As children head back to school, many adults are returning to their regular routines, leaving local animal shelters with fewer volunteers at a time when they need them most.<\/p>\n
At Sacramento’s Front Street Animal Shelter<\/a>, the need is especially urgent for kittens. The shelter currently has about 600 kittens in foster care, with roughly 50 more arriving each day.<\/p>\n For longtime foster volunteer Lesa Saville, caring for kittens has become a way of life. She has fostered cats about 200 times and enjoys helping new foster parents learn the ropes.<\/p>\n Saville began fostering for Front Street after becoming an empty nester. What started as a way to help animals quickly filled that empty space in her home.<\/p>\n “It’s like, for that one person you’re gonna save a life and give that person a cat,” Saville said.<\/p>\n The shelter says foster volunteers are particularly important during peak kitten season.<\/p>\n “Volunteers are so essential during peak season,” said Sofia Ruelas, a Front Street staff member. “Now we have 600 kittens in foster care and have about 50 coming in daily, so urgent placement is needed to get ready for adoption.”<\/p>\n Animals younger than 8 weeks old cannot stay at the shelter and instead need foster homes where they can be fed, cared for and socialized until they are old enough for adoption.<\/p>\n New foster volunteers receive training on everything from basic animal care to bottle-feeding, with experienced foster parents such as Saville helping guide them through the process.<\/p>\n The shelter provides the supplies volunteers need, although caring for young kittens can be messy and time-consuming.<\/p>\n For Saville, the work is worth it.<\/p>\n “They need us so much. But you love these animals with unconditional love. They need us. You know, without us they wouldn’t survive,” she said.<\/p>\n Saville said her job is simple: “You feed them and love them until it’s time to adopt them.”<\/p>\n Front Street says no previous experience is required to become a foster volunteer. Training is free, and volunteers complete a training session before taking animals into their homes.<\/p>\n For Information on Front Street Animal Shelter Volunteering and foster training, check out their Shelter Volunteer Page.<\/a> Foster care can be done for dogs and cats. \u00a0<\/p>\n For people who cannot foster, the shelter also needs donations of food and blankets. Another option is Front Street’s Doggie Day Out program<\/a>, which allows volunteers to take a shelter dog out for the day without committing to long-term foster care.<\/p>\n