🐈🌼Spring Has Sprung!🌼🐈

Subject: 🐈🌼Spring Has Sprung!🌼🐈

Newsletter

March 2025

Our Newsletter is Best Viewed in Landscape Orientation on Mobile Devices!

The Spring Edition:

Spring Portraits
Springing Kittens!
St. Catrick
Wholistic Paws Fundraiser
Lily Danger!

Speaking of spring... here's an opportunity to support FFGW and get a fantastic portrait of your pet! Talented photographer Kerstin is donating her time_ and all proceeds benefit FFGW! Click on the photo below for all the details and to sign up!

Kitten Season

Spring has sprung... and that means - kittens. More kittens are born from April to September than any other time of year, with the greatest concentration celebrating birthdays in early spring. It's a time of great wonder... and fear, if you're a rescue - fear of not having space, money or volunteer power enough to save them all.

But - there are some specific things you can do to help your favorite rescue stay afloat in the sea of kittens!

1.Know what to do - and what not to do - if you find a litter of kittens

2. Foster!

3. Donate - To Our Joint March Giving Project with Wholistic Paws

4. Drive

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I found a litter of kittens!

It's not unusual to stumble across a litter of feral kittens... what do you do? Of course, your first instinct might be to scoop up the kittens and get them to safety, but that may actually not be the best option for the kitties!

To find out what to do, we consulted with Bernadette Kazmarski, a pet blogger and artist who has written an award-winning article on found kittens.

Bernadette writes a blog entitled The Creative Cat and sells her art through her website Portraits of Animals. Bernadette tells us, "The universal response to finding kittens is to presume they are abandoned and unable to care for themselves and to take them home, but not only is that rarely the right response, it’s not even the right presumption and can often be harmful to the kittens... The kitten decision game involves the approximate age of the kittens and the presence, or lack, of a mother cat, and the knowledge that kittens younger than eight weeks belong with their mother, even if she is feral."

"Kittens old enough to be spayed or neutered and too old to be socialized can be trapped with their mother, neutered and returned, but younger kittens, with or without their mother, present a lot of options, most of which involve fostering and sometimes a great amount of care.

Kittens can be socialized and adopted, even if their mother is feral, so they aren’t necessarily returned on the basis of their mother’s behavior."

The problem, Bernadette tells us, is when the kittens are young enough to be socialized, their mother is feral and not friendly toward humans. Additionally, the best age to socialize kittens is 4 - 8 weeks, and leaving them with their mother where they were found also risks missing the window when the kittens can be socialized and not have to live out their lives as ferals. Of course, if the mother is friendly - and space available - the entire family can be rescued and fostered. If mom is not friendly, the decision is difficult.

"Kittens younger than eight weeks are best living with their mother even if she is feral, but do you leave them there knowing the mother will likely move them, and hope to find them when they are eight weeks and ready for surgeries, or do you somehow foster a feral mother while socializing her kittens?"

At FFGW, when planning intake from shelters, we won't separate a mother from her kittens, even though we well know that the kittens will be adopted quickly, and the mom will likely linger. With found kittens and a feral mom, such a commitment is even greater and more difficult, as it takes an experienced foster to handle a mother cat who is not friendly. Still, as Bernadette reminds us, young kittens really need their mom in order to have a greater chance to thrive - yet, the younger the kittens are, the better the chance at socialization and so at adoption.

So, what to do with the clutch of kittens you just found behind the woodpile - a particularly hard decision, when they're very young and completely helpless? The decision turns on a lot of factors, such as whether a mother is present, how safe is the location where the kittens are, and of course their age.

Fortunately, Bernadette gives us very detailed guidance - and you can read the whole article HERE.

So... when you come across that litter of kittens, resist that urge to immediately scoop them up, and think like a mom - do what's best for them... even if that's hard!

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2. Foster

The life you save will be a cat's - but the life you enrich - might be your child's! It can be a family experience that teaches responsiblity and benefits humans and felines alike.

For more information on FFGW's foster program, look at the link below:

https://ffgw.org/fostering/

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3. Donate

Little Pebble came into rescue at the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington, Inc. last year as a tiny, desperately ill kitten weighing less than one pound. She was very weak and had raspy, labored breathing that resulted in multiple emergency room visits. At the time, it appeared that she had a severe upper respiratory infection, as well as a painful and diseased eye that ultimately required removal.

The meds seemed to address the issue, but as soon as she went off of them, all of her symptoms would return with a vengeance.

Pebble recovered well from her eye surgery, but the upper respiratory symptoms persisted. For months, she endured repeated vet and ER visits where she was prodded and tested, and various antibiotics were prescribed to try to provide some relief.

