek Inside the Kitten Nursery

Clara and I hustle up the stairs at the Peninsula Humane Society to the second floor Kitten Nursery for our 5:00 p.m. dinner shift. Seven years ago, the PHS started this all-volunteer effort as a way to save the hundred-plus kittens between 2 and 6 weeks that would arrive at the shelter without a mom during "kitten season" (spring - early fall). Without special feeding arrangements and veterinary care, these kittens would surely perish. 

We head into the front room to check the boards and see what needs to be done. There are four cages  nurseries with a litter of kittens in each nursery that need tending. There's also a note on the board "There are 16 kittens in the back nursery!"  Clara and I decide to split up. She'll work with the volunteers up front, and I head into the back to help the volunteer there.
I walk into the back nursery, and the kittens are hungry! I am greeted by their crying chorus: "mew, mew, mew!" Some are climbing up their front doors. Time to get to work. Nursery 1 has four kittens. Each one needs to be weighed, fed and have its paper work updated. Most of the kittens need to be fed with a syringe. 

I grab a kitten by the scruff of its neck, settle him on his back feet, wiggle the syringe into the corner of his mouth, and say some encouraging words while I squirt the food in. I'm learning how much each kitten can eat and how fast. Inevitably some ends up on their face, on the towel, on the outside of the syringe and on me. It's a messy process. But very fulfilling! 

Before we put the kittens back, we quickly check their nursery, making sure the towels and litter box are clean. We leave some food because the goal is to get them to eat on their own. We shape a towel into a donut and place it onto the warm spot created by the heating pad under the towels. The kittens, with full tummies, are all warm and sleepy. The picture of contentment; no mewling now.

After a very busy three hour shift, we mop the floors and make sure everything looks good. I snap a quick picture from the public viewing area of the front nursery. Tomorrow morning a new shift of volunteers will arrive for the morning feeding. I hope they all got a good night's sleep!