Who doesn’t love a kitten? Practically no one. Who doesn’t love 1,000 kittens? That’s a different story.

Although many adopters are looking for kittens rather than adult cats, kitten season can put some serious pressure on any adoption program. Not only are there the usual numbers of adult cats, but in many communities, warm weather brings litter after litter of kittens into the shelters.

In Austin, TX, the nation’s largest no-kill community, kitten season is long and busy. In addition to innovative programs for orphaned and very young kittens, Austin Pets Alive! Director Dr. Ellen Jefferson and her team have developed a series of protocols for saving both adults and babies during kitten season. These programs have allowed them to save over 4,000 bottle babies, 2,500 kittens, and 2,400 “teen cats.”

At the 2012 Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Conference at the University of Florida, Dr. Jefferson shared some of Austin’s secrets for kitten season success.

First, make hay while the sun shines. Instead of putting your adoption-ready kittens into foster homes, put your adult cats into foster homes until a time when they’re not competing with so many kittens for space or adopter interest.

Second, start a “recycling program” for kittens. The kittens came from the community, so get them back out into it where people will see them, instead of expecting people to come to your shelter to see the kittens.

“We know people don’t go out of their way to adopt cats,” said Dr. Jefferson. “They can find cats on any street corner. If they’re in the market to adopt a cat, the first cat they see is probably the one they’re going to adopt.”

Her solution? “We try to be everywhere with cats,” she continued. “We spread them out over every PetSmart, every Petco that didn’t already have a group in it. We did events on the weekends where we bring cats out in front of those stores. We set up at fairs. We did online marketing, anything that we could think of.”

Third, rely on foster home networking. “The other thing that really works is asking people to ping their own networks,” said Dr. Jefferson. “Those are the networks we don’t even have access to. They’re not on our e-mail list. They’re not on our Facebook. These people – every single person that has an animal in their foster care – they have the ability to send one e-mail out with a cute picture that says, ‘I’ve got adorable kittens that need a home.’ And so that goes out to all of their friends and, more often than not, those animals get adopted through their own networks.”

Get more tips, and watch the entire presentation, here.