TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - In a new program designed to save pets’ lives, Pima Animal Care Center has partnered with residents from Catalina Springs Memory Care to provide bottle feeding, socialization, and love to kittens that have come into the shelter.
The Catalina Springs Memory Care’s Health Service Director, Rebecca Hamilton, RN, has fostered homeless pets for years.
Hamilton was instrumental in advocating for the program which was quickly approved by PACC as a way to save kittens and by the Catalina Springs Memory Care board as a positive way to enrich its residents’ lives.
Peaches and Turtle, the first two kittens to go through the program, came to PACC on Oct. 14 as strays.
On Wednesday, several residents bottle-fed the kittens, who are transitioning to kibble and soft food.
“To some, it may seem peculiar at first: Residents who are in need of around-the-clock care themselves, given the task to care for these young kittens,” said Catalina Springs Memory Care Executive Director Sharon Mercer. “But there are skills, emotions, and needs that do not just leave a person with Dementia or Alzheimer’s. The desire to give love and receive love remains. The kittens have given us the opportunity to nurture this human condition that lies in each and every one of our residents.”
Turtle the Tortie weighs 1 pound, 2 ounces, and Peaches the Buffy weighs 1 pound, 15 ounces. Once they reach 2 pounds, they will return to PACC for their spay surgeries, vaccinations, and microchips; after that, they will be placed up for adoption.
PACC says community support is needed to sustain and grow their foster care program, which also helps puppies and adult dogs and cats.
