KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Young-Williams Animal Center is raising money and taking donations to prevent a cat-astrophic shortage of supplies for the soon-to-arrive yearly kitten boom.
Right meow, Young-Williams is enjoying a mild calm before the storm -- but that will all change when the weather heats up and the shelter fills up with dozens upon dozens of kittens.
Summer is "kitten season" for shelters all across the country, as it's the time of year when there is a surge of momma cats delivering litters all at the same time.
For example, in 2020 YWAC foster families cared for 1,426 kittens! Many shelters tend to fill up rapidly around this time of year.
If you'd like to help, there are a couple ways you can donate.
The shelter has set up an Amazon Wish List of supplies it needs to care for all the new kittens it's expecting, such as canned food, formula, toys, litter boxes, and the like. You can find that wish list and purchase goods for them at this link.
YWAC is also taking monetary donations during a "Kitten Shower" that will be matched by Boehringer Ingelheim up to $2,500. Those funds will be used to pay for kitten milk replacer, warming disks, and syringe feeders for newborn kittens. You can donate to that fund at this link.
Of course, you can also consider adopting a kitten from YWAC! Kittens are always "adopt one, get one" for those looking to double down on a kitten family. It costs $100 to adopt one (or two) kittens from the shelter -- which covers the cost of spaying/neutering them, microchipping, preliminary physical exams, initial core vaccines, deworming, flea and tick treatment, heartworm testing, and FELV/FIV testing.
If you'd like to help some of the more senior felines, adult cats 3 years old and under cost $25 to adopt, and any cat over 3 years old is free to adopt.
You can learn more by visiting Young-Williams' website at this link.