Fostering - What To Expect

[jcat]

This article gives a good idea of the fostering process and is worthwhile reading:

How to foster an animal for the first time

Does anybody care to share their fostering experiences?

 

[JoyM]

I have been fostering for our local shelter since last August (2018). Since I got started late into kitten season last year, I decided to make a goal to foster 20 in 2019. I’m currently up to 14 this year with two 14wk olds (kittens that were previously fosters that lost weight when they went back to the shelter to go up for adoption and weren’t gaining any back) and one 4.5wk old bottle baby being fostered at the moment.
I have learned so much over the last year and have really enjoyed every crazy moment.
This is my current bottle baby, Nabi, when I picked her up 2.5wk ago:

She is a sassy little tortie girl! She started showing interest in wet food at 3.5wk old so she is eating wet food about 4x a day and her bottle 4x a day. She also picked up on how to use the litter box before she was 4wk old so I have really lucked out with her!!

The two older kittens were around 1.5lb when I picked them up from the shelter 2.5wk ago. One of them was from a litter I fostered over the summer. When I took her back to be fixed and go up for adoption, it took them a week to get her into the surgical rotation to be fixed and in that week she went from 2.6lb to 1.6lb so she couldn’t be fixed and go up for adoption with her siblings AND she spent another 2wk at the shelter and didn’t gain an ounce. I almost cried when I saw her because she was so skinny. I think she just got too stressed in the shelter setting and was depressed because she has doubled her weight in just 2.5wk of being back home. The kitten they had put with her also came home with me and she has also doubled her weight.
You can tell she is extremely content being home:

This is both of the 14wk olds snuggling with my big boy, Max

 

[Sylvia Jones]

You are obviously Amazing with them All 3 are beautiful!

 

[JoyM]

You are obviously Amazing with them All 3 are beautiful!

Thank you
I am constantly trying to talk people into fostering. Really ANYONE can do it and it’s the difference between life and death for these little ones! Most people don’t realize that in 90% of our shelters, if there’s no foster home for these little ones, they are put to sleep the SAME DAY they are brought in- as in by the end of the business day!! AND this is even policy for NO KILL shelters. The policy used for no kill shelters is that they do not kill healthy, adoptable animals that require NORMAL care. Because kittens require one on one care to become social and require multiple feeding each day, they do not qualify. So if a perfectly healthy kitten is brought into a no kill shelter between the ages of 1 day old to 5-6wk old and there’s no foster available to take them just until they are 2.2lb and 8wk old, they WILL be euthanized and the shelter will maintain its “no kill” status!
I believe the average number of healthy kittens euthanized in our national shelter system was 1.5 million annually. It has been getting a little better as more people have learned the importance of fostering but it’s still far more than we should accept! I’m ashamed that it took me so long to start. I just didn’t know.
Out of all my fosters, I have only lost one (he was just too far gone when I got him). All the others have found their forever homes.
People say how difficult it will be to raise them and let them go. I have a 9yr old son that gets as attached as I do but you come to realize that if you keep them, you will not have room to save any more and that would condemn countless others to death. You also want each and every one of your babies to have a family that will make them the center of attention and you cannot offer that if you continually keep everyone you foster.
Even if you don’t “have time”, offer to foster older, feral kittens who just need an hour a day to snuggle on someone lap to learn to love and trust people. Most shelters will give you all the supplies you need and it doesn’t take much work!
If you do have the time, go for the tiny bottle babies! Sure it takes time but it is sooo worth it!! Some apartments will allow you to foster without having to pay a pet deposit!

 

[Jcatbird]

This is already a great thread! Just look at the faces of those kitties in the previous post! All the shelter kitties need help. The bottle babies turn into kitties that are extremely bonded to humans. I have fostered and rescued for a lot of years and many years back I was so distressed that so few people understood the need for help. It has improved greatly during my lifetime but still has so far to go. I send thanks and wishes for all good things to come to everyone who helps foster kitties of any age.

