A BUNDLE of furry feet, inquisitive eyes and four little wet noses explored Boandik Lodge’s Lake Terrace site yesterday during a visit to the aged care facility.
The kittens – rescued by the Wet Noses Animal Rescue – are just four weeks old and spent the morning on their first big adventure.
Boandik group events worker Nicole Brooks said the cuddly felines were the perfect visitors to the facility, with several residents impacted by dementia spending time cuddling and feeding them during their visit.
At such a young age, the kittens are still bottle fed, which meant residents were able to help with the process.
“The kittens are really great for our dementia residents,” she said.
“They are soft and playful and bring a lot of joy which is great for them to experience.
“It is amazing to watch them feeding the little babies and cuddle up to them.”
Foster carers Kirryn and Laura Coscarelli care for the quartet and spend each night waking up every two hours to feed them.
“It is a busy job but we love doing it,” Kirryn said.
“Little hand-reared kittens are so sweet and cuddly, they think you are their mother so they just love on you so much.
“It is a beautiful thing to do but it comes with its challenges – the kittens are not always in great shape when we rescue them and it is a tough job making sure they survive.
“The whole foster caring job is very bittersweet – it is quite rewarding to have the kittens and watch them grow but the moment they leave for their forever homes you miss them instantly.”
Founder Marie Dukalskis said the rescue has over 100 animals in its care at any one time, with an influx of newborn kittens during “kitten season”.
Ms Dukalskis believes this is in part due to irresponsible pet ownership, praising South Australia’s recent law change which requires pet owners to microchip and desex their animals before six months of age.
This law – which came into affect in 2018 – aims to reduce the number of unwanted pets that end up in shelters and rescues each year.
“The majority of our cats and kittens are strays without owners,” she said.
“But strays obviously come from cats that are not desexed and have litters, the more animals that are desexed and microchipped means less on the street.”
