Foster caregivers team up to save orphaned kittens

Dragons. This word often brings up images of scary, fire-breathing creatures who ransack palaces and steal treasure. The dragons here at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary are anything but scary. In fact, they may be the cutest dragons ever. Smaug, Emberwing, Fafnir, Glaurung, Ancalagon, Saphira, and Amaru are fluffy, adorable kittens who are more likely to breathe milk bubbles than fire.

These spritely little floofballs arrived at the Sanctuary as orphaned kittens, only a few days old. They needed round-the-clock care, including bottle-feeding every two hours. That’s when a village of Sanctuary-based foster caregivers teamed up to care for this ferociously furry family of kittens.

[Joining forces to save a newborn kitten]

Best Friends’ goal is for all communities nationwide to reach no-kill in 2025, and people who step up to foster pets, either with Best Friends or any animal rescue organization, play a vital part in achieving that goal. Annie Huffman, Kat Lucas, and Erin Menard took the day shift while Janna Kruse and Tina Sylvester took the night shift. Janna and Tina dropped off the tiny dragons with the day crew at their office every morning and picked them up after work.

“Our office became a kitten daycare, and they just made everything so cheerful,” says Annie. “Every morning when they saw us, their little faces lit up with a look of pure joy. They were the most affectionate little kitties I've ever seen.”

Annie, Kat, and Erin each took turns bottle-feeding, weighing, and snuggling the tiny tots. They fed the hungry dragons two to three times during their shift and were often treated to some ridiculously cute kitten shenanigans.

“I was warming up the bottle in a coffee cup, and I had it on the floor, and Smaug realized that he could get to it on his own,” says Annie. “You could see the realization in his little face, and it was the most adorable thing ever. Then he tried to dive into the coffee mug.”

However, after a few days, the foster caregivers noticed something amiss with two of the kittens. Milk trickled out of Glaurung’s and Emberwing’s noses at the end of feedings, which was concerning. Best Friends veterinarians diagnosed them with megaesophagus, a large dilation of the esophagus that prevents food from making it to the stomach. As a result, they had to be tube-fed and then held upright for 15 minutes after eating.

[Best gift ever for an orphaned kitten with megaesophagus]

And that was just fine with these affectionate babies. Emberwing especially loved being held after eating, delighting in exploring Tina’s face with her tiny kitten mittens. While megaesophagus is a serious condition, especially in young kittens, they can outgrow it as they mature.

“Glaurung grew out of it and is fine,” notes Tina. “Emberwing is eating on her own, but her megaesophagus is still present. She will need a recheck when she’s old enough to be spayed but most likely will not need more treatment.”

These adorable dragons are getting the care they need to survive and thrive. Soon, they’ll spread their wings and fly into homes of their own, where the only thing they’ll be stealing are some hearts (and possibly some treasure — we're looking at you, Smaug).

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill in 2025. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.