Simultaneously Message Kitten Foster Recruitment and Leaving Healthy Kittens in Place
At the ASPCA, we support leaving healthy kittens in their outdoor communities. At the same time, we need foster caregivers for the kittens who are brought into the shelter by the public or need extra care.
We’ve wrestled with how to promote both of these lifesaving actions without sending mixed messages to the public. Messaging is most effective when there’s only 1 call to action. In this case, not only are there 2 calls to action (foster kittens for our shelter and leave kittens outside), those messages seem to conflict with each other. We want the public to know there are multiple lifesaving pathways they can take for kittens and that fostering is not the only one.
In Los Angeles, our strategy has been to keep shorter messages focused on asking people to sign up to be a foster care provider. Our longer, more nuanced messaging includes an additional statement about the benefits of leaving found kittens in place.
Below you can see how we updated our kitten foster recruitment flyers to accommodate both messages. The new copy is in red, and the deleted copy is crossed out:
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Fostering saves lives! Most kittens should not be brought to a shelter in the first place, but once there, fostering is often the only way they can survive. Taking a shelter kitten home temporarily provides them the |
Notice how we emphasize that most kittens should remain outdoors. We then explain that if a kitten is brought to us, they are much better off being in a foster home than at the shelter. Note that we removed the word “round-the-clock” in reference to the type of care the kittens need and took out the reference to kittens “growing big and strong.” Both references suggest that kittens cannot thrive outdoors in a community setting, which we know isn’t accurate. Additionally, we changed our LA Kitten Foster web page:
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We Urgently Need Kitten and Cat Fosters in Los Angeles Why We Urgently Need Your Help We have an ongoing need for fosters in Los Angeles County who are excited about the chance to make a difference for vulnerable feline populations, including bottle-fed kittens, kittens learning to eat on their own, sick kittens, shy or scared kittens, moms with young kittens, or healthy and friendly kittens already eating on their own. We provide comprehensive training and help you build caregiving skillsets while you foster. From April through November, there is an influx of kittens being born in Los Angeles. Many well-meaning animal lovers unintentionally orphan kittens by removing them from their mothers and bringing them to a shelter. Once an underage kitten arrives at a shelter, their strongest chance for survival is in a dedicated foster home. To learn about the best way to help kittens you may find outside, please review our interactive Found Kittens tool. The ASPCA needs fosters who can provide care and support for the kittens who arrive at a shelter until they are old enough to be adopted. We provide all the food, supplies, and medical services, as well as all the support you can ask for—all we need from you is TLC. |
You can see how we acknowledge that members of the public have the best interest of found kittens in mind when they bring them to the shelter (and are doing what we may have asked them to do in the past), but we point out how they are better off remaining in their community.
I Found Kittens Outside, What Do I Do?
We have lots more on this subject: