Inside the No-Kill Kitten Nursery
A kitten named Baba Ganoush is bottle fed at the Best Friends Animal Society in Mission Hills.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)A look inside the Best Friend Animal Society’s Kitten Nursery, a No-Kill Los Angeles initiative to save thousands of kittens from being put down.
He seems to still be hungry. The 24/7 work of the volunteers here is critical. Without them, the newborns would be euthanized.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)The weeks-old kittens require special care that is provided by a combination of staffers, volunteers and foster caregivers.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Kittens are kept in aquariums equipped with heating pads because they are not able to regulate their body temperature.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Kara Obdenbaugh bottle feeds a kitten at the nursery.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)A kitten named Tot is fed a nutritious gruel.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Some of it actually makes it into the kitten’s mouth.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Volunteers Kelsey Kazahaya and Nick Kim with the Spay and Neuter Project of Los Angeles work with the Best Friends Animal Society Kitten Nursery to relocate the kittens to animal shelters across Los Angeles.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Kittens that come to the Best Friends Animal Society Kitten Nursery without mothers are given a stuffed animal to cuddle with.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)The Best Friends Animal Society Kitten Nursery’s goal is to save 9,000 kittens this year.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)An orphaned kitten.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Foster program coordinator Elizabeth Pashley leads a new group of potential foster caregivers.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)Laney, an orphaned kitten, is fed by bottle.
(Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)