It’s kitten season at SCRAPS. Here’s how the organization’s dedicated foster families ease the burden

It’s summer. The season of cookouts, ice cream and, believe it or not – kittens.

The Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service, or SCRAPS, has its shelter capacity put to the test with the massive influx of creatures, especially cats, it receives from April to September – colloquially known as kitten season.

“That’s when cats are making babies … it has to do with the length of the day, they’re not mating so much when the days are shorter,” said Daniella Martin, the foster coordinator for SCRAPS.

According to Martin, the shelter currently has more than 300 animals under its care. It is difficult to manage the needs of them all. About 100 of its animals are currently in foster homes, but SCRAPS is always in need of foster families to take some of the stress off the shelter.

Depending on the day, the shelter has three to six people cleaning, feeding and medicating the animals.

“Sometimes it’s only twice a day that they’re seeing these animals, so they’re not getting the same attention that they would in a foster home,” Martin said.

Mindy Wright is a volunteer kitten foster mom. She has been volunteering with SCRAPS for a decade and has loved every minute she has gotten to spend doting upon her kittens.

Wright thinks that a barrier in fostering is that the public doesn’t understand the resources and support that SCRAPS will provide their foster families.

“We provide all the medical care for the animal. We vaccinate them. We do dewormer, flea and tick treatment, and then we do ongoing support,” Martin said. “If you’re concerned about medical stuff, you’ll check in with us, and we’ll either help you directly or meet up with our vet to make sure we’re on the right plan. And then once they’re healthy and of weight, we fix them and adopt them out.”

SCRAPS asks each foster family to come to a quick 30-minute orientation to hear their mission and be taught how to take care of foster animals at home.

They also ask foster families, if possible, to provide their own food and supplies.

“A lot of what we’re offering the kittens is donation … but we will provide all the supplies needed if the fosters aren’t financially able to supply that for them, because they’re still donating their time and their home and their space.”

Most of the animals put into foster homes are 2 to 3 months old, which means they are highly susceptible to illness in the shelter.

Foster homes provide a much safer, healthier environment for young animals to live in.

“When they’re in the shelter, we do as much as we can to protect them. And then we wear PPE as needed and, we make sure we’re not cross-contaminating between groups of animals, but there’s still just a higher chance of them getting exposed to something here versus if they’re in a home,” Martin said. “The people interacting with them are not interacting with hundreds of other animals in the day.”

Foster families don’t just provide kittens with less exposure to illness – they provide a whole lot more exposure to humans.

“Socialization is a big aspect when you’re under, the 2- to 3-month range,” Martin said. “If they can have positive experiences with humans during that time – that goes a long way.”

“They’ll be really great candidates when it’s time for adoption because they’ll have had this great experience with humans already,” Martin said.

Wright, a dedicated foster, said she enjoys the rewards and flexibility of the program.

“The thing is that the foster program is very flexible; for example, when I went on vacation, I asked another foster mom to take my kittens while I was gone for about three days and then got them back.”

Wright has fostered 101 kittens, but when she first started, her husband was less than happy about it.

“Now he likes the kittens,” Martin said. “He’ll even go so far as to hold them.”

But love them or hate them, the biggest question she gets asked is “How can you possibly let them go?”

“If I don’t let them go, then I can’t help other kittens coming down the road. So I just kind of prepare myself for that,” Wright said. “I guess after doing 101, I’m just kind of used to that routine.”

Over the years, Wright has done everything from bottle-feeding baby kittens to administering eye drops.

She even once fostered borderline-feral kittens.

“They were just so afraid. I had them in a cage, and all they would do is pile on top of each other and hiss,” Wright said.

After trying out different socialization techniques, “it finally came to the point (with one of the kittens) where I put my hand in, and she put her little paw on top of mine, and it was so sweet. She wasn’t afraid anymore,” Wright said.

One of Wright’s other most memorable foster kittens had a condition that made movement difficult.

“It couldn’t walk very well, and I was really worried that it would never find a home that would be patient with her and take care of her,” Wright said.

Her worries were for naught.

When Samantha Kolar found out that Wright had a cat with cerebellar hypoplasia, she was all in.

“I knew someone who happened to be a foster and she showed me the cats, and I couldn’t resist,” Kolar said.

Kolar had previously adopted a cat that had a much milder version of the same condition, so they were able to get together to plan the adoption.

Kolar has had Olive since December 2022.

“It was really hard to get Olive to socialize with us at first. I think she was just really scared, and I just think it probably would have been even worse if she had been in the shelter and not in a foster home like that,” Kolar said.

While Olive may still be a bit on the introverted side, she’s certainly not camera-shy.

Kolar created an Instagram account @finnleyandolive for her two cats.

“My Instagram page is meant to help spread awareness for pets with cerebellar hypoplasia, and to show that having a pet with a disability can be so rewarding and that disabled pets can live amazing and fulfilling lives,” Kolar said.

The account has amassed more than 2,000 followers. Some might even consider her cats celebrities.

“I think that there’s just a lot of value in what we can do for these little animals,” Martin said. “It’s not necessarily a huge, huge commitment or a lot of pressure on the individual, but it can make a huge difference for the animal.”