Found Kittens? Don’t Assume the Shelter Will Save Them

Most people who find tiny kittens think the shelter is the safest place to take them. But when kittens are newborns or bottle babies, the shelter may not have the staff, fosters, supplies, or overnight care needed to keep them alive.

In this episode of The Pet Parent Hotline, Amy talks with Deborah Felin-Magaldi of Helen Sanders CatPAWS about what really happens during kitten season when neonatal kittens enter an already overwhelmed shelter system.

This conversation picks up after the “wait and see if mom comes back” step of finding kittens. If kittens truly need help and the mother cat is not returning, the next question is not just “where can I take them?” It's “what do these kittens need to survive until a shelter or rescue can safely help?”

Deborah explains why bottle-baby kittens need around-the-clock care, why many shelters can't provide that level of support, and how CatPAWS’ DIY Kitten Kit program gives shelters a practical way to help everyday people care for found kittens temporarily instead of simply turning them away.

Amy and Deborah also talk about the bigger community cat problem behind kitten season, including spay/neuter access, Trap-Neuter-Return, short-term fostering, neighborhood support, and how people can help even if they can't personally bottle-feed kittens.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why taking newborn kittens to the shelter may not save them
• What bottle-baby kittens need that many shelters cannot provide
• How Kitten Kits help shelters support the people who find kittens
• Why short-term fostering can be the bridge that keeps kittens alive
• How spay/neuter and Trap-Neuter-Return help stop the cycle
• How to help local shelters even if you cannot foster

Resources mentioned:

Helen Sanders CatPAWS

The Kitten Lady

If you'd like to donate to help- go to the Helen Sanders CatPAWS website, or donate to Amy's rescue Starlight Outreach and Rescue

If you find newborn kittens, don't assume the shelter can automatically save them. Ask questions, get support, and find out what role you can play in helping them survive.

Transcript

Found Kittens? Why the Shelter May Not Save Them

Host: Amy Castro

Guest: Deborah Felin-Magaldi, Helen Sanders CATPAWS

Chapters

00:00 Why the shelter may not be able to save newborn kittens
02:00 The reality of bottle-baby kitten care
09:11 Why community cats keep creating kitten season
16:31 Spay/neuter, TNR, and local solutions
20:21 How Kitten Kits help shelters and finders
24:55 Short-term fostering without getting stuck
31:41 How to help if you can’t foster
35:11 Be willing to do one piece

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Most people who find tiny kittens think the shelter is the safest place to take them. But here's the part many people don't know. If those kittens are newborns or bottle babies, the shelter may not have the staff, supplies, or overnight care needed to keep them alive.

So today we're talking about what happens after you've already determined kittens really do need help. Not the wait-and-see-if-the-mom-comes-back part, because we've covered that before. Today is about the next hard question. If mom isn't coming back and the shelter may not be able to save them, what can ordinary people do?

You'll hear why the person who finds kittens may be the temporary bridge that keeps them alive, and how a simple Kitten Kit can help shelters give people the tools to help instead of just turning them away.

## Show Intro

**Amy Castro, Host:**
You've reached the Pet Parent Hotline, your lifeline to practical solutions for your toughest pet parenting challenges. I'm your host, Amy Castro, and I'm here to help you cut through the noise and turn expert advice into step-by-step strategies so you can stop chasing your tail and start enjoying life with pets again.

## Guest Introduction

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Because the truth is, that may not be how the system works.

Today I'm talking with Deborah Felin-Magaldi, Director of CatPAWS, the Helen Sanders Cat Protection and Welfare Society, which is a Southern California nonprofit she built from the ground up over the past 16 years.

Through CatPAWS, Deborah has focused on practical community-based solutions to cat overpopulation, including spay/neuter access and a DIY Kitten Kit program that helps shelters and everyday people respond when newborn kittens are found.

And what I really appreciate about Deborah's work is that it doesn't just say people should help. It gives them a way to help.

So, Deborah, thank you so much for being here.

## Interview

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, thank you so much, Amy, for having me and learning more about what we do.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah, I'm always excited to talk to a cat rescue person because of the 5,000 plus animals I've had come through my place, I would say 85% easily have been cats and baby kittens. And I'm always surprised at how little people know about them, but yet they, especially in Texas, and I know you're in California, baby kittens, especially this time of year, are everywhere, and people just don't necessarily know what to do with them or what happens to them when they take action.

