Today at 8:30 PM • Modified today at 8:52 PM
At Breda Animal Shelter they are very concerned about the coming months. Kitten season is just around the corner and with it a wave of pregnant mother cats and newborn kittens. Without additional foster families, the shelter will soon run out of space and time to give all those animals the care and attention they need. A cry for help.
In a warm room, behind a door that opens gently, three tiny kittens look curiously at the world. Their eyes have not been open very long and their legs are still a bit awkward, while their mother watches alertly and a bit anxiously.
It is the special kitten room of Maud van Remortel from Oosterhout. “This is the cutest thing ever,” she says as a kitten teeters trying to grab her hand. “You see them grow from little helpless creatures to playful, mischievous kittens.”
But Maud knows that they are also leaving again. To prevent her from becoming too attached, she deliberately does not name the cats and kittens. “Otherwise I want to keep them all,” she laughs.
“We don’t have enough room for the number of cats with kittens.”
The mother with kittens, or sometimes also kittens found loose, end up with foster families through the Animal Shelter Center (DOC) and are very different. Some animals are feral or fearful, others are already used to people but have lost their owner.
“It is really crucial that kittens get used to people at an early age,” explains Dorine Bakkers from Breda Animal Shelter. “In those first weeks they learn what is normal: sounds, touches, movement in the house. If they do not get this and grow up alone in a cage, they often become anxious or reserved. If they are used to people, it increases the chance that they can be placed quickly and well in a new family.”
There are concerns in Breda, because with the kitten season just around the corner, there are far too few host families. “New foster families are really needed,” Bakkers emphasizes. “We will soon have a huge influx and we want to offer them all a good, homely place. But we simply don’t have enough places for that.”
They currently have about eighty active host families, while they actually need around 120 to properly accommodate all the animals. “Every extra space makes an immediate difference for a litter of kittens and their mother.”
“Sometimes there is one you would like to keep.”
Anyone who wants to become a foster family does not have to break the bank. The shelter provides food, medical care and materials. What is required is time and dedication. “You have to be there several times a day,” explains foster mother Maud. “Especially with young kittens, you have to pay close attention to whether they grow and stay healthy.”
A car is useful for vet visits, and planning vacations has to wait. But she says you get a lot in return. “You really help these animals have a better future.”
On Saturday, April 11, at 2 p.m. at the Animal Shelter Center at Oude Baan 60 in Breda, there will be an information meeting about host families for mother cats and kittens. Do you love cats and would you like to know more? Register via [email protected]
The kittens squeal when Maud picks them up one by one and puts them on a scale. She notes the weight carefully. The mother cat does most of the work in the first few weeks, but then the real foster work begins: cleaning, weighing, keeping an eye on whether everything is going well and, above all, lots of cuddling.
A litter usually lasts about three months. The kittens are then vaccinated, neutered and ready for adoption. They are often gone within 48 hours. “People are really eager to get kittens,” says Maud. “That is sometimes difficult, because there is always one that you want to keep. But you know that they will go to good homes. And then it just starts again with a new litter.”
Animal Shelter Breda and surrounding areas provides care and (re)homing for more than 300 dogs and more than 1,000 cats every year. In addition, the center temporarily accommodates more than 2,700 other animals every year, such as rabbits, rodents, reptiles, birds and hedgehogs. The animal shelter also takes care of kittens. Every year, approximately 350 kittens are taken into foster families and placed with a new owner. The Breda animal shelter also has an animal ambulance that operates 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for injured and distressed animals.
