Help Kittens in Need with Animal Services Kitten Care Kit Donation

Published on April 02, 2026

By Arlington Animal Services

Spring is here, which marks the beginning of what Arlington Animal Services staff predict will be a very busy kitten season. In preparation for an influx of kittens with urgent needs for proper care and nutrition, Arlington Animal Services is holding a donation drive through April 2026 to fund “bottle baby” kitten care kits that will be distributed to willing foster volunteers throughout the community.

Neonate kittens are the most vulnerable population in any animal shelter. Without a mother cat, they require feeding by bottle every 2-4 hours, which puts additional strain on shelter staff who are often already working with limited space and resources. Every kitten that can stay in a foster home is one less kitten that needs to be housed, fed, and monitored by shelter staff. It allows the shelter to remain a safety net for the most extreme cases while the community handles the "boots on the ground" care.

“By providing these kits, we are effectively extending the walls of the shelter into the community,” said Ashley Woolnough, Arlington Animal Services Manager. “We aren't just giving away supplies; we are giving these kittens the 24/7 care they cannot receive in a traditional shelter environment.”

Receiving a kitten care kit allows a foster to provide a consistent level of care with high quality nutrition and other essentials while removing the financial burden that comes with fostering a bottle baby. The tools provided will equip potential fosters with the means to care for a single kitten or a whole litter until they are ready to be adopted at 8 weeks old. By providing these kits at no charge to fosters, it ensures that a willing heart is not stopped by an empty wallet.

Each kitten care kit includes kitten milk replacement formula, bottle equipment, alternative litter, potty pads, a disposable litter pan, crate or small play pen, scale, blanket, and feeding tracker. Every donation of $55 covers the cost of one kit. The Arlington Animal Services team has a goal of distributing 100 kits to fosters throughout the community this spring.

This program empowers residents to actively be part of the solution. Instead of the shelter shouldering the entire burden of kitten season, the community becomes a decentralized nursery. This frees up municipal staff and resources to focus on high-priority animal control and public safety tasks, creating a more efficient, holistic system.

A kitten care kit isn't just a bag of supplies—it’s a starter kit for a hero. It provides 100% of the tools that a foster needs to save a life, ensuring that no bottle baby is left behind simply due to a lack of funds or equipment.

Donate a Neonate Care Kit

Make an In-Kind Donation from the AAS Amazon Wish List