For the past six years, Carla Myers has fostered anywhere from three to 16 kittens at once.
Myers grew up on a small farm outside of Huron, Ohio. Her love for animals blossomed while living out in the country, as people often abandoned animals around her family’s property. Myer’s family farm raised chickens, ducks, rabbits, pigeons and goats, so she was no stranger to the responsibility that comes with rescuing and caring for animals.
The first animal Myers rescued was a small bird that fell out of a tree in her family’s orchard. The bird only lived for a week, but the experience began a long pattern of rescuing animals.
“It helped me really develop this love for caring for animals in need and nurturing them,” Myers said.
She joined Miami University’s library staff in January 2017. She works as the coordinator of scholarly communications, helping answer copyright questions and leading the university’s Affordable Learning Initiatives. Reducing the cost of student needs, such as textbooks and software, is Myer’s favorite part of her job.
When the library closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Myers began volunteering with the Animal Adoption Foundation in Ross, Ohio, about 15 minutes outside of Oxford.
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Her first “bottle baby” with the Animal Adoption Foundation was a yellow tiger cat named Baby Yoda, which she ended up adopting.
“When it came time, I realized I just couldn’t give him up,” Myers said.
Once she felt comfortable with the task, she began to take in a plethora of kittens.
The process of fostering a new kitten begins with the Animal Adoption Foundation reaching out to Myers, asking if she has space for another kitten.
Once Myers brings the kitten home, she conducts a health assessment, checking for appropriate weight, signs of illness and the presence of fleas. Then she bathes it, keeping the kitten warm.
Feeding the kittens becomes the most demanding part of the process because when they’re one to two weeks old, the kittens need to eat every two to three hours.
“I will myself get one block of four hours of sleep in the night,” Myers said. “Otherwise, every few hours, I am bottle feeding them.”
Not only does Myers foster the kittens, but the foundation tasked her with caring for the especially ill ones due to her record of successful rehabilitations.
“Everything I’ve learned [is] either from experience, or working with knowledgeable people in the rescue or some of the great vets [we] partner with,” Myers said. “Every kitten you learn something new with.”
Myers even built a small veterinary ICU in her home, where she can do breathing exercises and oxygen treatments with her fosters.
In addition to some of her fosters being physically ill, they can also have emotional trauma. Myers adopted her cat Wesley four years ago, but has only gotten to pet him five times, as he remains afraid of humans.
“Every now and then, I'll get kittens that come from a bad situation where they were either neglected in the household, or they were treated very poorly,” Myers said. “It's nice to be able to show them there are humans out there that care and get them started on a new chapter of their life.”
Though Myers has no children of her own, she said rescuing kittens has given her a whole new respect for parents, as the animals require newborn-level care. For example, she often has to change her weekend plans or rush to the emergency vet when one gets sick.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Myers said. “I love doing it.”
Along with fostering kittens at home, Myers hopes to get her fluffy yellow cat, Pumpkin, approved as a therapy cat in the spring semester. Myers’ student assistants in the library coined the phrase “Professor Pumpkin’s Office Hours,” where students can attend therapy cat hours with Pumpkin, who “has a PhD in snuggles.”
Myers said that while so many students miss their pets at home, snuggling with Pumpkin can be a stress reliever.
Sydney Aldrich, a senior nursing major, said she enjoys any time she can spend with animals while at Miami.
“A lot of us can’t go home and see our pets, and I find myself missing my animals a lot,” Aldrich said. “Even spending five minutes just playing with them is kind of euphoric.”
Alivia Brello, a senior double major in political science and strategic communication, works as one of Myers’ student assistants in King Library. Brello created a short film for class featuring Myers to spread awareness about stray cats in the Oxford community and the resources available to help them.
After working closely with Myers in the library and on the film, Brello said she admires Myers’ immense care for her kittens.
“She's willing to dedicate so much time to these little, tiny kittens and care for them when she doesn't need to,” Brello said. “She's not paid for this. The real benefit is playing with little cats and seeing them grow and get better.”
Despite Myers adopting Baby Yoda and Wesley, her end goal is to prepare the foster kittens for their own new and happy families.
“[I’m] just trying to give them the best footing to grow strong and well and be ready for adoption.”
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