Kitten Season Fostering

[FelisCatus]

With kitten season rapidly approaching, I was wondering how many of you have fostered?

If so what were the challenges and tips you have to share?

With my kitty cat whom recently passed away, we want to foster kittens in her honour by using the room she spent much of her time in, and convert it into a safe kitty foster room.

Thanks

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
there might be some useful tips here, to get you started
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips

 

[abyeb]

Do you know what age range you plan on fostering? Fostering a pregnant cat, a nursing mom with kittens, or bottle babies all bring their unique challenges and joys.

 

[FelisCatus]

Do you know what age range you plan on fostering? Fostering a pregnant cat, a nursing mom with kittens, or bottle babies all bring their unique challenges and joys.

I am still waiting for confirmation from my local shelter, but I have a few other cats so we’ll see what they say. I am up for anything but I imagine a nursing or pregnant mum would not be good due to the stress.

 

[FelisCatus]

Hi!
there might be some useful tips here, to get you started
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips

Thank you for this, I believe we have most of this covered already but will do another sweep. Need to think like a kitten

 

[kittyluv387]

I am still waiting for confirmation from my local shelter, but I have a few other cats so we’ll see what they say. I am up for anything but I imagine a nursing or pregnant mum would not be good due to the stress.

As long as they have their own room it shouldn’t be a problem.

 

[FelisCatus]

As long as they have their own room it shouldn’t be a problem.

I was worried as thry might br stressed out by my cats. They aren’t chargers/attackers or anything but they would be clawing at the door.

 

[calikitteh]

One thing I didn't realize is a pregnant mum or family is easier to foster than separated kittens b/c momma cat does the work for you. Orphaned kittens need a lot of care and monitoring.

Another thing is learning to recognize if they're not well or have issues, the shelters are so busy they miss things.

Also the stages they learn things at...ours were orphans and somehow at a certain point (i want to say 5 weeks) they learned to pounce and all they did was practice pouncing on each other...a bit later (i want to say 8 wks) they started being interested in toys...it was a few months before they liked catnip....etc.

Not sure if that helps or you may already know all this but things I hadn't thought of before fostering that would have made it better for the cats.

One of the vet techs suggested the kitten lady videos to me, I found them helpful & inspiring when we were dealing with sick kittens.

Thank you for fostering!

 

[kittyluv387]

I was worried as thry might br stressed out by my cats. They aren’t chargers/attackers or anything but they would be clawing at the door.

It’s much better than being at the stressful shelter or not having a roof at all. Foster homes are so valuable!

 

[Abigailfosters]

Hi!

What a lovely idea! What country/area are you from?
I'm in the UK and foster for my local Cats Protection branch. They do and pay for a lot of the work, so useful!
I had a double cat pen built in my garden but indoor fosterers are very useful too! They usually want it to be a spare room dedicated to fostering, many rescues pay for lino to be put down, it's a lot easier to disinfect between foster cats reducing the risk of disease being passed through cats. Fostering is so rewarding, CP handle the vets bills, you take the cats to the vets and deal with adopters when home checks have been done but most of the time you get to do the nice part of raising kittens or cats and help them into the start of their fresh start!
A few things -
It isn't always fun and fluffy kittens, there is losses of cats/kittens, very sick cats, horrible past stories and hard decisions. I have only been doing this for a year and a half and I've dealt with a litter needing twice daily antibiotics, eye cleaning and a week in the vets for one of the kittens, I honestly thought we were going to loose them, but they pulled through! Miscarriage X2, pyometra and all sorts of cats with horrible past stories. Not trying to put you off put you have to be aware, not all people are unfortunately!
Some things that will be useful
Kitchen scales, bottles/syringes for hand rearing if needed, KMR, lick e lix and gourmet soups are a life saver for adult cats that don't have much appetite or sick older kittens to get them eating, Velcro or paper collars incase kittens are similar colours so you can tell them apart for weighing, a notebook to note down weights and anything you are worried about so if you need to take them the vets you have all the info down and don't need to guess/forget, there are a few Facebook groups which are so good at helping when you have issues.
This is all I can think of at the moment but if I remember anything will let you know! Feel free to ask any questions if you need help/advice on certain things x

 

[kashmir64]

Fostering orphans is a lot of work. I recommend a mother and litter. If you are fostering orphans, and they are from 0-6 weeks, you will be getting up every 2-3 hours (depending on age) to feed them, stimulate for poop/pee, and administering any meds they may need. They are insecure, because no mother, and will need constant supervision and cuddling (which I'm sure you won't mind the cuddling). You can't leave them alone for long, so if you work, this won't work for you. Once they are 6 weeks, there is no containing them. So if they have a parasite (or worse), your other cats will end up with it.
If you can get a pregnant or already birthed mother and put her and the kittens in a separate room, then this would be a better option for you.