\u201cAwwwww.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is the sound most often made by visitors to the Kitten Nursery at the San Diego Humane Society in Mission Valley. The nursery, dedicated to the care of kittens under four weeks old, was the first of its kind in the country when it opened in 2009. And it\u2019s still going strong. In June, the nursery accepted its 10,000th kitten, named Nova by a city-wide naming contest.<\/p>\n The nursery originally opened in response to the large amount of young kittens being euthanized locally. Much of its initial funding came from a grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.<\/p>\n The problem was the shelters in the San Diego area were just overwhelmed \u2014 their resources were not adequate for the growing cat population. Plus, for the first couple weeks of their life, kittens require constant care: feeding every two hours and bathroom stimulation.<\/p>\n \u201cThese little kittens had nowhere to go,\u201d Nursery Supervisor Jackie Noble said. \u201cThere is no better feeling than [knowing we\u2019re] saving their life.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019ve heard of the bat phone? At the nursery, they\u2019ve got the \u201ckitten phone.\u201d It\u2019s linked to a private number given to shelters in the area. The public is encouraged to bring any kittens they find to their local shelter. Then, if the shelter does not have the appropriate resources, they will call the nursery. When the nursery first opened, Noble visited surrounding shelters to provide the number and training for working with the babies. She shared how to tell their age from body clues such as teeth, ears and eyes, and what to do with the kittens before nursery staff arrived.<\/p>\n Once the kittens are brought to the nursery, if the litter arrives with its mother, they go into the mom and babies section. The kittens without their mom go into the orphan section. Staff highly recommends people bring in the mothers with the litter when they can.<\/p>\n \u201cOur mom cats are amazing,\u201d Noble said, adding, \u201cIf you don\u2019t bring the mom in, she will likely go back into heat and have another litter.\u201d<\/p>\n The orphaned kittens are paired with two to three littermates and given their own cubicle or cage (depending on age and size). The staff and caregivers have found many ways to make the cages comfortable, from baby toys to heating pads to neck pillows that form a \u201ckitten nest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have lots of creative uses for household items,\u201d Noble laughed. \u201cEvery year, we learn something new.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the youngest ones get fed every two hours, the nursery is staffed 24\/7 while it\u2019s open for the season (April to November \u2014 apparently cats\u2019 mating preferences seem to follow the weather). It takes 20 employees and 150 active volunteers to make that happen for the 125\u2013200 kittens housed at any one time.<\/p>\n With so many kittens coming and going, the nursery is very conscious of preventing the spread of disease. Kittens go through a quarantine process upon arrival, and are always held away from the body during feeding and checking time. Staff also keep a close watch for bacteria and viruses such as ringworm.<\/p>\n Once the kittens are eating on a less intensive schedule and are going to the bathroom on their own, normally at about four weeks old, the foster parents step in. The San Diego Humane Society as a whole has more than 500 foster parents for their animals.<\/p>\n In the nursery, they have approximately 20 fosters that can work with the kittens that need feeding throughout the night, and 35 to 40 fosters that work with transitional age kittens (four\u2013eight weeks old).<\/p>\n \u201cOur fosters are amazing,\u201d Foster Supervisor Ben Campos enthused. \u201cFor some, it becomes quite an addiction!\u201d<\/p>\n Since fostering is often a revolving door due to circumstance or location changes, Campos is continually looking for people willing to care for the kittens for a short amount of time. Training is provided, and unlike the strict restrictions at the nursery, cuddling is encouraged.<\/p>\n \u201cI love fostering. They\u2019re so sweet, it doesn\u2019t feel like work,\u201d Kamila Stedz said.<\/p>\n Stedz is both an employee at the Humane Society and a foster parent (currently fostering the litter of Nova, the 10,000th kitten). Since her role as an employee engagement administrator doesn\u2019t involve much work with the animals themselves, she calls fostering a way to get her \u201cfur fix.\u201d<\/p>\n At eight weeks old and\/or about 1.8 pounds, the kittens can be spayed or neutered by the Humane\u2019s veterinarian and go onto the adoption floor. But they don\u2019t stay on the floor for long.<\/p>\n \u201cThey get adopted so quickly!\u201d Noble exclaimed. \u201cSan Diego appears to love kittens.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, so far this year the nursery has boasted a 90 percent success rate of kittens making it from admittance into a permanent home. In 2016, the end-of-year rate was 85 percent \u2014 within a .2 percent of the ASPCA country-wide rating. The nursery has been a major contributor in the \u201cGetting to Zero\u201d initiative, a partnership between seven local shelters to prevent healthy or treatable animals from being euthanized in San Diego County.<\/p>\n In fact, the nursery has been so groundbreaking and successful that it\u2019s drawn the attention of other shelters across the country. So far, 20 other similar nurseries have been built since San Diego\u2019s inception. Most recently, a shelter from Michigan sent representatives to San Diego to visit the nursery with the goal of incorporating one in their own area.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the trailblazers,\u201d Noble said. \u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to see the impact across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to help?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are interested in fostering or volunteering at the shelter, the first step is to fill out an application through the \u201cHow You Can Help\u201d portion of sdhumane.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you want to donate items, the nursery has an Amazon Wish List registry under \u201cSan Diego Campus Kitten Nursery.\u201d They are also continually accepting towels and pillowcases (used to feed and clean the kittens) and consumable items such as formula. The nursery is also collecting scales for the foster parents, as the kittens have to be weighed every day.<\/p>\n Need more cuteness?<\/strong><\/p>\n Stay connected to the nursery through the Purina Live Kitten Cam, which is attached to one of the nursery cages at all times, right on the bottom of the Humane Society\u2019s homepage. You can also like the Sociedad Protectora de Animales de San Diego<\/a> on Facebook to see the \u201cKitten O\u2019 the Day\u201d post \u2014 every day a different kitten is featured from the nursery.<\/p>\n For any other information, visit sdhumane.org<\/a> or call 619-299-7012.<\/p>\n \u2014La escritora independiente Joyell Nevins puede ser contactada en <\/em>joyellc@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>. Tambi\u00e9n puedes seguir su blog Small World, Big God en swbgblog.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Joyell Nevins<\/p>","protected":false},"author":826,"featured_media":234179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11557","_seopress_titles_title":"Kitten Nursery is a trailblazing success","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11557,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-valley-news","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/826"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kitten](\"https:\/\/missionvalleynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/web-MAIN-10k-kitten-hat.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>The kittens get a color-coded feeding schedule (neonatal, transitional, or socialization), and an individual file for staff to record their bathroom movements and other pertinent details.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n