Tender Loving Cats, a non-profit, a Long Island no-kill kitten and cat rescue run entirely by volunteers, experienced a boom in families stepping up to foster kittens and friendly adult cats over the past year due to the pandemic. This led to many more cats and kittens coming into the adoption program from the streets and finding homes.

However, the need for foster families is ongoing.

“Fostering is fun, rewarding and saves lives,” said Marge Goldin, a volunteer for the organization. “During ‘kitten season’ which runs April through October, Tender Loving Cats and other rescues get more requests for kitten placement than can be handled. But the number of kittens that can be saved is limited only by the number of fosters available.”

Tender Loving Cats manages all the medical needs of the cats/kittens and provides assistance and support throughout the process. Once they are old enough and socialized, Tender Loving cats uses social media to find them forever homes. No cat or kitten is adopted before they are spayed or neutered, microchipped and up to date on vaccinations.

Goldin says that Tender Loving Cats is always in need of volunteers to assist in working 2-hour shifts in the two adoption centers that the organization runs out of two PetSmart locations in North Babylon and West Babylon.

“This past year has been especially challenging, as the number of homeless cats has risen, whether due to people losing their jobs and not being able to care for their cats anymore or moving to other locations and leaving their cats behind,” Goldin said. “We are stretched to the limit, but we are determined to save as many cats as possible. We have a motto at Tender Loving Cats that we rescue the mistreated, save the injured and love the abandoned and we try to do just that.”

Occasionally Tender Loving Cats is faced with situations where cats or kittens have serious medical challenges. Blindness, deafness, injury, illness or special medication needs present themselves. Recently, as part of a widespread initiative trying to manage the cat population at Hofstra University, a volunteer took on the responsibility to foster a kitten born missing its back legs. The volunteer, Claudia Cannam, a Hofstra law student, is currently looking into getting the kitten a prosthesis. Rescues the mistreat

Tender Loving Cats has a Trap-Neuter-Return program that targets the feral cat explosion on Long Island. Help for ferals is available in the form of trap rental and assistance with trapping. The rescue also can offer financial assistance to low income cat parents seeking to neuter their pets.

Tender Loving Cats has need for all kinds of volunteer help. Like to raise money? Want to keep adoption paperwork organized? Respond to emails and phone calls? Tender Loving Cats wants to hear from you. Resources and more information are available on the website at www.tenderlovingcats.org.