Advice for Beginners
Try to get involved with a rescue group - most of the time, vet costs are covered by them, they know what is required by your particular state as far as vaccines, testing, etc, and with our group, we get a LOT of donated food, which really helps with expenses. They add up quickly!
Most Rewarding Aspects of Fostering
Having kittens around all the time!!! They are SUCH fun - especially when you have a lot of them. The highest number of kittens I had at one time was 13 - from about 6 different litters. There were 20 kittens total, but they were arriving and getting adopted and more were arriving - a crazy spring!
Saddest Aspects of Fostering
GETTING ATTACHED!!! Some of our foster homes have a really hard time letting go. I'm very happy to see them go to a forever home, where I know they will get so much more attention than they can get in a foster home loaded with kittens.
Temptation to Keep Cats and/or Kittens
I've had 2 "foster failures", where the kitties came and I said, oh no, they're not going anywhere! I also have the last guy from my first foster litter - his brother and sisters got adopted and after more than a year, I decided I couldn't let him go anyway. He's my only personal boy kitty.
How I became a foster parent to cats and/or kittens
I had been catless for 15 years because of big dogs who didn't like cats. I saw a kitten in the newspaper right after I lost my last dog, and she was the CUTEST thing ever! I adopted her and her sister, and became really good friends with their foster mom, who is the president of our group. She, after about 6 months, convinced me to give fostering a try. I always thought it would be too hard to give them up, but I finally said yes - and my first litter was 7 kittens, 3 1/2 weeks old, who came down with ringworm about a week after they got here!
How I learned to care for my foster cats & kittens
Having had cats before, way back when no one spayed and neutered and your cats got out and had kittens, and no one even knew about FeLV/FIV, I relied on her for advice in the beginning, and learned a lot more on my own. I am now the vice president of our group and the number one researcher, whenever anything, particularly health related, comes up. Fortunately we also have wonderful veterinary friends, doctors and techs, who help us out a lot!
Lessons learned
- I wouldn't do anything differently.
- If you are a foster parent, you need to be available to bring your fosters to adoption events. Unfortunately, we have some that can never make it, and although we are listed on 4 websites, that doesn't mean that they will get adopted if they never show up at adoption events.
