We thought last year’s kitten season was bad. This year has been even worse and the economy isn’t helping. Donations are down, adoptions are at an all time low, and we are now dealing with cages full of teenage kittens which should long ago have been sleeping on someone’s lap.

Why is it that these teens are passed over when one goes looking to adopt an animal? Are they not as worthy as those cute little kittens in the next cage? The fact of the matter is they are just as cuddly and far less destructive! They would also be much more appreciative of being out of a cage.

Kittenhood officially lasts a year, but the visual people think of when they hear the word “kitten,” is actually measured in just weeks. This leaves a tiny window of time to be at the optimum adoptable stage, and when not adopted, they grow bigger very quickly.

Last month we only had one adoption! It isn’t just our group that is suffering but the county as a whole. Some or our shelters have euthanized scores of cats, including whole litters of unwanted kittens. Their cages are still full and so are ours and the homes of our foster volunteers, yet the phone calls and kittens keep coming.

I have at this time in my garage a mom with four remaining week-old kittens, still with closed eyes and sporting umbilical cords. This whole family is black, the most difficult to find homes for. Perhaps it’s a blessing that three kittens (also black) died shortly after birth.

There is another nursing mom in Solvang with a litter of five, and we don’t know what to do with them once they have been spayed/neutered. That litter consists of two Siamese, two tuxedos (black and white) and one tabby. At least they are more desirable in coloring.

At the same foster there is a wonderful brown tabby six-month-old that is confined to a cage but for occasional short outings in the homeowner’s home office. This poor cat has a bad rap sheet having bitten in the past. Since he has been with our foster, this behavior has not been repeated and we can only attribute it to having happened out of fear. Remember, any animal may bite if provoked or startled. He is really such a sweet, loving kitty and deserves a forever home.

I sit here writing this one-handed with a special-needs kitten in my lap. James Dean (JD) is four months old, nearly a teen but still only the size of a seven-week-old. When I took him under my wing at nine weeks he weighed but 15oz and could not keep food down. He was literally skin and bones with a major food fetish, being always in starvation mode. The tips of his ears have folded down for some unknown reason giving him a Yoda-like appearance, and he “sloshes” as he runs due to his liquid diet.

He’s one of those sweet-faced cuddly kittens, content to stay in your lap, having been a bottle-feeder from the second week of life. With already so much time and effort invested in him, he was taken in for testing to see why he couldn’t hold his food down. The diagnosis was not good. JD has megaesophagus, common in dogs but very rare in cats.

Doing online research and corresponding with other mega-e cat “parents,” I am encouraged to hear that he may outgrow this condition by growing into his oversized esophagus. In the meantime, I am devoting hours a day to his care. All this time and expense for one kitten, and will he ever even be adoptable? To know him is to love him, but I cannot keep him myself.

Most of our adoptable kittens are in Santa Maria and the Santa Ynez Valley, because that is where the majority of the animals come from and where our foster homes are. At this time we have 17 kittens (two are Manx), 18 teens, 2 adults (one a Siamese Manx abandoned in an empty house) and one special-needs kitten (JD). There are even more adult cats, kittens from seasons past that were never adopted, roaming freely in a foster’s yard in lieu of being caged or sent to a shelter where they may be put down.

We are all trying so hard to get to that coveted “no kill” level, but we need your help. If you are in the market for a cat or two, indoor or out, please do not hesitate but give us a call. If we don’t have exactly what you are looking for, we will refer you to another group.

Personal note: I am very proud to announce that my column in online form has just received a 2011 Cat Writers’ Association Award of Excellence. To be so recognized by my peers is an honor indeed. To read any past articles that you may have missed or would like to reread, go to our website listed below.