Awash in kitten, shelter seeks foster families to provide temporary homes

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington needs foster families to provide temporary homes for kittens after a surge of stray felines has put a strain on the shelter’s resources.

The Vancouver-based shelter, which also has a campus in Longview, has taken in more than 850 kittens in 2025 — an increase of 48 percent over 2024 — and is currently caring for more than 315 young felines, according to a news release.

“We’re full, that’s for sure. It’s a lot, but we’re truly fortunate to have so many great volunteers and staff, so we’ll get through it,” said Sam Ellingson, the shelter’s associate vice president of communications and marketing. “But we’re eager to welcome a few more people to the team to make sure the cats have the support they need.”

Shelter employees aren’t completely sure of the cause of the increase but aren’t surprised by it either, Ellingson said.

“It’s common this time of year for us to have kittens arriving at our doorstep,” Vice President of Operations Jenn Rylander said in the news release. “We’re seeing more kittens than usual this year, and we need more foster homes to support them.”

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington has made changes to its infrastructure in an effort to provide care to all of its young cats, moving “kitten headquarters” to a larger room previously used for quarantine.

“Beyond that, we’re constantly looking at surgical schedules to see how to get more kittens through surgery,” Ellingson said. “We’re getting all of our teams ready to support that transition as quickly as possible — get the (kittens) spayed and neutered, and get them out to the adoption floor.”

‘Completely reliant’

Neonatal kittens, age 4 weeks and younger, are “completely reliant” on their mother or a caregiver for everything from feeding to temperature regulation at levels that aren’t possible at the shelter, according to the news release.

“Fostering is a meaningful way to provide lifesaving care for kittens that need it,” Ellingson said.

The shelter encourages those interested to fill out an application at hssw.org/foster.

A list of items needed to help support the foster program can be found at hssw.org/donate/wishlist.

The shelter also wants people to know that not all kittens found outside are in need of rescue.

“The decision about when to rescue kittens isn’t always black and white,” Rylander said in the news release. “But if they are safe and don’t appear sick, they likely have a mom caring for them. In those instances, we can let them grow older and stronger before bringing them to the shelter.”

Kittens in Washougal

West Columbia Gorge Humane Society in Washougal has taken in 116 kittens between January and June this year, an increase from 2024, when it took in 101 young felines during the same period. “We saw a huge spike in intakes in May of 40 kittens under the age of 5 months old,” shelter manager Mikhaila Worle said. “So far we are seeing a gradual increase in our intake numbers from last year and still have many kittens currently pending intake.”

To learn more

To learn more about the Washougal shelter’s foster program, visit wcghs.org/foster-volunteer.

For more information on how to know if you should bring kittens to the shelter or not, visit hssw.org/straykittens.

Doug Flanagan: 360-735-4669; doug.flanagan@columbian.com