NJ animal hospital has neonatal unit for kittens

NEW JERSEY - Sometimes, even the smallest of our furry friends can need emergency treatment. That is why you can find an intensive care united dedicated to saving the lives of kittens inside the St. Hubert’s Animal Center in Madison, New Jersey. 

Since it opened in April, the nursey has helped over 300 sick kittens and boasts a successful recovery rate of over 90 percent. 

“The criteria for the nursey is anything that comes to the shelter that’s five weeks old or under comes to us,” said Sam Friedman, who manages the nursery. “We are really the equivalent to a human neonatal unit.”

The Kitten Nursery has three incubators which Friedman describes as "life-saving." 

The machines not only maintain body temperature, but the staff is able to hook them up to a nebulizer so that kittens with severe pneumonia or other illnesses can inhale medication in a stress-free environment.

The mortality rate of young kittens in shelters in New Jersey is high, and the nursery works with local shelters to identify kittens that need intensive care.

“These are all underage kittens with critical needs, whether they needed to be bottle-fed 24 hours a day or had severe illnesses where they needed one-on-one care,” Friedman said. “We stabilize them making sure that they’re eating well, that they’re heath enough and we try and get them out to foster care to hold onto them and grow them until they’re ready for adoption.”

For more information on the intensive care unit, visit StHuberts.org.