To anyone starting out, you can expect to spend time with them, bond with them and feel tugs at your heart when it is time to give them up to a new home but the love you get from the kitties is unmatched. The laughter they provide will light up your life. The rewards far outweigh any of the effort put in. You can also expect , from time to time, to hear how the kitty you fostered has changed someone’s life. An older person has found a companion, a child has discovered the importance of a life, a family feels completed, a kitty has found love, safety and security. We don’t always get to hear the details but the happy endings are there for every life involved. If you are debating about whether or not to foster a kitty of any age, please do it. You’ll be very glad you did.
I wouldn’t trade one minute of the time I have spent fostering for anything.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

The ONLY thing stopping me is the terms of my lease, which are VERY restrictive. SOMEDAY, God willing, I will be able to foster, too! I want to so very much!

 

[JoyM]

The ONLY thing stopping me is the terms of my lease, which are VERY restrictive. SOMEDAY, God willing, I will be able to foster, too! I want to so very much!

My 20yr old son just moved into an apartment complex that has mostly college students living there and it is pretty strict too (having to house a few hundred college students, they have to be). However, they DO allow their tenets to foster without even having to pay a pet deposit.
The word has gotten out over the last few years about how important it is. Also, if you are fostering young kittens, there’s basically no major risk of property damage like there is with grown animals.
I would approach the leasing office with information about foster (what it entails and how little room and risk there is) and ask them to consider being foster advocates.
My shelter provides all the supplies you need and when I had multiple litters at once and needed an extra large kennel to keep a new litter confined for a quarantine period, they even let me borrow a large dog crate. If your shelter could do that, you could assure the leasing office that you would keep your foster in a kennel unless they were in your lap. That would prevent ANY possible damage to their property!
I have also suggested to my son and his girlfriend (who lives in a separate apartment in the same complex) to foster INSTEAD of getting a pet. That way they can have a pet for a few weeks at a time when they are able to care for it BUT can take a break during holidays or stressful exam time. Not to mention being able to save lives and they will always have a sweet, cute little baby to keep them company while they are getting accustomed to being away from home.
I have also thought about offices committing to a group foster situation. Workers could sign up for an overnight and weekend rotation so no one gets burnt out with a bottle baby every single night. During the work day, each volunteer could have them for 2hr shifts in their office (since newborn bottle babies are fed and pottied at 2hr intervals). I believe it wouldn’t hurt productivity AT ALL and would certainly boost morale and help the office come together more. Plus the kittens would get socialized extremely well and at the end of it, the volunteers would get first option to adopt them.
I’m just trying to think of new and creative ways to make fostering possible and to get the word out. Imagine if there was a charitable tax exemption for officers and businesses who did this. There are office buildings that have 20 or more offices in them. If just half of them agreed to group foster 2-3 groups of kittens a year, that would easily save 50-100 kittens a year per office building. All with each individual volunteer spending 10 minutes of time during work to feed and potty them and one night a week with them in their home.

 

[catsknowme]

J JoyM - you have some excellent ideas for expanding fostering programs ~ I am very much impressed!!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Thanks, J JoyM , but I live in Rural Development assisted rental housing, which does NOT allow pets at all without a 504 accomodation letter from a doctor, and then restricts to ONE pet per household...or at least, dogs and cats. Oddly, you can have as many caged (or "aquariumed") animals as you would like.

 

[JoyM]

catsknowme - I’m never short on IDEAS but I have idea NO how to implement said ideas. I live in a predominantly rural county in SC that has very little cat oriented assistance for it’s residents. No cat rescues, TNR programs and even the county shelter will not accommodate cats (much less have a foster program). I have to drive an hour and a half just to foster for the neighboring county!

Mamanyt1953 - I hope you didn’t feel as though I was trying to shame you or belittle your situation. I’m really not like that at all. If you see my comments on other threads, you will notice that I try my best to be supportive of everyone. I know there are plenty of people who would LOVE to foster but just aren’t in the position to do so. If I didn’t have a dependable transportation, I wouldn’t be able to foster either. I was just trying to brainstorm ways to help you be able to. I’m sure you would do a great job fostering and love each and every moment!!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

No, I didn't for one minute feel that you were in any way slighting me. I knew you were throwing out ideas for me, and those are filed away for "one fine day" when hopefully I can do more than try to keep the local ferals from starving. This stupid county won't even allow TNR programs. They want to "trap and eradicate" ALL ferals as "vermin."

