Advice for Beginners
Take on what you can manage. When I started fostering last spring, I decided to foster kittens with their mothers since I was not able to provide round-the-clock care due to my regular job.
Most Rewarding Aspects of Fostering
Seeing sick and vulnerable babies growing into healthy kittens, and then being adopted into good homes. Also, it's always a wonderful feeling to see mom-cats finally take a few minutes to play and just be house-cats after spending so much effort raising their babies.
Saddest Aspects of Fostering
I haven't yet lost a kitten, so the saddest part for me has been hearing some of ways in which kittens have been brought to the shelter (dumped at the side of the road, left in a box, etc.).
Temptation to Keep Cats and/or Kittens
I did keep one of my last kittens, although I had planned to get a second cat for some time now. I find that staffing our adopt-a-thon events helps me to see that there are great people out there looking to bring cats and kittens into their homes, which in turn makes letting go a bit easier.
How I became a foster parent to cats and/or kittens
I became a foster parent through my local humane society/SPCA shelter. The local shelter here funds all supplies, and just needs people willing to volunteer their time and homes. If you're interested in fostering, I definitely suggest contacting your local rescue organization.
How I learned to care for my foster cats & kittens
I did a lot of reading in preparation for fostering, through books, websites (especially About.com!), and cat forums. It helps to have a community of experienced people to turn to for advice. Also, the organization I fostered with was great about having someone talk to me whenever I was faced with a medical issue.
Lessons learned
- Although you'll be really tempted not to, definitely enforce the suggested quarantine period between animals since many illnesses will not surface for a week or two after bringing cats into your home.
- Be careful about contact between nursing mom-cats and your resident cats since mom-cats can be very protective (and thus aggressive towards other cats).
- Keep fosters in a separate "safe-room", and remove any items you're worried about getting damaged.
- Take time off between one batch of fosters to avoid feeling burnt-out.