So I'm glad to have that conversation with you. I did an episode previously about what to do if you find baby kittens. So I kind of want to pick this conversation up from the point where, for whatever reason, the mom's not coming back, and now you've got these infant kittens that are too little to care for themselves.

And so it's logical, I think, for a lot of people, especially if they're not familiar with it, to scoop them up and take them to their local shelter, and they think that that's the right thing to do. But what is it that people don't understand about thinking the shelter's gonna take care of it and do it well?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, unfortunately, and I'm not impugning shelters or shelter staff. We work closely in partnership with them, but the reality is that kittens, depending on age, may need to be fed and have other bodily functions assisted with every two, three, you know, four hours.

And shelters simply do not have the capacity to do that. They are not open typically 24/7. They are not staffed through the night. They get far too many kittens coming in, especially this time of year, especially in a temperate climate like this, which is like all year, far too many to take home for the staff to take home, even though they try, some do, but it's the unfortunate reality that end of day is usually end of kitten at a shelter.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. And at least in the shelter that I volunteered at, the way that we did business was we would take the kittens in, and if there was somebody around to take them home, great. But for the most part, nobody went out of their way to let the citizen who was bringing the kittens know that at five o'clock those kittens were probably going to be euthanized if we didn't find somebody to take them home.

Why do you think it is that shelters don't make that known?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, I can't maybe speak for them, but I mean just my conjecture would be it's not something that they like to talk about. And shelters get a lot of blowback if it gets out in the community that, oh my God, you're killing these little baby kittens.

And usually from people who are doing nothing to help those little baby kittens are the ones that are, you know, so critical in criticizing the shelter for its reality. So, you know, just from a public perception, they may not want to convey that information to people.

And then I do know that the shelters we work with, they do try to network for rescue groups, such as ours and the myriad others that are in this area, to intervene and get those cats out of there. But you know, we have limited capacity. We can't take all of them.

So I think it's just kind of an unfortunate reality that they may not want the public to really latch on to and be so critical about. But I have encouraged shelters to tell people the unvarnished truth. I have encouraged them to do that and to kind of put it back on the people if they can.

You found these kittens in your community. This is a community problem. Can you be part of saving that kitten, these kittens, this one time, you know?

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Well, I think that's something that I've struggled with in being in rescue as well, is that everybody likes to scream, somebody should do something. And everybody wants to hand off the issue to somebody. And I totally understand. I'm a rescue, that's a shelter, that's what we're set up to do.

But every single organization in your community, whether it's a rescue or a shelter, has limits to its capacity. And the idea of shelter workers, for example, taking these baby kittens home, you know, how many can they take home? And how long can that last before a person says, I can't even wake up to get to work in the morning?

I mean, it's a lot to ask for shelter workers to then work off the clock and care for these little kittens, especially the littlest ones. I think sometimes people don't realize, after a certain age, yes, a kitten can stay in the shelter overnight and wait for its breakfast in the morning. But what we're talking about here are, like you said, the little bitty babies that might need a bottle and pottying and kept at a certain body temperature around the clock.

So they can't just be left overnight and fed in the morning. And that's another thing that people don't necessarily understand. So beyond just the fact that it is a 24-hour operation, is there anything else in your experience that makes those teeny tiny kittens more of a challenge than older kittens, other than eating on their own?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, that age, you know, even in the best of circumstances, even when mom is present and takes care of them, there is a high mortality rate. And even if you do everything right, right, there are still losses for undetermined causes. I mean, who knows what's going on in the kitten's body?

I mean, we've encountered everything and we have very experienced fosters and we still lose kittens. So it can be a tough road to take on, knowing that sometimes nature will have her way no matter what. But sometimes not. And sometimes with supportive care, those kittens will at least get a chance to live and turn around and grow up and be somebody's buddy.

