New Foster Info
Welcome to fostering! Your decision to help support the animals in your community is appreciated! Here are some things to consider before you get started:
The Environment:
Family: Everyone in your household has to be on board with this! Or at least be willing to tolerate it. It’s going to disrupt your routine. It will be chaotic, and poopy. And so full of kitten snuggles! My husband is amazing when it comes to scooping litter boxes! And my daughter is a lifesaver with bottle babies! I’ve even caught my son snuggling a few! They sometimes beg for a break between litters, and it’s a good idea to let everyone rest and give the space a good cleaning.
Space: The type of space needed varies with the age, number and type of foster. A separate room is ideal, like a spare bedroom. Bottle babies are easy because they will spend the first few weeks in their carrier on top of a heating pad. A playpen for a couple weeks after that, and a large enclosure after that until everyone is potty trained. If you agree to foster a pregnant momma, beware that she may be extremely territorial once the babies arrive. She needs a secure place away from all the other pets in the home.
Your Pets: You will initially need to separate your pets from the fosters. Read up on how to properly introduce and socialize pets. Watch to be sure that your pet isn’t becoming stressed.
The Commitment:
Time: Taking on a litter of kittens is a commitment of 2-3 months. It’s gonna add a couple hours of work to your day. Bottle babies need to be fed every few hours so they will disrupt your sleep. You will be distracted when you have a kitten fall asleep on you and it’s just so cute that you can’t move.
Cleaning: Scooping litter boxes, cleaning bottles, washing bedding, washing carriers and bowls and bathing kittens! It’s a lot, but to see the babies making biscuits on their warm fuzzy blankets is pretty awesome!
The Responsibility:
You cannot keep them all! The more you keep, the less room you have to foster! Returning the first several litters to the shelter will probably make you cry. It gets easier. You may stumble and keep a special one and no one will blame you. Try to remember that the most beautiful and spunky babies will be quickly adopted, consider keeping one that might be hard to adopt.
The Resource:
Check out your local shelters or rescues to see who needs feline fosters. Most are eager to accept new fosters. I like the way my local shelter spays/neuters, vaccinates and chips before they adopt them out for a low price. I like the way they support me and let me learn new skills. And I like their ability to adopt them out quickly!
Items to invest in!
These are items that I personally use and highly recommend!
I didn't buy this for the first couple years and tried out everything else. Just start here! These are excellent for containment until every little butt is potty trained! The connectors are a real pain, but just connect them with the zip ties and they are perfect!
This is perfect for bottle babies who are beginning to show an interest in potty training. I keep them zipped up and covered with a blanket in-between feedings.
The nipples on the bottles that you can buy locally have never worked for me. It takes a minute for the kittens to get the hang of these but then they love them. These are an absolute MUST if you are going to foster bottle babies! They attach to the bottles pretty easily as well as to the syringes.
Another recent purchase that I wish I'd started with! It takes a little bit to set it up, but it can be adjusted to your preference. It's a must for those wild kittens and great for separating a momma cat with her babies! Zip ties are the key with this, and buy extra because you will want to reconfigure it! You can actually get pretty creative with it and combine it with the clear panels. I did this to add an extra space just for the litter box.