The Moose Jaw Humane Society is going to be utilizing their foster families soon, as kitten season begins for the shelter.

"This kind of gets to be a crazy time of year for the Human Society," said Dana Haukaas with the Humane Society. "We end up with an increase in young cats, either pregnant momma's or momma's with young babies who might show up in someones yard and try to nestle their babies in safely under somebody's deck or garden shed and then we also have an increase in the orphan kittens."

The orphaned kittens increase isn't because of tragedy, but a mistake really. If the mother feels like her kittens are endangered, she will move the kittens to a safer spot, but, if she has 5 or 6 kittens, that's 5 or 6 separate trips she has to make. Some people might come along and if the mothers dropped of her first baby, some people might think it was abandoned and bring it into the Humane Society by itself.

If you want to bring a family you believe to be in danger, the Humane Society will happily accept them if they're brought in together. If you only see one kitten and want to bring it in, its best to wait and monitor it to see if the mother will return instead of separating a litter. Haukaas recommends keeping a little distance from the kitten though. If its mother is feral, it won't come near her baby with you near it.

As for the families that come in, the Humane Society will be using their foster families to help care for the kitten and mother. Haukaas explains why they need foster families for their kittens.

"Any kitten that's under the age of eight weeks old needs to be in a foster home until they are eight weeks old and then they can get a vaccination and come back to the shelter so they have the ability to have a little bit of immunity on board so they don't catch anything from other cats that might have something when they come in here."

The foster families are provided with everything they need to care for the kittens. Things like formula, bottles, bedding, litter pans and anything else they need. All they need is a safe spot to place the family.

Then, when the kittens are eight weeks old, the the Humane Society will come to your place to give the kittens shots before taking them back to the shelter.

One term that usually is used at the shelter, and in a good way, is a foster 'fail.' This means that the people who were just supposed to foster the animals and take care of them end up adopting the animal and giving them a forever home.

Kitten season has a different peaks to it and will increase depending on warmer weather in the fall or not. Haukaas says usually things slow down in November.

You can visit the Human Society's website to learn more about fostering animals and possibly apply to foster animals.

The Humane Society also has their 50/50 going on right now, which helps them provide foster families with everything they need to care for the kittens.