CAMANO ISLAND — Two playful gray kittens batted at each other Wednesday morning. An older white cat curled up on a bench and a black cat stretched out in sunlight streaming through a window.
Kitten season is about to begin. In the coming months, the Camano Animal Shelter Association expects to get up to 100 cats, most of them abandoned litters of kittens.
Volunteers and staff are hoping to adopt out most, if not all, of the cats. In the meantime, though, they need to care for the kittens, many of which come in without their mothers.
The sixth annual Little Whiskers Open House is essentially a baby shower for kittens, shelter worker Anna Dean said. People can come by the shelter at 198 Can Ku Road and bring gifts of kitten formula, feeding bottles, dry and wet food or non-clumping cat litter. There will be a kitten food drive and a raffle. People can learn how to care for kittens or become a foster parent to those too young to be adopted. The shelter also is offering half-price adoptions on all animals.
Little Whiskers starts Saturday at 11 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m.
“Everybody can kind of come in, see what we’re about, talk to staff, talk to volunteers and help us get excited for kitten season,” shelter worker Justine Doggett said.
The season runs from spring through late fall. That’s the time of year when many cats give birth, and the shelter becomes packed with homeless litters.
The nonprofit shelter houses mostly cats and dogs, but has taken in birds, turtles, lizards, bunnies and a ball python staff are hoping to find a home for soon. It is a no-kill shelter, meaning healthy animals won’t be euthanized if they aren’t adopted within a certain length of time.
All cats and dogs are vaccinated, spayed or neutered, microchipped, dewormed and tested for diseases before adoption, Dean said.
The shelter has one manager and four staff. The rest of the crew — about 50 people — are volunteers. Dozens of foster families and activity coordinators also pitch in.
The shelter always is looking for more volunteers and families to foster newborn animals.
Volunteer foster homes take care of kittens too young to be adopted and need someone to feed them every couple of hours.
There are 43 animals in the shelter this week. They’ve had more than 100 in the past, and expect to see the number go up throughout the spring.
There’s a good chance kitten season will be bigger than normal this year thanks to the unseasonably nice weather, shelter workers say.
“We didn’t have much of a winter this year, so it didn’t freeze their mating season,” Doggett said. “If we can fit the kittens in, we’ll take them.”
CASA also has an Amazon.com page and a full donation wishlist at www.camanoanimalshelter.com.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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