‘We have to be their mom’: Animal rescue recruiting volunteers to bottle-feed kittens

The Winnipeg Humane Society needs volunteers to help bottle-feed kittens.

The Winnipeg Humane Society is recruiting a special set of volunteers. Requirements include a love of feeding adorable kittens.

A tall order to be sure, but if you happen to meet the criteria, the non-profit wants you to hear from you.

“We want this year to set up a program to put these bottle babies in temporary homes where they can learn to eat and grow,” explained Michelle Hedin, WHS foster supervisor.

Come spring, WHS will need about 50 volunteers to bottle-feed kittens.

The recruitment comes after the animal shelter was inundated with kittens last spring, with more than 200 frisky felines needing care.

WHS hopes volunteers will take up the gruelling task of teaching the adorable kittens how to eat and help them to wean.

No experience is required. Volunteers will get hands-on training from a kitten-feeding mentor.

“These bottle babies are orphans. They don’t have a mom, so we have to be their mom, and they actually need care even through the night, so you have to feed them, you have to potty them—all the things,” Hedin said.

Staff will need to be trained by April, the organization said, and must be willing to take one of these bottle babies into their homes for up to three days. However, volunteers can foster for up to to nine weeks if they wish.

“Which is a long time, but some of our fosters don’t seem to mind.”

More details can be found on the WHS’ website.