As shelters fill with vulnerable kittens and stray cats, more men are discovering the rewards of fostering— and helping save furry lives.

Kitten season doesn’t usually make people think of a grown man sitting cross-legged on a bathroom floor at 2 a.m., coaxing a kitten the size of a deck of cards to take a bottle. But that’s exactly what’s happening in homes across L.A. and Orange counties right now. And if you ask those men whether it counts as fatherhood, most of them say yes, it does.

We’re in the thick of kitten season. From spring through late summer, the pace at public shelters becomes relentless. Neonatal litters arrive without mothers. Young male cats, barely past kittenhood themselves, come in as strays. The need for people willing to open their homes and truly show up is greater right now than at any other point in the year.

With more than 16 years of leading CatPAWS, a nonprofit cat rescue and advocacy organization, I’ve watched all kinds of people answer that call. And some of the ones who surprised me most were the men.

Why Men Make Great Cat Foster Caregivers

There’s a quiet assumption that animal rescue skews a certain way — that it belongs to a particular kind of person. That assumption is wrong, and kitten season proves it every year.

The men who foster are some of the most grounded, capable caregivers I’ve had the privilege of working alongside. They learn quickly, stay calm when things get hard and figure out how to warm a kitten safely, how to read the signs that something is off and how to celebrate a small weight gain like it’s the best news they’ve heard all week.

There’s something genuinely moving about watching someone who came into this thinking it would be a minor commitment discovering that it changed something in them. That happens a lot with cat dads. 

What Kitten Season Really Looks Like

I’ll be straightforward, because I think that serves people better than painting an easy picture.

The youngest kittens — those in their first weeks of life without a mother —require a level of round-the-clock attention that is real and demanding: frequent feedings, careful monitoring, the kind of presence that doesn’t clock out. It’s not for everyone, and that’s completely fine to acknowledge.

But fostering isn’t one single thing. We also have young adult male cats who come in as strays, a little bit skittish, shut down, sometimes never having had a gentle hand near them. A big part of what we do is rehabilitating them: rebuilding their trust slowly, in a quiet foster home, until they’re ready for a permanent one. Those cats ask for very little from a foster. Mostly just consistency, and someone willing to sit with them while they figure out that the world can be safe.

Right now, we need both. And both matter enormously.

Why Spaying and Neutering Matters

Kitten season doesn’t just mean litters showing up without mothers. It also means young male cats arriving at shelters having already, unknowingly, started families of their own.

Getting those cats neutered before they’re adopted is one of the most practical, high-impact things we do. It’s quiet work; it doesn’t make for dramatic headlines. But it’s how you interrupt a cycle that otherwise keeps feeding itself: fewer unplanned litters next spring, fewer kittens in crisis, fewer families separated before they’ve had a chance to begin.

Our low-cost spay and neuter program serves cats across Los Angeles and Orange counties. We’ve always believed that pulling cats from shelters and preventing the next wave of overcrowding aren’t two separate missions — they’re the same one, running on a different timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is kitten season and why does it matter? Kitten season runs roughly from spring through late summer, when warmer temperatures lead to a surge in cat births. Public shelters across Los Angeles and Orange counties see their intake numbers spike dramatically during this period, and neonatal kittens without mothers are among the hardest cases for under-resourced facilities to manage. That’s where foster caregivers become essential.

Do I need experience to foster a cat or kitten in Long Beach? No prior experience is required to foster most cats and kittens. Helen Sanders CatPAWS provides foster caregivers with supplies, food and full medical coverage, including veterinary visits and medications. Experienced fosters within the network are also available to guide newcomers through the process, from the first feeding to the final adoption handoff.

The exception is for the youngest bottle baby kittens, who require around-the-clock feedings and specialized care. Because of their unique needs, Helen Sanders CatPAWS requires prior bottle baby fostering experience for caregivers taking in these neonatal kittens.

What does Helen Sanders CatPAWS provide to foster caregivers? Fosters receive everything they need: food, supplies and all medical care for the animal in their home. You provide the space, transportation and the time. The organization handles the rest, including veterinary appointments and any specialist care a cat may need.

Can men foster cats? Is fostering only for certain types of people? Absolutely, and this is worth saying clearly. Foster caregivers come from every background. Some are retired, some are working parents and some are people who never considered themselves cat people until the right moment. The only thing that matters is the willingness to show up consistently for an animal that needs you.

What if I can’t foster — are there other ways to help during kitten season? Yes. Following and sharing the organization’s content during kitten season helps connect cats with adopters and recruits new fosters when the need is highest. And if you’ve been thinking about adoption, right now is a meaningful time to act. Every cat that finds a permanent home opens a spot for the next one coming in. Donations go directly to the animals and the programs. You can give at helensanderscatpaws.com.

How You Can Help During Kitten Season

Visit helensanderscatpaws.com to see what fits your life right now. If you have a spare room and a little time, fostering is where the need is greatest. Go to “Join Our Team” and click “Foster.” If you’re not quite ready for that, but you have a cat parent heart, adopting a cat who’s already waiting is its own kind of experience, and every adoption creates space for the next rescue.

And if neither of those is an option right now, passing this along to someone who might be ready costs nothing and could make a real difference. Kitten season moves fast — and so does a share. Follow along on Instagram at @helensanderscatpaws to find the cats and adoption news as it happens.

Deborah Felin Magaldi is the Director of Helen Sanders CatPAWS, a nonprofit cat rescue and advocacy organization she has led for 16 years. She began fostering more than 20 years ago and never stopped. Learn more at helensanderscatpaws.com.