So that's why we encourage people. And we have a whole program to give shelters kits to give to people to be part of the solution if they so choose. They can be that mythical, magical someone, right? Who should be doing something. So someone sure is busy, right? So yeah, they can be that someone, and that's what we encourage as much as we can. We try to encourage people, you know, just try, be willing.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. I was thinking the other day after you and I got off our call. Feral cats, community cats, stray cats, whatever you want to call them, it's just such a bigger thing than stray dogs. And it's not to say that there's not pockets in some places in our world of stray dogs, but an affluent community, let's say, doesn't have packs of stray dogs running around, but yet it's kind of acceptable to have stray cats roaming around or a neighborhood cat that people feed, but nobody really takes full responsibility for getting it spayed and neutered. And that's why we have these issues with kittens.

And I know down here in Texas, I remember very specifically one time being at the shelter and a gentleman found a litter of kittens under his lawnmower. And, you know, he just didn't want them there. It didn't even get as far as a conversation like, could you do something to care for them instead of taking them to the shelter? It was just like as if he had found, I don't know, a bunch of rocks under his lawnmower and just didn't want them under there. Like, let's just get rid of them.

Do you find that in California as well, that there's a different perception of cats and dogs?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, I mean, it varies. There are some people who just think any animal is a nuisance and just, you know, to be dispatched and disposed of, right?

But what we find more are people who are truly caring and invested and see these cats out there in their community having litter after litter after litter. And often the litters come to a bad end, one way or the other. Cars, predators, illness, whatever. And they want to stop that cycle. They want to, but they don't have the funds.

I mean, it's a few hundred bucks a pop to try and get cats fixed. That's untenable for most people. So that's where the low, low, and hopefully no-cost spay/neuter issues come in. You know, helping people who are, I mean, that's the perfect scenario in many ways. Somebody who's actually willing to put in the work, that they're willing to even do the trapping, willing to do the transport, they want to get that cat fixed, they're okay having the cat in their alley, in their backyard, you know, down the street. They're okay with that. They just don't want to see these litters every few months.

That is the person we want to work with.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
One of the things that I wish would happen more, because I know we get a lot of heat sometimes too when we're at capacity and people get angry at me, like I won't take those kittens, and you know, what am I supposed to do with them?

Yeah, well, you can either put them back where you found them and let nature take its course, or you can take responsibility for them and care for them. And trying to have that conversation is really tricky. It's that balance of, you know, I realize it's not that person's responsibility. It's not their cat. They didn't put it in their backyard, they didn't tell it to come have babies in their garage. But yet if I can't help you, you're gonna have to make a decision at some point about that.

When you're talking to shelters, do they get that kind of pushback? And how do they have that conversation to basically be like, well?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, I get that, actually, a lot from people. And it's funny, they'll call me up, and we're just a really small volunteer-run, foster-based group, right? They'll say, well, can't you just send someone out to pick them up? Oh, yeah, let me call my expansive staff. I'll get right on that. You know, and it's like, no, there is nobody.

And they say, well, it's not my cat. Well, guess what? It's not mine either. But, you know, we're trying to clean up the irresponsibility of people in general.

Somewhere along the line, when we see a cat outdoors, whether it was that particular cat having been abandoned, or it's a generational homelessness of that cat's grand-great-great-grandmother being abandoned, and that cat has never known a home. Somewhere along the line, human beings have failed that cat or his or her forebears, right?

So we're just a group of people trying to clean up messes that somebody else made. Always. And people will either be willing to do that or they won't. And I can't make people do it. And if they get mad, they get mad, I guess. That's, you know, I have to. I've come to peace with just, there's a place that you get to in rescue, I think, and I'm sure you can relate to this, where you can make a choice between just being paralyzed by the overwhelming demand and the endless need to a point where you can't do anything for anyone anymore, right?

Or you can just say, I can do this and I will do this. And just set those boundaries as best you can and leave the rest to God, I guess. I don't know. It's a tough thing.

People all the time, you know, well, I can't just put 'em out, they're friendly. Well, if you're not gonna take care of 'em, I can't take 'em. The shelter says that either won't take 'em or they'll kill 'em. You know, our choices are narrow here, right?

Sometimes in rescue, you don't get good choices. You get horrific choices and you get bad choices. And you get to pick within that continuum.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. Well, and I think one of the things that I have discovered too is number one, I have gotten more blunt with people about the reality of what's going to happen. And then looking at it from a partnership standpoint, if everybody kind of decided it's our problem, what piece of that problem am I willing to take on, whether it's short-term or long-term?

