From Shelter to Home: What Really Happens After We Rescue a Kitten

You’ve probably seen the beginning and the end.

At the beginning, there’s a kitten sitting in an LA city shelter who needs somewhere to go. At the end, there’s an adorable photo of that same kitten sprawled across someone’s couch with an update that says ADOPTED!

It’s the part in between that you usually don’t see.

And there is a lot of in between.

First, We Need Somewhere for Them to Go

Kitty of Angels is completely foster-based, which means we don’t have a building full of empty kennels waiting for kittens. Before we can rescue a kitten from an LA city shelter, we need a foster home ready to take them.

That’s why our foster families are such an enormous part of what we do. An available foster home can quite literally be the difference between us being able to say, “Yes, we can take them,” and having to say, “We’re sorry, we’re full.”

Once we have a foster lined up, we coordinate with the shelter, get the kitten out, and send them off to their temporary home.

And that’s when the real work begins.

Welcome Home. Now Let Us Poke You.

Depending on the kitten’s age and medical history, there may be quite a bit to do.

Our kittens receive age-appropriate vaccines, deworming, flea treatment when needed, and any other medical care that comes up along the way. Young kittens need a series of FVRCP vaccines—not just one and done—which means keeping track of who needs what and when they need it.

And kittens, being kittens, occasionally decide to add their own little plot twists.

Maybe someone develops diarrhea. Maybe an eye starts looking funky. Maybe we discover ringworm. Maybe somebody wakes up one morning and decides that today is an excellent day to make us spend $400 at the vet.

We adjust accordingly.

Meanwhile, They’re Learning How to Cat

This is the part our fosters do every single day.

They feed them. Clean up after them. Scoop litter boxes. Give medications when necessary. Take them to appointments. Send us photos and updates.

But more importantly, they get to know them.

Is this kitten fearless? Shy? Cuddly? Independent? Obsessed with other cats? A tiny chaos demon who needs a playmate? The sort of cat who would happily spend the rest of their life attached to someone’s chest?

A shelter can tell us a kitten is approximately 12 weeks old and weighs three pounds.

A foster can tell us that the kitten sleeps under their chin every night, carries a crinkle ball around the house like precious cargo, and will absolutely steal your toast if given the opportunity.

That information matters when we’re trying to find the right home.

Then Comes the Glamour Shot Phase

Once our kittens are ready, we start introducing them to potential adopters.

That means taking photos and videos, writing bios, posting them on adoption sites and social media, sharing them at events, reviewing applications, and trying to get the right eyeballs on the right kitten.

Some kittens get applications immediately.

Others wait.

And wait.

And occasionally receive seventeen applications that somehow amount to absolutely nothing. (Looking at you, Bo.)

During all of this, their foster family keeps loving and caring for them while we keep trying.

There’s Also a Little Matter of Removing Some Parts

​Every Kitty of Angels kitten is spayed or neutered before their adoption is finalized.

That means another round of scheduling and coordination—and often transportation across Los Angeles, because apparently rescue organizations needed another hobby besides kittens.

Once they’re old enough and ready for surgery, we get them there, get them home, and make sure they recover safely.

Then we can officially check one more very important box.

Finding a Home Isn’t the Same as Finding the Right Home

Our goal isn’t to get a kitten adopted as quickly as humanly possible.

It’s to get them adopted once.

So when applications come in, we look at the kitten we’ve gotten to know and try to determine whether the home is a good fit.

Sometimes that means talking with applicants about another kitten who might actually suit them better. Sometimes it means recommending a pair. Sometimes it means deciding that an application simply isn’t right for that particular animal.

There are emails. Phone calls. Conversations with fosters. Follow-ups.

And, yes, sometimes people apply for a kitten, enthusiastically tell us how desperately they want them and then disappear completely from the face of the earth.

Rescue is glamorous.

And Then, Finally…There’s a carrier by the door.

There are goodbye cuddles with a foster family who may have spent weeks (or months) loving this kitten like their own.

And somewhere else, there’s a person or family who has been waiting for their new cat to come home.

The kitten leaves foster care.

They go home.

And suddenly we get the photo we were working toward the entire time: the kitten who once needed somewhere to go, asleep on a couch that now belongs to them.

Adopted.

That’s What Your Support Makes Possible

There are a lot of people and a lot of work hidden between RESCUED and ADOPTED.

There are foster families opening their homes. Volunteers driving across Los Angeles. People answering emails, reviewing applications, maintaining records and coordinating appointments. There are vaccines, medications, surgeries, food, litter and veterinary bills.

And then there are the people who donate so we can pay for all of it.

Every kitten we rescue starts with someone saying, “We have room.”

And every kitten who makes it all the way home gets there because a whole bunch of people helped carry them through the middle.

Want to be part of the middle?

You can foster. You can adopt. You can volunteer. You can donate.

And you can help us make sure that the next time an LA city shelter asks, “Can you take this kitten?” we’re able to say:

Yes.