 

[JoyM]

No, I didn't for one minute feel that you were in any way slighting me. I knew you were throwing out ideas for me, and those are filed away for "one fine day" when hopefully I can do more than try to keep the local ferals from starving. This stupid county won't even allow TNR programs. They want to "trap and eradicate" ALL ferals as "vermin."

Where do you live? General area, of course. I wouldn’t want anyone to get stalked!!
My county doesn’t have any programs either. The shelter “partnered” with Pawmetto Lifeline (a “low cost” clinic in the neighboring county) but it is NOT helpful. I’m seeking help for a local woman who’s mother just passed and she discovered 38 community cats on her late mother’s property that her mother had been feeding. They told her to spay/neuter them all and to take a few tame ones to go up for adoption would cost her $1,500 out of pocket. That’s the ONLY program available and she certainly cannot afford it! I have been looking for a program or grant to help her but have had absolutely NO luck so far.
I would love to get a TNR program started but have absolutely no idea where to begin. I’m disabled myself and struggle to make ends meet so it’s not as if I could fund one.

You certainly have the heart of a rescuer!! Thank you for understanding what I was trying to say. It’s sometimes difficult to get tone accoss through text and I want to support anyone I can and lift them up. There’s so much bullying online and it’s one of my biggest pet peeves.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Oh, where I live is no secret...Havelock, NC, near the coast. Terrible town for ferals. Backwards, as are so many tiny towns that were agricultural in their roots...if an animal isn't a pet, or working, it is vermin. Philistines.

I would love to get a TNR program started but have absolutely no idea where to begin. I’m disabled myself and struggle to make ends meet so it’s not as if I could fund one.

That's EXACTLY where I am! Even if my town would allow it, I could in no way fund it. I THINK there are a couple of vets here who would be willing to get involved, but there's SO much more to it.

 

[JoyM]

I took my 5wk old foster in for a check up on Monday and a kitten that was around the same size and age had been brought in after being found in “a car engine”. So we got an adorable little addition to our foster family.
Meet Dale:

 

[Mamanyt1953]

KITTENSMITTEN AGAIN! There's a very dominant crazy cat lady gene in my makeup.

 

[JoyM]

KITTENSMITTEN AGAIN! There's a very dominant crazy cat lady gene in my makeup.

We must be related because I have the same gene!
Little Dale was a bit feral on Monday and would fluff up when I opened their kennel but that’s long gone now. He comes running when anyone approaches the kennel now and hops right into your hands. It only took a couple hours for him to start purring.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Awwwwww! I wrote a thing on Quora about cats domesticating themselves...I think they had us at the first purr!

 

[JoyM]

Awwwwww! I wrote a thing on Quora about cats domesticating themselves...I think they had us at the first purr!

Just to show everyone how much easier it is to foster than most realize. We are going to see my family who are vacationing at the beach this week. Of course, I cannot leave the little ones at home all day so for the second year in a row, I will be bringing the fosters along with me.
I just take a diaper bag with formula and bottles, a couple extra baby blankets, unscented wipes, kitten shampoo (just in case), a Tupperware container with litter in it (it travels well that way and you just take off the top when you get there and it doubles as a litter box- then seal it for the trip back) and the pet carrier for travel.
Last year, we stayed a few days but the fosters I brought were only 2wk old so I didn’t have to bring a litter box. They had a great time and so did my family. Their paws rarely touched the ground because someone was always snuggling with them.
It’s absolutely GREAT for fosters to be on family trips because they need to get used to lots of people and consider everyone to be safe. That makes them super social.
When I have extremely young bottle babies, they go everywhere with me. I have been in grocery stores, restaurants along with tons of other places with them and no one has ever turned us away. It’s been a great experience.