Tammy Cross of Kitten Little Rescue shows workshop participants how to bottle-feed a baby kitten.
Photo by Valerie Sicignano
Workshops Offer Instruction on Feral Kitten Care
The NYC Feral Cat Initiative, the ASPCA, and the PETCO Foundation teamed up to present two public workshops — "Bottle Babies: Proper Care of Orphaned Kittens" and "Socializing Feral Kittens" — at the ASPCA Headquarters in Manhattan on Sunday, May 20. More than 80 people attended the workshops.
The "Bottle Babies" workshop was sponsored by the PETCO Foundation and featured instructor Tammy Cross of Kitten Little Rescue, an Alliance Participating Organization (APO), who demonstrated proper care techniques on a litter of newborn kittens. The three-hour workshop covered all aspects of caring for newborn kittens, including what supplies to keep on hand in the event that orphaned kittens arrive; health assessment of the new arrival; the feeding and caring of orphaned kittens; how to prevent and/or treat health issues; safety for infant kittens; how to wean orphaned kittens onto solid food; litter box introduction; and when to de-worm, vaccinate, and test kittens for common diseases.
"Socializing Feral Kittens" featured instruction by Valerie Sicignano from the NYC Feral Cat Initiative and In Defense of Animals; Mike Phillips, a licensed veterinary technician from Urban Cat League (an APO); and Nancy Alusik from KittyKind (also an APO). The workshop explored several different approaches to the feral kitten socialization process and covered both young kittens, who can be socialized in a matter of days, and older kittens, who can take months of daily effort to domesticate. Attendees received a free copy of the Urban Cat League DVD, Tough Love: Socializing Feral Kittens.
To learn more about what is being done in NYC to enhance the lives of feral cats, or to locate workshops that provide instruction on the care of feral cats, visit the Neighborhood Cats website at www.NeighborhoodCats.org.
About the Author
Valerie Sicignano oversees the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, a program of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals that is administered by Neighborhood Cats. She is also the Director of Companion Animal Outreach for In Defense of Animals. Valerie is the first recipient of the Manhattan Pet Gazette's "Animal Guardian" Award.
