HALIFAX -- There’s no denying it’s a stressful time for many people, so if you’re looking for a little pick me up, a Dartmouth animal shelter may have just what you need, a kitten live stream.

Last Thursday, the Bide Awhile Animal Shelter on Neptune Crescent decided they would do a kitten live stream on their Facebook Page, so they set up a camera in the shelter’s maternity ward and let people watch a mama and some kittens play.

“We’re trying to figure out ways to brighten people’s feeds,” said Melissa McPhee, communications coordinator with Bide Awhile.

“There’s so much negativity going around on the timelines, we wanted to just focus really on putting positive content out so, we’d been posting cute photos of things that were going on within the shelter but we wanted to step it up a level and show people our kitten cam.”

As you can imagine, the idea has generated a lot of feedback.

“People are loving it. During the live feed people are commenting that it’s putting a smile on their face. That they’re watching it with their families, with their animals, which is awesome,” said McPhee.

“So many people saying it’s put a smile on their face and that’s really all we wanted to do.”

Adoptions are currently on hold at the Bide Awhile Animal Shelter. The facility is closed to the public and volunteers amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the non-profit organization is also unable to accept any donations of supplies, something that’s resulting in a financial loss.

“Typically, we would be able to balance off our expenses with adoption fees, we don’t have adoption fees at this point,” said McPhee. The shelter has also had to postpone a lot of their biggest fundraisers.

“We’re getting through but definitely taking a hit,” she said.

Despite dealing with their own financial situation, Bide While says they have a pet food pantry program available for those who may be out of work at the moment and need some support. If pet owner is having some trouble and unable to purchase pet food for their dog or cat, the shelter can provide food for your pet.

While Bide Awhile is currently closed to the public, they are always available for people to surrender their animals. 

The next kitten live stream will take place on Tuesday morning on the shelter’s Facebook Page.