The smallest animals at the shelter take the biggest effort to save. That’s where PAWS’ Bottle Feeding Program comes in.
Orphaned kittens who are too young to eat on their own have always faced the biggest obstacles to survival in Philadelphia’s shelters due to the intense care they need. Often found when they are just days old, before they are able to eat on their own or have developed an immune system, these delicate kittens need round-the-clock feedings to survive and quick exit from the shelter to avoid becoming sick.
To begin saving these vulnerable kittens, PAWS established a successful foster-based neonatal rescue program in 2018. Our program maintains a pool of specially trained on-call foster parents ready to help bottle-feeding kittens when they arrive at the shelter.
To support each team, PAWS provides mentorship, training, veterinary care, and essential supplies such as milk replacement formula, feeding syringes, and warming pads. Once the kittens are eating on their own, they “graduate” into our regular foster program and eventually grow big enough for adoption.
PAWS works closely with the city shelter to coordinate bottle-feeder rescue, with the ultimate goal of ensuring safety for every newborn kitten that comes in. Before we started this program, most orphaned newborns entering the city shelter didn’t survive. However, since beginning this program in 2018, PAWS has saved over 2,000 neonatal kittens.
This proven-effective program is playing a major role in completely eliminating the killing of neonatal kittens in Philadelphia.
