They used to be euthanized on sight: NJ shelter launches daring new kitten-saving mission

🐾 St. Hubert’s in Madison becomes NJ’s first-ever National Kitten College, training shelters and fosters to save neonatal kittens.

🍼 Experts teach lifesaving care for fragile bottle babies once routinely euthanized due to limited resources in overcrowded shelters.

❤️ The free program needs foster families statewide to help vulnerable kittens survive and reach the adoption floor.

MADISON — A Morris County animal shelter has become the first in New Jersey to launch National Kitten College.

Why neonatal kittens need specialized care

The groundbreaking program at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison teaches shelters, rescues, and foster caregivers how to save the vulnerable lives of neonatal kittens.

Neonate kittens, age 8 weeks and under, require extra resources from a shelter before they can be put up for adoption, says National Kitten College Founder and Executive Director, Marnie Russ.

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For example, they need to be fed often, kept in a temperature-controlled area, free of bacteria, and their weight must be monitored constantly.

“The problem is that these kittens require extra resources, and that’s one thing these shelters and rescues just don’t have. They’re already so overstretched with everything they do to save animals in the community, that a lot of times the most humane thing they can do is euthanize them,” Russ said.

How the National Kitten College training works

But getting these young kittens into foster homes with a program that can teach and train how to care for them so they can return to shelters for adoption is the safest alternative, Russ said.

So, the National Kitten College program looks at how shelters care for neonatal kittens. They partnered with all the major shelter medication programs in the country and specialize in herd health, Russ said.

They look at how animals, especially neonates, who are brought into shelters in large numbers, are being cared for. These kittens are particularly vulnerable because they don’t have fully developed immune systems.

“We go into these shelters and rescues, and we teach their staff, and their fosters how to care for them in sequences labeled freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior,” Russ said.

Ending the cycle of neonatal euthanasia in shelters

In the past, neonatal kittens were not paid attention to because the protocol was to always euthanize on intake.

“We came on and have really worked to educate folks that there are wins here. We can hold onto these kittens for just a few weeks and get them out on the adoption floor. They will be the first adopted,” Russ said.

The mission is to turn tiny, bottle-fed “freshmen” into healthy, happy “graduates” ready for adoption.

Fosters only commits for two to three weeks, Russ said. By the time these kittens move into a different class level, they become more social, so they don’t get stressed or sick.

New Jersey becomes the national home base

St. Hubert’s is the home base for National Kitten College, she added. That means the New Jersey shelter will be the primary campus that shows people all over the world what they’re doing to save the lives of neonates.

What shelters and rescues need the most to make this program very successful are foster families, Russ said.

“It’s a great way to house a kitten for a couple of weeks, save a life, and get them ready for an adoptable home,” Russ said.

Her personal favorite is the bottle babies because they just hang out in their carriers, and they’re easy to take care of before they’re weaned off the bottle in a couple of weeks.

A big misconception people have is that bottle baby kittens should be fed every two hours. But, Russ said that is not true. In fact, feeding them that often could be detrimental to a kitten’s gastrointestinal system.

The National Kitten College program is 100% free, Russ said. Any shelter or rescue in New Jersey that wants to be a part of it and help save the lives of neonatal kittens can reach out to St. Hubert’s or check out the website for more information.

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