Kitten Classes
Level up your foster game
The San Jose Animal Care Center offers a variety of online classes and resources to help you care for foster kittens. These classes were made for city volunteers, but are free for any kitten lovers to take, share, or use!
Core Classes
If you haven't already, sign up to become a city volunteer by clicking here. Once you are an approved volunteer, you can sign up to take live classes through our Volunteer Portal. We recommend you take the basic classes (levels 1-3) through one of our live training sessions, so you can ask questions and meet your fellow volunteers. However, if you can't make one of our live sessions or you want to review the material, recorded versions of each class are available below!
Click here to view the Foster Manual PDF.
Click here to view the Fecal Scoring Chart.
Weaned Kitten Care
Learn about the shelter's kitten programs, volunteer opportunities, and caring for weaned kittens.
Transitional Kitten Care
This class focuses on the 4-6 week olds that come in fresh off the street. Transitional kittens are our most common age group.
Bottle Baby Kitten Care
In this class, you'll learn how to be a surrogate mama to our tiniest age group of kittens (0-4 weeks).
Nursery Caregiver
Help support shelter staff by feeding kittens, setting up kennels, and monitoring kittens for medical issues!
Squad Classes
Take one of our self-paced, online courses to learn how to care for kittens with medical or behavioral issues.
URI Care
In this class you will learn what a URI is and most importantly, how to treat it and make sure your kitten is on its way to fully recovering.
Diarrhea Care
In this class you will learn how to support kittens when their bellies are not feeling so good. Monitoring and supportive care is key.
Hissy to Kissy
In this class you will learn all about fearful kittens and how to help them become social butterflies.
Ringworm Care
In this class you will learn all about ringworm in our kittens, how to get them healthy and keep you and your other pets ringworm free!
Panleukopenia
In this class you will learn about panleukopenia symptoms, transmission and treatment our kitten survivors require.
Skills Classes
Check out these extra resources to learn about specialized skills not covered in other classes.
Tube Feeding
Learn how to care for newborn or critically ill bottle babies that won’t suckle on their own.