Kitten Season is Nearly Here!

The kittens are coming...

This ominous fact rings true when kitten season rolls around, running from mid-spring to early fall. Or, as Lynne Ouchida, director of Community Partnerships for the Humane Society of Central Oregon, puts it, “from Easter to Halloween.”


That’s a lot of kittens and they all deserve loving homes. That’s where volunteer foster hosts come in, welcoming these furballs of love into their homes, helping them to grow a little and adjust to living among us humans. Then they go back to HSCO, more grown-up and adoptable. During their time in foster homes, kittens can learn good cat manners (not biting too hard), grooming and socializing skills.


HSCO Foster Program Manager Becky Williamson explains what the foster volunteers get out of the deal.

“They get the experience of helping and raising animals, and animal companionship,” Williamson says. And the animals get the chance to experience home life, the sounds of television and radio, the smells and sounds of cooking and other domestic activities.


During the peak of this season, HSCO might have as many as 40-50 kittens out at any given time, according to Williamson.

HSCO is always looking for more volunteer individuals or families to join the foster program. “The more fosters we have, the more animals we can help,” Williamson says.


As far as ideal fosters go, families with kids are good, exposing the animals to a more varied living experience.

HSCO is looking for “someone who has the desire to be a foster and is willing to help the animals get off to a good start so they can be a good companion for someone,” Williamson says.


HSCO also fosters out puppies, rabbits, hamsters, rats and guinea pigs.

Anyone 18 and over can go to the HSCO website, hsco.org, and click on the Volunteer tab. After filling out and submitting the online application, an HSCO staff member will reach out with a phone call to ask some additional questions. Applicants are then required to attend a 90-minute training and orientation.

During 2023, 405 animals were fostered out. Of those, 281 were kittens, according to Williamson.


Fosters are sent out with food, litter, bedding, toys and pens. Volunteer fosters are not required to pay for anything, though donations are always appreciated.

Ouchida says, “Whatever we do here is in the best interest of the animal.” HSCO has been in operation since 1961 and the foster program was started about 28 years ago, according to Ouchida. The main qualifications for volunteers are “time, love and compassion,” she adds.


Foster homes are given an estimated time of return for the animals, but there is no set return date. Foster homes are never left stranded with an animal. “You’re not ever stuck with an animal,” Ouchida says.

HSCO is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am - 5:30pm, at 61170 SE 27th St., 541-382-3537. BrightSide Animal Center in Redmond also offers a foster program. Online application available at brightsideanimals.org. For information, email [email protected].