By Kristy Kepley-Steward

Asheville, NC (WLOS) -- The phenomenon known as ‘kitten season’ happens each year as the days get longer, temperatures get warmer, and cats have easier access to food, resulting in more mating and an increased chance that litters will survive and thrive. Here in the southeast, kittens usually begin to appear in local shelters in February.

Last year alone, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue cared for a whopping 1,127 kittens! “Kittens come to us from all sorts of situations,” says Audrey Lodato, Brother Wolf’s Director of Animal Care, “but they are most often humanely trapped by our Community Cats team or brought to us by people who find them outdoors. Once they’re in our care, we’re able to spay or neuter them, vaccinate them, and either make them available for adoption or place them into a loving foster home until they’re ready.”

Brother Wolf also cares for nearly 200 orphaned newborn kittens each year, who need specialized fosters to bottle feed them every 2-4 hours around the clock. “Newborn kittens are very fragile and can’t survive long without warmth and a consistent feeding schedule,” says Andee Bingham, Brother Wolf’s Grants Manager and high-volume bottle baby foster. “If you find very young orphaned kittens, they’ll have the best chance of survival if they’re taken to a rescue organization like Brother Wolf as quickly as possible.”

Bingham, who has cared for more than 100 bottle babies, will be teaching Orphaned Bottle Baby Kitten workshops on Saturday, March 9th from 10am-noon and on Saturday, May 18th from 3-5pm. Both workshops will take place at Lenoir Rhyne University (Room 315) in Asheville. During the workshops, Bingham will discuss everything you need to know to keep orphaned kittens safe and healthy from birth to weaning. The events are free and open to the public. Further event information can be found on the Brother Wolf Facebook event listing.

“Spaying and neutering both owned and unowned cats is the best way to make sure our local shelters are able to care for the large volume of kittens who need our help each year,” says Lodato. “Through our new mobile clinic, we’re excited to be offering low-cost spay and neuter services to the public.” Visit bwar.org/mobile-clinic to view the clinic’s service area and to schedule an appointment for your cat or dog.

Brother Wolf also humanely traps, spays or neuters, and vaccinates unowned outdoor cats through their Community Cats program. To utilize this service, contact Eric Phelps at (828) 301-3377 or eric@bwar.org.