I mean, obviously, if you get into rescue, you're looking at long-term. But when it comes to a community member, you know, it could be a short-term thing. It could be taking care of just that one litter or it could be fostering for the short term.

But I think with so many shelters and rescues trying to achieve no-kill status, and a lot of organizations, to do that, close intake when they've reached a certain capacity so that they don't have to make tough decisions about euthanasia. That's leaving the burden on the next level down, whatever that might be.

So if your shelter closes their doors to intake, then the rescues get full. And then when you find your cat or kittens, now you've got them because there's no place for them to go, like you said.

What are some of the solutions that you are finding that are working well? Tell us about some of the programs that you have going on because I think those could be opportunities for shelters and rescues that are listening now to make some of those things happen to help.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, foundationally, I think spay/neuter. I mean, that's where it starts, right? And trying to establish relationships and partnerships with organizations, whether they're private, other nonprofits, like the city of Long Beach, for example, and some of the LA city and county jurisdictions have voucher programs, you know, and subsidy programs.

We also have excellent partnerships with some of the nonprofits in Orange County, Orange County Animal Allies, Animal Assistance League, and some others that help offset or subsidize the cost so that we can operate some of our community cat clinics at no cost to the client or very low cost to the client.

So that's where that starts. I mean, there's, you know, if there's fewer of them out there, there's fewer of them to have to try and find solutions for.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. And I think before you go into the next one, I want to state too, I'll run into people that are just exhausted and financially drained from having done Trap-Neuter-Return on their own. And if they called their local shelter and they were told we don't have a program like that, and then they just kind of figured it's on me.

But I would highly encourage you, if you're listening, and this is something you want to try to tackle, before you drain your bank account, call around. Like rescues like ours, if somebody calls me up and says, hey, I've got this stray cat situation. I'm willing to trap them. I'm willing to transport them. I'll pay for it. I just don't have, like you said, the manpower to come out and catch those cats for you and then drive them to the appointment and then pick them back up.

But, you know, at least check with your rescues and shelters and see what programs might be available to help subsidize the finances.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Yeah, there may be. Or they may be able to connect you with something else that people have done as a neighborhood, like set up a neighborhood GoFundMe, you know, through some of the neighborhood forums like Nextdoor and some of those kind of things.

And, you know, there will be the people that just, you know, say just get rid of the cats, right? But there might be enough people on there. You know, if someone states the case, says, look, there's a small colony of cats that is going to turn into a big colony of cats. I'm willing to put in the work. Can everyone chip in? I've already connected with a clinic that is willing to do it for X amount of dollars. Can everyone chip in so that I can put in the work and we have the funds to do this?

I mean, I've seen that work actually.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah, it's a great idea because a lot of people, like my friend Bev, there's certain aspects of it. She doesn't want to do it, she doesn't want to hear about it. And her thing is, nope, nope, stop, stop, let me just write a check. Like she's just happy to write the check to solve the problem, but I don't want to see how the sausage is made, so to speak. And that's fine.

You know, so your neighbor may not want to do the TNR legwork, but they would spend a hundred bucks to keep cats from climbing all over their car.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Yeah. And because they know. They've seen those cats out there. The neighborhood all knows where the cats are. So yeah, if somebody's willing to put in the work, like I said, I've seen that GoFundMe or the online fundraising strategy work before. And work even with injured cats too, same thing.

But the key to it is to have photos, get an invoice from a clinic so people know that it's a real deal. It's not just somebody running a scam.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah, just collecting your money and running to Vegas with it.

And for those people that are finding kittens, tell us about your Kitten Kits, because I think that is a brilliant concept. You know, you are someone, so yes, we're asking you to take responsibility, but we're gonna provide that support.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Mm-hmm. Yeah, thank you. We started that about 10 years ago, actually, with a local shelter at the time. And again, not impugning any shelter. They were killing probably about a thousand kittens a year that were not finding any other outcome, that were underage and couldn't be, and it's cruel to leave them overnight. I mean, you know, it is. So that's that.

So we started that program and we put together a kit of the bottles, formula, a hot water bottle, you know, for warming, a little fleece blanket, probiotic, and some other stuff, care guides in both English and Spanish.

And what we do is then provide the kit to the shelter, because that's usually the first point of contact from the public. You know, here, look, I found kittens. So we provide it to the shelter.

