NEW YORK - Strawberries, Blueberries, Jojo and Mazzy were about 6 weeks old when animal rescuers coaxed them out of long metal tubes in the storage unit company's parking lot. Meatballs are a kitten living in a cold garage with a bunch of semi-iron cats.

Meanwhile, spaghetti, macaroni and Rigatoni were only 2 weeks old, when the good guys from cat rescuers in Queens brought them in and bottled them until they were strong enough to survive.

Consider these adorable kittens 2025 faces.

Kitten season usually lands in warmer months and is the time for most cats to give birth during the year. This produces kittens, usually fragile newborns. The shelter is overwhelmed, especially in terms of 24-hour care and feeding of very young kittens.

As a result, this triggers the need for more foster families, as many shelters in the United States do not have the time or resources for all-day care.

"We see about 1.5 million kittens entering the shelter every year. Most of them will be in the shelter in May and June," she said. "Sheat requires all the hands to be worn on the deck to help through foster care."

Xiao said that he is very familiar with raising animals. The act of doing so is another story. There is a false view that the cost of raising animals falls on people who are stepping up their efforts, she said. Today, many shelters and rescues cover food, supplies and medical expenses for foster care.

“A lot of people don’t raise because they think it’s going to be such a huge cost, but raising will actually only take your time and love,” she said.

Pet nutrition veterinarian Lisa Restine of the Hill said people who hope to adopt kittens should be paired because cats often end early in their lives. How many cats do each family have?

"It's not serious or medical, but my general rule of thumb is the number of adults in the house, like the 2-to-1 ratio, because you can carry one cat with each hand, so if there are two adults you can have four cats and it's still sane."

Steding said avoiding square feet of territorial disputes is a good rule of thumb when planning a cat. She said two cats added at a time every 800 square feet, then another 200 square feet were added.

Restien said that littermates like macaroni and Rig Tony were more likely to combine. Kittens are biologically unrelated, but they are often combined, such as meatballs and spaghetti. However, adopters who want to combine adult cats with adult cats that new kittens arrive may be disappointed.

"Once they pass the 3 or 4 month mark, it's hard to get real connection," Stephen said.

Usually, kittens stay in foster homes from weeks to months. While statistics have not been retained on the number of kittens that have “failed” (when foster families decide to keep their fees), some shelters report rates as high as 90%. Advocates point out that despite the use of the word “failure”, it is a victory.

Shaw sees another obstacle that makes people unable to raise: it requires the concept of special training or skills. That's why she devoted her life to educating the public, providing videos, books and research about her website's work on her website kittenlady.org.

The company is joining. Hill's is a pet food company that runs Hill's food, shelter and love programs. It provides more than $300 million in food support to more than 1,000 animal shelters supporting North American foster care.

"Unfortunately, about a quarter of kittens don't survive in our shelter every year," said Shaw. "The shelter will be there to guide and support you. So I think a lot of the fears people have about foster care, and they may find that it's actually something you can do. It's just horrible because you haven't done that yet."