Tiny Kittens (Lots of Them!) Are Coming Downtown, Ready to Be Saved

Baby kittens like this one, shown at the Best Friends Lifesaving Center, will need foster homes until they are about eight weeks and able to eat on their own. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The kittens are coming. 

That’s the call going out from a West Broadway animal adoption center that aims to save as many tiny feline lives as they can during the coming warm months of what they call “kitten season.” During that time unspayed cats tend to have more litters and those unweaned babies need foster care until they can eat by themselves and be adopted. 

Kicking off kitten season recently, Best Friends Pet Lifesaving Center at 307 West Broadway gave visitors bottle-feeding demonstrations and other tips on neonatal (less than eight weeks) kitten care.

“It’s a little bit labor intensive, but it’s a labor of love,” said Leah Cohn, supervisor of the foster program at Best Friends New York. 

Essential supplies, veterinary care and necessary instructions are provided by Best Friends.

Because newborns require round-the-clock care, they are viewed as the most vulnerable animals in shelters. Fosterers can provide that life-saving care.

“A lot of these cats are coming from shelters where they just don’t have the resources to keep them and care for them overnight,” Cohn said. “So they unfortunately end up being killed in these shelters. Fostering is literally the only way you can save their life if the shelter doesn’t have a kitten nursery.”

“So people who are looking to do this kind of care are truly saving lives,” she added. “It’s incredible.” 

Because the tiny kittens need to be fostered the day they arrive at Best Friends, Cohn said, the agency likes to have notice from interested fosterers the day before. Then they will be matched sight unseen.

Cohn noted that about a fourth of the people who foster kittens end up adopting them. “We celebrate when people keep their kitties but we celebrate, too, whenever they choose to continue fostering as it saves more lives.”

Those interested in fostering a kitten, or adopting other cats (or dogs) can go to the adoption center in person or call 929-292-8300. Go to bestfriends.org/nyc for additional information on adopting, fostering, volunteering, or making a donation.