And this is where, looping back to what we said a few minutes ago, this is where an honest conversation is necessary. And the shelter says, well, you can leave them here, but chances are they're not gonna survive past closing time today. Or you can take this handy kit and take the kittens home with you and mix up formula and read the care guide, or look at the many, many resources that are now online, videos and all that, and you can take care of those little kittens for maybe even just a week or two until they start eating on their own.

And when they're eating on their own, at that point the shelter can usually accommodate them. You know, at like four-ish, five weeks, if they can be reliably eating on their own, then they can stay overnight.

So, you know, the important part of it is to tell people these are the choices. Again, getting back to choices. They stay here, probably won't live past 5 PM. Or you can be a hero. A couple weeks of your life might mean this kitten gets to have one.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. That's such a key point, is the couple weeks of your life because from birth to four weeks, a lot happens with those kittens. And you might not catch it at birth. You know, you might catch it, it's already a week and a half old, so it's that much less time.

And if somebody's handing you the resources and you're willing to lose a little bit of sleep for a couple of weeks, you're potentially saving that entire litter of kittens. And I just wish more shelters did that instead of just like, let's just be hush hush and don't tell anybody anything, take in these kittens and then euthanize them at five o'clock.

Because I think many people, if they knew the truth about what was going to happen, probably would be willing to at least try. Even for us as a rescue, we may not have a foster available to take those kittens right now, but I might have one in three or four days. I mean, I never promise anybody, but at least I can give you supplies and get you started and get you trying.

What do you think is kind of the difference between long-term and short-term fostering? Because I think that one of the things that people, when they take this on, would need to confirm, like with the shelter, are they going to take it back at four weeks? Is that a promise or is it if we have room? And the same thing with rescues.

We've always set ourselves up that if somebody fosters for us, if you decided in three days you could no longer keep them, we always keep spots open. We don't fill everything to the brim because we know things happen. But not every rescue can do that. Sometimes they'll tell you, oh, but it's going to be two weeks, and then it's like, oh, well, I thought we'd have room, but we don't, so you got to hang on for two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks, and then it turns into a really long commitment.

So how should a person that's new to this go into that situation or what kind of questions should they ask?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, I think you're exactly right. I think that it's important to establish expectations up front. And we as an organization, I don't know that we really keep spots open so much. Usually we're pretty much filled to the brim.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
I am the spot. Okay. Yeah, I say keep spots open, but then, you know, now I have 42 at my house instead of 40.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
I mean, that's. But if somebody does tell us, you know, look, I just can't. Something came up. I mean, we always do work it out somehow. So we try very hard to accommodate people's capacity and time frame. So it's important to have that conversation straight up.

And I think too, what happens is that sometimes people are afraid that they're gonna get stuck with the kittens, you know, not so much a shelter, but like a rescue might just say, sorry, we just can't help you anymore, right? And they'll be stuck with medical bills, they'll be stuck with having to find the kittens' homes on their own.

And that's where the trust and conversation comes in on the front end. That if we truly intake, you know, truly take a cat into our organization, we pay for everything. And we help find that cat homes.

Now, we also have kind of a hybrid program where if somebody finds kittens and they're willing to foster, we make it clear, well, we can't take them in. But what we will help you do is we might be able to even do some vaccinations for you. When the time comes, we can connect you with low-cost spay/neuter. We might even be able to do some courtesy posts on our website, but we want to emphasize and make clear that these kittens do remain your responsibility. We are not taking them in as an organization.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Right.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
But we try to assist and mentor and present people with the tools that we can to support them as best we can.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah, we pretty much do the exact same thing. I think it's the communication that is so important to make sure you're asking the right questions, knowing what you're getting into, knowing what kind of support you're going to be getting, and the level of commitment I think is important.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Yeah, I mean, my personal philosophy is that the root of all human disagreement is unaligned and uncommunicated expectations. You know, one party has one set and the other party has another, and they have not shared what their expectations are.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Definitely. I'm sure that when people are first told, like, hey, we can't take those kittens, but here's a kit, I'm sure there's like an initial, wait a minute, whoa, I don't know what I'm doing. And whether there is a care guide or anything like that in there, what do you tell people about, like, yeah, you can do it and here's why? Because I mean, we all started at one point not knowing what the heck we were doing.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Well, I do neonatal kitten care classes sometimes at a local shelter for their own staff and fosters. And one of my first slides is something like no human was born knowing how to take care of a newborn kitten.

