You won't be sure until you've tried them. Do why not try them for a while then make up your mind. AA is not religious. When they talk about God, it is not in a Christian sense. It is a ' higher power of your own understanding '. Some people use, Love, or Nature or Science, or Group Of Drunks (as in the power of the fellowship) - anything that is stronger that yourself. In my AA local AA meetings I'd say only about 5 - 10 % of people are religious, depending on the particular meeting I'm at. But that probably depends on where you live.
I think the volunteering and spending time with animals (always a feel good factor with kittens) sounds great, but please consider thinking through a daily plan as well. Even if it's just HALT based for now (ie planing how to avoid and get over HALT triggers - Hunger-Anger-Lonely-Tired ). Those things are more powerful than we sometimes realise, so it's a good and simple place to start. You might want to think about what your slippery people, places and times would be, and how to deal with those (or avoid them completely if possible ).
Good luck, and well done with the animal work.