Goat yoga took the world by storm within the 2010s, however this week a kitten yoga craze is hitting Old Wethersfield.
The charity occasion by Soulshine Yoga and Old Wethersfield Stray and Kitten Rescue will convey seven lovely kittens into the yoga studio on Friday for a night of feline enjoyable.
Eight-week-old Thresh, Snow, Rose, Apollo, Gale, Clove and Finnick are extra than simply the celebrities of the present, they’re ambassadors, elevating consciousness for the stray cat disaster of their neighborhood and the work of the rescue workforce that saved them.
“Our mission is rescuing cats and kittens in need off the street,” stated Melinda Robidoux, the founding father of Old Wethersfield Stray and Kitten Rescue.
Over the final 4 years, the rescue has labored to handle an out of doors cat inhabitants that Robidoux stated has ballooned with an uptick in abandonments after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rescue has saved almost 200 cats and kittens in Wethersfield, Newington, Rocky Hill and Hartford, adopting out the strays they’ll socialize, and trapping, fixing and releasing feral adults.
Inspired by the rescue’s work, Brianna Bruno, the proprietor of Soulshine Yoga, got here to Robidoux with an thought.
“We kind of dreamed up this idea of bringing the kittens that needed homes into the studio,” Bruno stated.
The kitten yoga idea turned so widespread that Bruno stated she and Robidoux are already planning for extra lessons.
“The wait list that we have right now is bigger than the class. I have 25 people on a waitlist, for the class I can only fit 18,” Bruno stated. “We’re going to have to do another one.”
The studio will not be charging for the category, however Bruno stated they’re asking the neighborhood that attends to “donate what they feel called to,” by making a financial contribution or gifting an merchandise off the rescue’s Amazon Wish List.
“This is just such a fun thing to do,” Bruno stated. “We teach the traditional authentic yoga typically, and I know that this isn’t traditional, (but) this is for community, this is for giving back.”
Bruno stated she hopes kitten yoga will provide a “serotonin boost” after an extended winter.
“The fun part of it is we let the kittens into the studio and they can kind of do their thing, they can walk around, they can sit on a mat, they can, as kittens do, be playful,” Bruno stated. “It reminds us to be inspired by their playful demeanor as well.”
The kitten’s mom Queenie, who hails from the South finish of Hartford, fell into the fingers of the rescue in January after she slipped into an open window and cuddled up with a neighbor’s canine.
When the canine’s proprietor discovered the pair sleeping collectively, she realized Queenie seemed pregnant and referred to as an area cat rescuer for assist.
“We took Queenie in on a Tuesday night and she gave birth to seven kittens the very next day,” Robidoux stated in a Facebook publish recounting the rescue. “To say we got her ‘just in time’ would be an understatement.”
While Queenie and her infants have discovered perpetually households, Robidoux stated she hopes the yoga class will encourage others to undertake cats who should not so fortunate.
“We want to encourage people to adopt the older cats just as much as the kittens,” Robidoux stated. “The kittens are very popular, but for me, cats that are 6 months old or older, they’re absolutely beautiful and so deserving of a loving home.”
‘A societal issue’
In recent years, Robidoux stated that Wethersfield Cove has grow to be a go-to spot for the general public to “dump cats.” Other occasions, Robidoux stated individuals merely “open the door” on their cats once they see no different possibility.
“It’s become a societal issue,” Robidoux stated. “Pet ownership, it is for life … and we find that within our communities there needs to be greater education and acknowledgment of that among folks that are adopting cats.”
Robidoux defined that cats usually get deserted when their caretaker dies, or their residing state of affairs adjustments and their landlord doesn’t allow pets. In different circumstances, Robidoux stated cat homeowners panic and let their cats out once they go into warmth as a result of they cannot afford the cost to spay their cat.
She stated she needs extra veterinarians participated within the state’s sterilization and vaccination voucher program to make vet payments extra reasonably priced to pet mother and father in want.
Robidoux stated that when stray and feral cat populations develop, they’ll disrupt native ecosystems. Cats grow to be prey to coyotes and different wild animals, and on the similar time, they grow to be predators to birds and child bunnies.
Changing climate patterns have solely exacerbated the issue.
“Years ago when you would have really bad winters, cats wouldn’t mate. But this winter was very unique in that cats continued to mate throughout,” Robidoux stated “We had litters of kittens coming to us in January, which was unheard of. Kitten season never ended.”
Robidoux stated she began the rescue in 2020 when she observed a litter of kittens taking part in in her neighbor’s yard — many had eye and respiratory infections.
She bought collectively a handful of volunteers and reached out to native veterinary practices and humane societies to get the kittens and their mothers wholesome and adopted.
Today the rescue has a workforce of greater than 20 foster households, trappers and displays who watch feeding stations and stray hotspots for brand spanking new kittens and cats.
One of the rescue’s most important instruments is social media.
The energy of Robidoux’s digital community proved life-changing for one little kitten named Benny.
The rescue discovered Benny in February, exterior together with his brothers and sisters. He had a extreme eye an infection, and when it was clear that antibiotics weren’t enhancing his situation, Benny’s veterinarians stated they would wish to take away his proper eye, however the operation would cost $1,300.
Within a day of sharing Benny’s story on-line, Robidoux stated the rescue raised sufficient money to cowl Benny’s surgical procedure. Today he’s healed, and residing in his perpetually home.
“That’s important for us to share those stories with others so they can see and understand the reality of cats being born outside,” Robidoux stated. “Whether it’s suffering from an eye infection or upper respiratory infection, we’ve had kittens (that are) very, very sick and become lethargic where they’re literally dying. And if people don’t intervene, they will die.”
For Robidoux, intervening within the disaster was not a selection, it was an ethical crucial.
“I’m allergic to cats, but I’ve always been an animal lover and so sitting back and ignoring the problem wasn’t an option,” Robidoux stated.
Robidoux stated that she hopes the rescue’s grassroots work will present others that they’ll make a distinction inside their communities.
“It doesn’t take a lot of time and it doesn’t take a lot of money and it doesn’t take a lot of effort, but ultimately it’s just time spent away from your every day responsibilities to really make a positive impact in the life of an animal in need,” Robidoux stated.