And I mean, sadly, most humans aren't born knowing how to take care of a newborn human, but that's another problem. But you know, you have to learn somewhere. It is not intrinsic, it is not instinctive, right? Everybody learned somewhere.

And as in most things in life, I think the key, the start, is just to be willing to try. You know, I mean, if someone just shuts it down, the idea of it, I can't, I won't, and really it's I won't. You know, I won't is really more honest than I can't. So I emphasize just be willing, just be open.

And the good news is that over the last 20-something years that I've been doing this, you know, fostering and whatever with animals, there's literally a video on everything. If you did an internet search on what do I do with my ringworm kittens, there's videos on it. I mean, just any kitten condition.

Hannah Shaw, otherwise known as Kitten Lady, has an outstanding series of videos on every aspect of underage neonatal kitten care. All you have to do is just type in orphan kittens, orphan kitten care, how do I take care of abandoned kittens? And there'll just be a page, page after page of resources and videos.

So the information is out there, it's pretty accessible. And again, rescues are often, you know, we've got a couple people among our volunteers in our team that are willing to mentor. I'm willing to mentor.

You know, if someone calls me up, it's like, my kitten suddenly stopped eating, is lethargic. Well, let's think this through. You know, weigh your kitten constantly. I mean, it's just the various tips and tricks. It's just a process of becoming more confident, at least being willing to try and building experience and building knowledge.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
It's definitely a learning process, that's for sure. With the shelter that you've been providing these kits to, what is the reaction of the staff and have they brought you feedback as to how people are responding to, like, how about this? Here's your kit. How about you give this a whirl on your own?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
The staff likes it. I mean, it gives them another option. And reception among the public is a little bit hit or miss. And it depends a lot on how it's presented. And unfortunately, I'm not there at that point of contact when someone comes into the shelter, so I don't always know.

But I think that a lot of the success in getting people to adopt the program is the way in which it's presented by the shelter staff to the person. And again, you know, with honesty and this is the likely outcome. You can be a hero. You know, that's I think critical.

And there's been some really good heartwarming stories of people, you know, we have photos of people taking the kitten and the kit away and giving that kitten a chance.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. I think people surprise themselves sometimes with their capacity to accomplish things when they try and when they want to do it. Like you said, it's not a can't, you know, you're physically capable of doing it if you chose to do so. It's whether you're willing to do it is a whole other thing.

So I know we have a lot of people that listen that are cat lovers and they may not have an issue with a cat colony in their neighborhood, or even much of an issue in their town, or maybe they're not aware of it. What can they do to help? Because it's out there. You know, you may not realize it. You might have your indoor cats and never have any stray cats having kittens in your garage, but I guarantee you somebody in your town is having a serious problem with that.

What would be some things you'd recommend to them to get involved and to help?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
If they're not being personally impacted, they don't see the cats themselves, you're right, somebody somewhere, not far away, is. And if they're willing to trap and transport to a spay/neuter clinic, that's a huge help, huge help.

Because it's heartbreaking in these colonies. It's not just the number of cats and the impact that they have on people in their gardens and their cars and all that kind of stuff. The cats live badly and painfully and die badly often.

The kittens, there's an enormous amount of inbreeding, birth defects, illness, predators. The mothers have litter after litter and are usually dead in a couple years. They may develop pyometra, which is a deadly uterine infection that can be completely avoided by being spayed.

You know, the males are fighting with each other over territory and mating and have grievous wounds and abscesses and transmit diseases through fighting. And all of that can be avoided if all of the cats are altered and sterilized. I mean, that can be eliminated.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. And, you know, the other thing I would say too is if you're a cat lover, look into fostering. Our capacity to take in those kittens for people who aren't able to care for them or are struggling to care for them is 100% in direct correlation to how many volunteer fosters we have.

