Miami-Dade Animal Services is urgently looking for hundreds of volunteers to help foster newborn orphaned kittens during one of the busiest times of the year.
The shelter says it needs around 300 more foster volunteers to care for fragile neonatal kittens during their first few weeks of life, which are often the most critical for survival.
Volunteer foster Cici Gensler says she regularly takes in at least five kittens at a time and has helped save more than 200 over the past two years. She says fostering is incredibly rewarding because many of the kittens would not survive without around the clock care.
M-DAS recently partnered with National Kitten College, a nonprofit focused on helping shelters save neonatal kittens and training fosters how to care for them.
Officials say about 800 kittens are expected to enter the shelter over the next three months alone. The good news is that all supplies are provided, and the commitment mostly involves feeding, monitoring, and of course, plenty of kitten cuddles.
Shelter leaders say these tiny kittens quickly become some of the most adoptable animals once they are healthy enough for adoption.