BOZEMAN — Spring has sprung, and it may be time to ditch the mittens and start helping the kittens.

Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter in Bozeman is well into its Showering Love on Tiny Paws fundraising event.

The shelter cares for over 900 kittens every single year, and donation events like this one give people in the community a way to help out some furry friends.

But you may be wondering why there are so many kittens in the springtime.

“Once the snow melts and they start wandering around more, we’ll start seeing more kittens come in. So now that spring is here, that’s when we’ll start seeing some kittens and moms come in. So that’s a lot of food and care and medical supplies and everything like that for them,” said Taylor Dooley, animal services coordinator at Heart of the Valley.

Dooley says food is the most important item for the drive.

The drive ends on April 15, and there’s even an in-person event this Sunday at Heart of the Valley. If you’d like to learn more about kitten season, visit the Heart of the Valley website to see an entire "wish list" of what these Gallatin County kittens need.