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Alexander, a kitten that is being fostered by Lara Rodriguez, the front office manager and foster coordinator for the Nevada SPCA, Friday, August 26, 2011.
By Aida Ahmed 
Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 | 2 a.m.
Beyond the Sun
Among the victims in the avalanche of home foreclosures in Las Vegas are abandoned pets — dogs and cats that are left to roam the valley’s streets and fend for themselves.
Even more defenseless are their newborn puppies and kittens — and by some counts there are twice as many this year compared with last.
The Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is addressing the kitten problem with a foster program — “Feline Foster Force” — and is on the hunt for cat lovers to lend a temporary home. (Foster homes for at-risk puppies are sought as well, but are not as sorely needed as for kittens.)
The purpose of the campaign: for volunteers to help raise newborn cats and other special-needs cats that need care until they can fend for themselves. Once they are healthy or old enough, they will be placed at the NSPCA’s facility where they be cared for until they are adopted, whether it takes days, months or years.
“The need is incredible. This summer we have more than 200 little kittens with no mothers,” said Doug Duke, executive director of the NSPCA. “It’s absolutely essential with young animals that they get the loving care that a home can provide.”
The need for foster homes comes at a time when the NSPCA is pressed to its capacity in caring for about 800 dogs, cats, rabbits and other animals. The organization does not euthanize animals and frequently rescues animals from other animal shelters that would otherwise be put down.
“We’ve been challenged but we’ve never been challenged to this extent,” Duke said of the number of animals it is caring for this summer.
Cats that are too young for adoption, recovering from surgery or that are so distraught they stop eating are candidates for the foster program. In addition to animals that are left behind when residents leave their foreclosed homes, other cats end up separated from their homes by owners who allowed them to live outdoors, and the animals become injured or undernourished.
Once rescued, the young or injured cats are put in foster care where volunteers such as Lara Rodriguez care for and even bottle-feed them.
“I bottle-feed them every four hours and stimulate them so they can use the bathroom and sleep,” said Rodriguez.
Even with four foster puppies and three kittens, Rodriguez said she’s willing to take in more animals if it means they will live long enough to be adopted.
“It’s rewarding,” said Rodriguez, who works for NSPCA. “To see this little animal that you’ve literally raised and to see it grow up is just like watching your kids grow up. To me they are just like my children.
Along with being willing to bottle-feed kittens, Duke says foster parents need extra time and space in their homes to accommodate cats. In return, the volunteers will receive a discounted adoption rate if they chose to keep the animals they foster.
“It can be a very intense and rewarding form of volunteering, to foster an animal with a fragile hold on life,” Duke said.
Foster care lasts from infancy to when a cat is old enough to be spayed or neutered. Cats come with starter food and a liter box if needed.
Individuals or families interested in fostering can call the Nevada SPCA at 873-SPCA or stop by the shelter at 4800 W. Dewey Drive.
CORRECTION: This story has been modified to indicate a request for foster homes for puppies as well. | (August 27, 2011)
It is apropos and certainly understandable that, in a city where money rules, that not one casino executive of note has announced that he or she has donated major $$$ to assist in the care and spaying and neutering.
Not one!
You might think that among these casino execs there might be someone of note who is worth millions upon millions and who has the decency and humanity to donate or to call on other casino execs to fund a dog-cat care program in the city.
I spent some time in Hawaii and the feral cat population in the city was disgraceful. All that money and no action by people who could help change things?
I have nothing but disgust for a casino industry that is peopled by executives who care so much for $ that they can't be helpful to those defenseless and who have no one to care for them.
Count your $ and your bank account balances. Because that is truly all that you are worth --- not as a person --- but as a number.
The persons who let their cats and dogs on their own when move are the scum of the earth. There is a warm place in hell for you. I hope you enjoy it when you get there.
At least some people care about animals. The ones that abandon their pets should be not be allowed to reproduce either.
Here in the southwest part of the Valley, there is another organization working to locate, rescue, spay/neuter, and place (in "forever homes") abandoned kitties and cats (and an occasional dog).
The caring staff of All Fur Love Animal Society (AFLAS) can be contacted at:
www.allfurloveanimalsociety.org
info@allfurloveanimalsociety.org
You can support this worthy nonprofit by donating both funds and items (see their list) on line at www.allfurloveanimalsociety.org/donation...
Minniemouse,
As a two-cat owner, I suggest that your anger is misdirected. It should be more focused on the cause of this problem, not on your supposed remedy. The 'casino industry' is not responsible for solving this problem.
Regards,
Purgatory
@Purgatory - I get what minniemouse is trying to convey. As you said, it's not the casino industrys' responsibility to solve the problem BUT it is a shame that people with so much money to waste can't spend some of it helping out where needed. The casinos aren't the only ones - when I hear of a 250,000 budget for wedding flowers (that will be dead within days) spent on an ex-presidents daughters wedding - well it just reinforces my idea that these people are so out of touch with reality it isn't even funny. If they were in touch with reality they'd spend money where it's needed most - on these poor animals - not on some stinkin' flowers for a wedding that's likely to end in divorce within 5 years anyway.
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