Kittens, Kittens Everywhere!

They leap, they pounce, and they jump straight into the air when they’re startled. They purr, cuddle and love to fall asleep in your lap. No doubt about it, kittens are cute.

And right now, there are plenty of them, especially Tweenies. Why the name? They fall beTWEEN the age of 4 to 8 weeks old and need foster care until they’re big enough to be adopted.

The Department of Animal Services (DAS) is still looking for a few good foster parents among the County’s ranks. DAS loves to recruit County employees   because they’re so good at it. In fact, we played Mom and Dad to more than 500 kittens last year.

More importantly, it’s the kittens’ best shot at getting adopted. Tweenies who’ve been fostered are healthy and they look it. They’re not afraid of people. They want to play, and they are the little balls of fur that appeal to future forever families.  

PSG CAO Staff Officer Michele Cummings and her fiancé are fostering three kittens, two boys and a girl. She says it’s amazing to see them grow. Within weeks, they went from being tiny ‘fraidy cats to curious feline adventurers.

Dexter, Mini and Skid (for skittish) came with everything such babies need: blankets, toys, supplies and food. DAS provides ongoing medical care. “You’re not doing anything out of your own pocket,” says DAS Tweenie Coordinator Vanessa Brush.

Brush says the idea is to make fostering as easy as possible. Foster parents are giving these animals the loving care they need plus exposure to the sights and sounds that make everything a home. The Tweenies get used to the vacuum cleaner, the slam of the microwave door, the T-V, maybe even squealing children, and other cats and dogs. When the time comes for adoption, these kittens won’t be hiding; they’ll want to be with people.

Cummings says fostering the little ones was a great experience and she would totally recommend it but with one caveat. “We didn’t necessarily want pets long-term. We planned to give them back but now we’re completely attached,” said Cummings. “They were just so cute, they reeled us in.”

You guessed it; Cummings just adopted one and may adopt another. Brush has a term for these foster parents, and it comes with a big, broad smile –foster failures. It means one more kitten was saved, maybe even two!

OES Senior Emergency Services Coordinator Michael Davis fostered two Tweenies this spring. His family loves kittens and that’s why they have three cats. Oh, and a puppy. What with the animals, and two boys, ages 9 and 13, they already have a full house. So they don’t have room for more ‘forever’ pets, but the idea of caring for Tweenies appealed to them. From the get-go, the kids knew the kittens would go back.

They brought home a brother and sister, and within minutes the boys gave them names, Gracie and Oliver. “We got them just this side of feral, they were hissers and hadn’t had much human contact,” said Davis. “It was great to see the boys be caregivers, teaching them how to play a parental role.” 

By the end of their stay, Davis said the kittens meowed to be picked up and purred in their arms.

At two pounds, though, Tweenies are big enough to return to the shelter. Davis wrote up bios on Gracie, the adventurous one and Oliver, the orange one, who plays hard and crashes. While he expected Oliver to go first, Gracie was adopted within hours.

Every day, Davis checked on Oliver via the DAS adoption web page. His picture showed he was still up for adoption. Davis wondered whether it was time for a talk with the family about what to do. Meantime, Davis decided to pay Oliver a visit.

Amazingly enough, in the time it took to travel to the shelter, Oliver was adopted. Davis had just missed him and the two families that had been fighting over him!

It was bittersweet, but Davis says his boys were okay with the adoptions. Overall, he says the experience was awesome and he’d do it again.

Brush says foster families are saving each kitten’s life to make someone else’s life that much happier. So maybe you can’t change the world, but you can make a world of difference to one… or maybe even two!

If you’d like to know more about the Tweenie program, contact DAS Volunteer Coordinator Marlena Young at (619) 767-2611 or Marlena.young@sdcounty.ca.gov.