Kelly is currently hosting
a group of high-maintenance but adorable house guests named Shaggy, Velma, Fred, Daphne, and Scooby. They’ve been with her for weeks, but will be leaving soon. Though Kelly has had to feed and care for them every two hours for much of their visit, she will miss these kittens.
Kelly has been fostering adoptable animals, mostly kittens and some mama or pregnant cats, for Anderson Humane since 2016. She takes in kittens as young as two days old, the ones who require practically round-the-clock care.
“When they’re that little, they’re like newborn infants. You have to get up every two hours to feed or care for them,” Kelly said. “And there’s a whole litter of them!”
Though it’s a big commitment, Kelly is happy to care for the kittens until they are ready to be adopted. Her current Scooby crew just got their spay-neuter surgeries, “So, soon they’ll be leaving me,” she said. “It’s hard. You get used to them. They get used to you.” But she understands the importance of what she’s doing.
“It’s always a good feeling to play a part in getting these animals into loving homes,” she said, adding that she’s always loved pets and can’t remember a time when she didn’t have animals around. Her favorite part is watching their personalities emerge, seeing which ones will be extra snuggly or feisty. “It’s like a three-ring circus at all times. There’s never a dull moment with them around.”
Along the way, a couple of those foster kittens have won a special place in Kelly’s heart – and a permanent spot in her home. Pearl came to Kelly with her sister when they were two days old. Before Pearl’s eyes opened, she got an infection. They tried everything to treat it but eventually had to surgically remove the eye.
“At that point, she’d been with us for five months,” Kelly said. How could she part with her after going through so much together? Today, Pearl gets along fine, despite a few problems judging distance. While she doesn’t care for the youngest kittens, when they get to six to eight weeks, she’ll start bathing and snuggling them.
Gilbert, Kelly’s other foster fail, came to her with his brother, Sullivan. For some reason, Sullivan didn’t come out of the anesthesia after his neuter surgery, so Kelly kept the surviving brother. He’s now a 16-pound cat who helps care for the kittens. “Except he doesn’t always realize his size,” Kelly said with a laugh.
Kelly doesn’t get to know the rest of the journey for most of her kittens, with a few happy exceptions. “I still hear from a woman who adopted two of my Blackhawks-named group back in 2010,” Kelly said. The adopter sends updates and photos that warm Kelly’s heart.
As her current foster litter is about to go to the shelter to become available for adoption, Kelly anticipates what her next group will bring. She’s had hundreds of kittens through her home over the years by now. “I haven’t met one I don’t like,” she said. “Each one is special in its own way.”
Learn how you can become a foster and care for animals awaiting their forever home.