Events

This weekend, drag meets kittens for a sold-out show of “extravagance and cuteness” at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse.

All of the tickets have sold out for the fundraiser this Sunday, October 6, at 7 p.m at the Arlington Drafthouse (2903 Columbia Pike). During the performance, drag queens will lead a bingo game with the audience to raise money for animal welfare causes — as well as bring some special furry guests.


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After searching around a shed and checking under all the cars in the apartment parking lot, Arlington Animal Control Chief Jennifer Toussaint had returned to her van to think. Then a woman walked up to the window, mouthing a question and pointing behind us: “Kittens?”

Sure enough, after Toussaint followed her to the far side of the lot in Arlington’s Forest Glen neighborhood, she spotted one, tiny white paw disappearing up into the engine block of a dark green sedan. A tipster who called earlier that morning about kittens was right.


Events

If you like kittens and yoga, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington has an event for you.

The shelter is hosting a yoga event this week for participants to get some exercise — and some feline playtime. Together with Arlington-based vinyasa yoga instructor Beth A. Wolfe, the shelter will host two yoga sessions this Thursday, August 15, where participants can do yoga while kittens romp around them.


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The Animal Welfare League of Arlington announced it is opening the first neonatal kitten nursery in the D.C. area.

The “Kitten Academy” will help foster hundreds of kittens that are less than three weeks old, the age when a kitten is the most vulnerable. The academy will open thanks to a donation of $25,000 from Falls Church residents Ted and Willa Lutz.


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A kitten named Speedo is getting the physical therapy he needs.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington is treating a two-month-old domestic shorthair known as a “swimmer” cat who walks by making swimming-like motions with his front paws.


News

Because of the possibility the vulnerable animals may contract an illness, AWLA cannot keep kittens under the age of eight weeks in its shelter. Young kittens also cannot regulate their own body heat, eat on their own or go to the bathroom on their own. They must be fed every three to four hours and kept warm. AWLA does not have overnight staff, so it is seeking volunteers who can care for the animals around the clock until they are old enough to be adopted.

AWLA Foster Care Coordinator Sara Emery explained that cats can only go into heat a few times each year and only during warm weather, so March usually brings a spike in births. Kittens typically continue being born and brought to the shelter through November, depending on the weather. Twelve kittens have arrived at the shelter in the last week alone and Emery expects around 60 more throughout the summer.