And looking into fostering for a local shelter, so they don't have to euthanize at five o'clock. And even if you save, you know, you may not be able to take 20 litters at the same time because if your shelter has that many coming in, but you could save one, you know, one litter of kittens. I mean, it's something.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
And even maybe just for the summer, you know, the kids are home. I mean, shelters need an enormous amount of help too, and fostering for a shelter absolutely saves a life.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah. And I think your kitten supplies, whether it's in a kit or just talking to your local shelter about what kind of supplies they would need to be able to ask community members to help those kittens. Because I think people are much more willing when you can have them swing by your house and pick up everything they need to take care of those kittens, or a lot of times I'll just order it and like it'll be on your doorstep tomorrow.

They're much more willing to hang on to them when they're not footing the bill and when they've got the right supplies. Because I find that the people who are willing to help, they want to do it right. So they don't want to get the wrong bottle, they don't want to get the wrong formula. It's like, here, let me give you exactly what we use in the rescue, and it just makes life a lot easier for them.

So if somebody has listened to this episode and you could have them only take away one key point or one lesson from our conversation, what would that be for you?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Just to be willing, I guess. Just to be willing to be part of the solution and be willing to help someone, whether that's a person or an animal, who cannot help themselves. And there are few things that I've encountered in this life that are more helpless than a newborn kitten.

And you know, intervening in that situation, that little kitten could grow up to be somebody's best friend.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
That's a good point. And it just made me think about, I had a young woman who came over here yesterday. She doesn't have a problem with stray cats in her yard, but she has an elderly neighbor down the street that has a serious problem. So she came over here and borrowed traps from us and is gonna help this lady trap, and she's gonna transport.

But it's like one action that you can do. If you're willing to drive them, if you're willing to drop off traps, if you're willing to bottle feed for two weeks, any of those things are a step in the right direction for the solution. It's huge. It's like little things that can have such a huge impact, even when you feel like, oh, I don't have time to take on the whole thing myself. Help with what you can.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
I think that's what it again kind of gets back into, that paralysis of the overwhelming need. You know, that just the mental weight of that sometimes can be just stultifying. If we try to just break it down into little chunks, well, I can't do everything. I can't save every cat I see. But I can do what's in front of me.

It's just too overwhelming, I'm not going to do anything, versus I need to do something.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
No, that's true. Yeah.

So if people want to support your organization or just get in touch and learn more about what you're doing, where would you want us to direct them?

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
To the website, helensanderscatpaws.com. There are all sorts of resources on there. There's videos on trapping, there's kitten care guides, there's discussion of spay/neuter. I mean, there's resources that are applicable even outside of our relatively small geographic area of impact.

If people are in our immediate geographic area, we're in the Long Beach, North Orange County area. We're always looking for volunteers, fosters. Donors is a great one too. Our veterinary bills are significant.

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Yeah, exactly. And I don't think, you know, if you don't realize this, if you're listening, that between Deborah's state of California and my state of Texas, I don't know who's in first. Not that anybody should be proud of that being in first, but our two states are the two states that have the highest shelter euthanasias in the country, unfortunately. So the problem of these stray and abandoned and community pets are huge.

So if you can support Deborah's organization either physically with fostering and volunteering or financially with a donation, please do that.

Well, Deborah, thank you so much for being here today and sharing your experience and information about your organization. I think we've given people plenty of information and plenty of opportunities where they can make a difference.

**Deborah Felin-Magaldi:**
Thank you. Thank you, Amy.

## Closing Takeaway

**Amy Castro, Host:**
I think the big takeaway here is this. Newborn kittens don't just need somewhere to go. They need warmth, feeding, supplies, and somebody willing to be part of the bridge until they're old enough for the shelter or rescue system to help them.

And that doesn't mean you have to fix the whole problem. Maybe your piece is fostering just one litter of kittens for a couple weeks. Maybe it's donating formula and supplies. Maybe it's helping your local shelter put together Kitten Kits, or helping a neighbor trap and transport cats for spay/neuter.

And maybe it's just asking your local shelter what actually happens when newborn kittens come in, and what regular people can do to help before kitten season overwhelms everybody.

Because somebody should do something gets a lot more useful when each of us asks, what is the one thing I can do? And if all you can do is that one thing, it matters.

## Standard Outro

**Amy Castro, Host:**
Thanks for listening to the Pet Parent Hotline. If you enjoyed the show, don't keep it to yourself. Text a friend right now with a link and tell them, I've got a show that you need to hear. And ask them to let you know what they think.

And remember, your pet's best life starts with you living yours. So be sure to take good care of yourself this week and your pets.