Those looking to care for a cat can do so on a more short-term basis by becoming a foster home for cats and litters, like the animals pictured here. Furry Friends no-kill cat shelter and rescue has such a program, helping to specifically socialize young kittens as young as possible.
For those without the time or financial commitment to fully adopt their own cat or kitten, Furry Friends no-kill cat shelter and rescue has an alternative in kitten fostering.
It’s kitten season, according to Diane Stevens of Furry Friends. From roughly March until November unaltered female cats will be having their litters during the time, having up to three litters during a season with each litter having four to six kittens. Female cats can become pregnant as young as five months of age.
“Furry Friends tries to take in as many mom cats with babies as they can,” Stevens wrote in an article about the group’s foster program, “but these nursing females with their litters need to be raised in a home, not in our shelter.”
“A cat’s personality is largely formulated in the first eight weeks of life,” Stevens continued, explaining that cats gently handled as soon as possible in their life result in a well-socialized animal.
Furry Friends gets their kitten rescues in a variety of ways, Stevens explained in an email. In the case of stray mother cats the organization tries to catch the whole family together.
Foster families caught that way are one option for kitten fosters, but it requires a quiet room for the mother to nurse her young, Stevens wrote.
Other instances were Furry Friends ends up with animals are when kittens are relinquished from owners whose unaltered cat ended up pregnant, Stevens explained. Rarely there will be a kitten who is still nursing and orphaned with requires bottle feeding; those animals are more of a time commitment, she mentioned.
Foster animals need to be brought in to Furry Friends twice for medical checkups including needed shots and medication and disease testing. Generally the foster has their kitten(s) until they are large enough to undergo alteration (spaying or neutering) which is three pounds, Stevens wrote, though fosters can keep their animals until three months of age.
“Some people are afraid to foster because they don't want to end up adopting all the babies,” Stevens wrote. “But for the brave souls that agree to foster, (they) can feel very good about it. They are saving some kittens from death. There is such a high rate of kittens being born, many die horrible deaths or are euthanized because there just are not enough families to adopt them.”
Just last year Furry Friends had 90 of their cats adopted, Stevens wrote. Although fostering can be an alternative for those who can’t spend years living and caring for a cat, it’s not an uncommon occurrence that foster “failures” happen and the animal gets fully adopted by their foster.
“Several of our fosters last year ended up adopting some of the kittens,” Stevens wrote. “One lady adopted five of the 11 kittens in her care.”
To become a foster home for Furry Friends, those interested need to complete a foster application with the organization, have references checked and the foster’s home inspected. All food, litter and medical costs are supplied to fosters, but foster cats are to remain indoors at all times.
“The more foster parents we have, the more lives of kittens we can save,” Stevens wrote. “The experience of fostering can be one of the most uniquely satisfying and fulfilling experiences of your own unique life.”
If you are interested in fostering, please complete the online application at furryfriendswa.org. Or for more information call 360-993-1097 or email information@furryfriendswa.org.