Fortunately, an internal medicine doctor performed a CT scan on Pebble and diagnosed a liver shunt.

The wonderful news is that a surgery can be performed that is typically very successful and will allow her to move on and live a long and happy life. The bad news is that the estimate for the surgery is thousands of dollars in addition to what has already been spent on this single kitten.

FFGW makes a commitment to every cat that comes through our door, and that commitment applies whether the cat is in perfect health or in desperate need. It also applies whether the medical bills are minimal or in the thousands. If a cat or kitten joins our family, we care for them like family—that is our goal and our promise. Despite the daunting vet bills already accrued and anticipated in the future, FFGW is committed to moving forward and getting Pebble the life-changing surgery that will fix her liver shunt and allow her to grow into a healthy adult cat.

With kitten season nearly upon us, we are preparing to open our doors to hundreds of kittens and their mamas, and with that will come a huge spike in our expenses. Despite that, we don’t want to deny Pebble her chance at a healthy, happy life after enduring so much to get to a diagnosis at last.

We are very grateful to Wholistic Paws for helping us promote a fundraiser to help defray the costs of giving little Pebble the healthy life she deserves! You can help by

Donating HERE

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4. Drive

St. Patrick's Day may be Over,

But You're in time for...

SAINT CATRICK'S DAY!!

You know the story of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland with a stick, of course... but do you know the story of St. Catrick?

Saint Catrick drove the cats... out of the shelter! With a car.

YOU TOO can be a St. Catrick...

An extremely important element of rescue is transport. Getting the cats from shelters to FFGW, from shelter transports to our vets, from the vets to fosters... it's just one of the very important roles that volunteers play in the path from at-risk in shelters to at-home with a loving family.

Some trips can be long, many are short - just a quick run from the vet to a foster, or or from a shelter transport ending locally to one of our vets.

If you can help with this crucial part of rescue, we would love to have you join our St. Catrick team - we'll put you on our email distribution list and whenever you're able to respond to a request, you can join in driving the cats - to rescue, and be one of our St. Catricks!

You don't even have to be an Orange Tabby with a shamrock hat - or a Calico with a Purple Mustang!

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Knowing what to do with found kittens, fostering, donating, and helping with transport - those 4 things will help FFGW stay afloat in the rising tide of kittens about to arrive!

Lily Warning!

Lilies are extremely toxic to cats!

One of the most beautiful and common flowers of the season is unfortunately extremely dangerous to cats. Even a small amount of the pollen can cause catastrophic kidney failure in felines.

Consequently, it is not even safe to remove lilies from an arrangement - keep your kitties save by keeping lilies out of the house entirely!

FFGW 2025 Calendars

Still Available!

We have a few 2025 FFGW calendars available for purchase at our next adoption event - or email info@ffgw.org

I Feel Like Something Chewy!

Actually, not that chewy, but "Chewy"!

www.chewy.com is a pet product company specializing in home delivery of all things pet-related.

FFGW has a "wish list" which you can find here:

Chewy Wish List

Any products you select from our wish list will be delivered directly to us for use at our adoption center at PetSmart and by our fosters!

Thanks to everyone who has donated food, treats, litter, beds, toys... Chewy's platform doesn't allow us to see the names of our generous donors, but please know that your support is very much appreciated! And if you drop us a line and let us know when you donate something, we'll be more than happy to send our thanks!

This post contains affilliate links. FFGW may be compensated if you buy something after clicking on these links.

Adoption Fairs

Just Cats Clinic

1601 North Washington Plaza

(Lake Anne) Reston

Next Event Saturday, March 29

2 - 4 pm

--Midweek Adoptions by Appointment for Cats in the Centers--

and in Foster Homes Throughout the DC/VA Area

Looking for a new cat for your family? Get pre-approved for adoption by filling out an adoption form online today.

We are still looking for caretakers for the FFGW cats in residence at Just Cats - fill out a volunteer questionnaire here and we'll get back to you about training:

Volunteer Questionnaire

Upcoming Events:

March 29

April 26

May 24

We've Gone Home!

Adopted - February (22)

Himmie, Sylvester, Chiffon, Puff, Mellie, Bugaboo, Suede, Butternut, Papa, Toni, Mr. Whiskers, Sabine, Cupcake, Sweet Potato, Panda Bear, Arena, Citron, Topaz, Dusky, Puma, Bambi & Thumper

Click Here to See More Adopted Cats!

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Subject: 🐈🌼Spring Has Sprung!🌼🐈