Considering Fostering

In a previous post I had told my story of bringing in a stray cat that was freezing on my deck. We had him for about 3 weeks in our spare room before we tried to integrate him into our household and he tried to eat my Bugsy. We then gave him away to our Vet Tech and he now has a wonderful, loving home.

So this got me thinking. My BF and I live in a three-bedroom bungalow, we have one bedroom to sleep in, one we use for an office, and one room is the catâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s room that we have converted it into a play area for them. The cats room is a fairly nice sized room that we can convert into a “Foster home†(shhh donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t tell my fur babies this yet). So my questions are below.

#1. My cats are snobs and while they love each other they hate all other animals, would a preggy/sick/post operation/etc cat be all right in a room by themselves if we never let them out? Keep in mind the room is nice sized (Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not sure how big but it fits a queen sized bed with about 2 feet of room on all sides of the bed, we would take the bed out)
#1.5. Would that be mean? (we would of course have “foster cat†time, my stray had 20-30min every 2-3 hours and 15min before work)
#2. Approximately how long normally would you keep a pregnant cat?
#3. Do you pay for the vet/food/litter bills?
#4. What if you fall in love with the animal and want to keep them? Do you have first rights?
#5. Is it hard and time consuming?
#6. Anything else you were never told or never expected that you learned while fostering you can tell me?

I know I can ask my SPCA these questions but I trust your guys experienced comments. While I love and totally respect the SPCA they are usually very busy and never really answer my questions fully. Also while my guy loves OUR fur babies I will need to convince him that this will be a good thing, this will be hard, so I need all the facts.

Sorry for such a long post! And thanks in advanced!

I foster dogs,not cats...but I am sure it is the same.Or similar anyway.I currently have two foster dog,sone of which is being adopted today.

The rescue provides food and vet care (if needed),you provide the love,attention and shelter.Of course if you want,you can buy food and do the vet care if you wish...I know of someone who fosters and insists on paying all vet bills and everything.But in most cases the rescue/shelter pays for that.

I am sure you get first dibs on the foster if you fall in love.I have never adopted any of my fosters,but have come close to it.

I am not sure how hard and time consuming it would be with a cat,but it can be real hard and time consuming with dogs...the training and socializing.I am sure if you took in a sick,pregnant or under socialized cat it would be more work.With two foster dogs,it does get hectic here and can be really time consuming (it sometimes don't help that I have a toddler and several other pets...but I manage!).It really depends on the animal and the needs that animal needs.But when you foster,you do prepare the animal and do any socializing/training it needs and get it ready for it's new home.

I can tell you if you fall in love with an animal and it gets adopted,that can be really hard.It happened to me a few times now.The reason I have not adopted any of my fosters,because none were "right for me"...ONE was,but at the time,I wasn't ready for the full time commitment.I am now hoping to adopt a dog the summer.But it can be sad.The little foster I have that is going to his new home today,I am glad he is and I probably won't miss him...but thats another story!

Ummm...what else?
I am sure it will be fine to keep your foster cat in the room,provided it has all it's needs in there and you go in to give it attention.

Fostering is a good idea and rewarding.You get to help an animal gain the confidance it needs to be adopted and it has a better chance at being adopted in many cases.Also it doesn't have to live in a shelter till it gets adopted.

I can't think of any other advice at the moment,I will be back if I have more!

Thanks so much for all of your comments, I really appreciate it! This is something i want to do, unfortunately my boyfriend is not too into it... he will come around though.

Thanks again for all the information, it sounds very rewarding indeed! I am bringing him to the SPCA tonight to get a volunteer application so hopefully we can go through with this…

Thanks to you as well for fostering. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a great thing for people to try and help out whenever they can. All volunteers are heroes to these animals in my mind. So thanks to all volunteers for going out of theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re way to make an animal have a happier life.

Thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s what I love about this site. Everyone here is a hero to some animal, you guys really love animals and strive to make a difference. Most people think im a freak haha I found a place where I am not getting odd looks every time I talk about my babies LOL.

Thanks all you furbaby lovers!

Well good luck!

I am single now,but my ex was so against me fostering!
He didn't see a point to it (how can you NOT see the point?) and always complained about the fosters I took in.He wasn't an animal person in general anyway.But there was nothing he could do...as I wasn't gonna stop what I enjoy doing for him,when he wouldn't give up his bad habits for me (sorry...msut stay on topic!!! Haha) Now that he is gone,I foster much more and even take in two at a time sometimes!!! It truly is rewarding.

Keep us updated on how things go!