12 April, 2024
Community & Services
Although she’s fostered greater than 900 deserted cats and kittens since 2009, Beth Otto admits she wasn’t all the time a cat lover. “I actually come from a family of dog people. I was always an animal lover, but I didn’t really care for cats,” she stated. That all modified when a feral feline selected Otto’s Colonialtown yard as a secure haven to delivery her kittens.
Her husband Richard started feeding the newborns and Beth quickly discovered herself bonding with one sickly kitten within the litter. The couple adopted the kitty they merely known as “baby girl,” having fun with her firm for 19 years. “I nursed her back to health, took her to the vet, and never looked back. That’s how I became a cat person,” she stated.
In addition to fostering strays Otto and her husband present a ceaselessly home to 3 grownup cats; Leilah, a feminine discovered trapped in a tree, Smudge, a male wandering her church car parking zone, and Sterling, a silver tabby born with no eyelids.
Otto grew up in Cincinnati and earned a level in Deaf Education from Kent State University. The retired trainer who now likes to work out, volunteer and journey, has known as Orange County home since 1977.
The devoted cat fanatic is enthusiastic about the advantages of fostering and urges neighbors to get entangled. While the Orange County Animal Services (OCAS) shelter boasts greater than 300 foster dad and mom, there may be nonetheless an excellent want for extra assist. From spring to late fall “kitten season” brings a wave of orphaned kittens to the shelter. These very young ones are too young or sick to stay within the shelter and require specialised care.
“It’s life or death for some of these animals,” she stated. “If they are under a pound and a half, they cannot stay in the shelter.”
A good-knit group of skilled caregivers like Otto welcome new foster dad and mom with coaching and training throughout a two-to-eight-week fostering interval. Fostering doesn’t pose a big monetary burden as a result of OCAS covers basic provides together with litter and meals in addition to crucial medical care.
“We are a foster family, and we offer a lot of support. We want them to know there are people to help them,” she stated. “Foster families are truly supported. If they want the help, it is there.”
Fostering the homeless animals has been extremely rewarding for Otto. But saying goodbye to her furry associates – particularly if they’ve been unwell – has generally been tough.
Otto retains a spreadsheet with adoptive guardian info and stays related with many households who fortunately share photographs of her once-fostered buddies. “It makes it easier to let them go when you know where they are going,” she stated.
The full-time foster mother lately cared for 4 three-week-old “bottle babies.”
“They were the sweetest things. I became attached,” she stated. “The ones that stick with you most are the ones that need you the most.”
While some kittens require around-the-clock bottle feeding and care, these duties are entrusted to essentially the most dedicated foster dad and mom.
Potential fosterers are required to offer a secure and loving home with a chosen sleep and play space for the orphans. It generally is a pack-and-play, crate, or perhaps a lavatory, she stated.
Otto can also be energetic in an organization known as Kindness for Cats, comprised of a small group of foster dad and mom who volunteer for OCAS. The motto is to “provide safe, comfortable and stress-free environments for hundreds of the countless kittens and cats abandoned at the shelter and attempt to find them permanent and loving homes while in our care.”
In closing, Otto stated, “All I can say is, it’s really rewarding. I mean, who doesn’t love kittens?”
For extra details about Orange County Animal Services fostering and adoption packages, go to
