If you were to foster…

I have been pondering whether I would be up for fostering cats for rescue. I am at the stage where I am questioning whether my motivations are pure, and I would first of course need to come clear on that and convince everyone in the household that this would be a worthwhile pursuit.

However, I wanted to hear from the veterans how did you choose which rescue/shelter/organization to foster for? I mean what kind of things were important to you in how the organization worked if the choice was not simply dictated by things like proximity or connections.

There are quite a few rescues around where I live (I would be willing to consider something a little further than around the corner). I would also be interested in Siamese Rescue because I have some experience with the breed and have some extra time to work with ‘a meezer personality’ - but they do not seem to have anything going on even in my state, so that is a bit scary (I have not investigated this option but that’s how it looks).

Should I put a lot of emphasis on how much training/support rescues offer (what kind should that be?), what are their fostering policies, how much experience they have with fosters? Is it important to choose eg no-kill shelter (what if I get a cat that does not get adopted, will I end up adopting because otherwise it’s a death sentence??) Or is the most important thing for you to just see with whom you gel and/or who let’s you do your own thing etc? What were the musts for you or were there any?

Thanks for any input.

I fostered for two different shelters - in both cases I ended up working there and got to understand their operating policies. In both cases they were open admission shelters and did euthanize. Fortunately it was never for "time and space".

I selected shelters that were sucessful and did offer foster parents a lot of support - they provided all supplies and vet care. By successful I mean they raised adequate money and had very very good placement number (85%). Both organization were close to 100 years old.

What I would recommend is visiting the shelters and checking them out. Are they clean or do you smell cover-up scents (usually orange or cinnamon)? Do they employees/volunteers seem happy and efficient? How are the kenneled animals? How long have they had a foster department and what are the policies?

After the first few batches of fosters I no longed checked up on their disposition because I trusted the agencies.

Do you feel like you could elaborate on your motivation and the "purity" of it? I found my main motivation was to have some fun (I fostered puppies and kitties, and once an adult recovering from ear surgery), and "do good". By doing-good I mean I knew I was opening up space in the shelter for more animals and the babies would eventually be able to connect with their forever homes.

Things to look into -

Do they test for FeLV/FIV?
What are their requirement for animals in the foster home (S/N, FeLV/FIV tested, vaccinations, etc)?
If necessary, how do you go about getting medical care for fosters?
What happens if the foster has something contagious (like ringworm, coccidia, giardia) - do you have to pay to treat your animals or do they re-imburse medical care?

I would make sure if you do foster, you have a room where they can live without interacting with your animals. This is because it is wise to keep them quarantined for several weeks after arrival (just in case). Also - if for some reason the foster(s) do not get along with your pets - then you have a room for them to retreat to.

We have people here who love kittens, so they foster kittens or nursing mothers.

Originally Posted by Pat Traufield

Do you feel like you could elaborate on your motivation and the "purity" of it? I found my main motivation was to have some fun (I fostered puppies and kitties, and once an adult recovering from ear surgery), and "do good". By doing-good I mean I knew I was opening up space in the shelter for more animals and the babies would eventually be able to connect with their forever homes.

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I try to answer this briefly first. Mainly, I want to make sure I am not considering this just to satisfy the fever I get time to time to get more cats or as a gateway to sneak more cats into the house. Also, I want to consider further if I am really up to the task when I tell myself that I would be willing to deal with cats who might have more issues than my own cats (which, honestly, is not much to say when they do not have that many issues at all).

I feel a guilty pinch even thinking about it but one aspect in choosing a suitable shelter for me would be whether they would openly discuss what type of cat a volunteer would like to foster. I don’t know if this is an issue. I am not interested in kittens. I think I would like to choose, and would start off with either seniors or cats who are timid and need socializing but find comfort in the company of other cats - and thus could be maybe a match for our household. I would be willing to put in some extra hours to work with a shy guy to get him/her adoptable. In the same vein, I would also prefer longer term foster over hit&run because I imagine it would be such a heartbreak to just go over the initial trouble and then have to say goodbye (this is one of the main things I am hesitant of this whole thing anyway).

For some weird reason this makes me feel like I am not doing this for just the cats because I am planning on being picky. Sounds kinda silly Certainly it's ok to do it for me too. It would make me feel good but I would like to pick cats that I feel would be more likely successful fosters in our home.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Do they test for FeLV/FIV?
What are their requirement for animals in the foster home (S/N, FeLV/FIV tested, vaccinations, etc)?
If necessary, how do you go about getting medical care for fosters?
What happens if the foster has something contagious (like ringworm, coccidia, giardia) - do you have to pay to treat your animals or do they re-imburse medical care?

I would make sure if you do foster, you have a room where they can live without interacting with your animals. This is because it is wise to keep them quarantined for several weeks after arrival (just in case). Also - if for some reason the foster(s) do not get along with your pets - then you have a room for them to retreat to.

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I do have a possibility for own room and big crate for fosters, with big nice window for bird watching. Priority in my mind would of course be that I could integrate the foster after a few weeks. I would be willing to go through the slow intros, partly why I would look for longer term fosters too. (Is this irrational, I am imagining that working with a shy cat would take a few months at least?)

The vet care aspect worries me as I know that not only the $ can be a concern but somewhere I read that sometimes care has to be organized through certain vet and always authorized. I know I could end in big trouble in emergencies because, personally, would I deny care if I could not get in touch with somebody??? I am not too worried about food/litter/basic care but I would like medical care and consultation to be covered for sure.

That’s a great point about the testing. (Hijack- I see some places only say they test for FIV not FelV, why?) Are there certain meds etc regiments that would be preferable over others – something that would tell a place is more/less progressive/cheaping out? It would naturally be easier if a place used same stuff I use for my own guys.

I have been to quite a few rescues around here but I have not brought up any questions re: fostering yet. I kind of fear that could be it! I have crossed some places from my list either because they are plain old scary, consistently rude or just yucky or because it seems they deal with so few cats that it might be suffocating (same cats on the lists for years). Some places have been surprises, like a place that only deals with strays, the shelter is kind of ratty but the (huge load of) cats are always very perky and roaming free.

How about adoption policies, do you as a foster have a say where the cat goes afterwards? Like, say, if you fostered brothers and thought they really should stay together or that a cat should not go with children? It seems like some places respect some of these types of ‘humane’ requests when some places will just adopt? How do you scope for these types of things without insulting?

I am flooding my own thread with posts… But like, look eg at the last kitty on this page (named Blue in case the paging has changed since):

http://www.2ndchanceanimalcenter.org/cats4.html

this kitty keeps popping at me on petfinder (I often check Siamese mutts).


I have never been to this shelter as it is an hour drive from me, so I do not know about their operation. I don’t even know if he’s available any more but I always feel terrible when I walk by a cage that says “returned for being too shy” or “wasn’t playful enough”.

I think older cats should get a calm home and enjoy peace but I so think this kind of guy would be perfect for my kitty boys to socialize. He must have the Siamese playful gene and he’s still so young! We have adult only home but lots of things for a cat to do, and one of my boys is really patient nursing kind of guy who would play and groom with a younger cat. I think this is the type of cat we could work with to get him into a shape that his adoption would be more fulfilling for all parties.

Be prepared for a long-term commitment when fostering. I had "my" Bea for 9 months before we got lucky. I've now had Lola for my 5th month (and we just celebrated her 1st Birthday) & Gumby (a former feral I got at 6 weeks) for my 7th month. And the potential is there to adopt both of these guys if they do not find homes eventually.

Oh, I looked at Bea's story

That brings another question to my mind. Do you weigh in things like how strong a stand the rescue takes in education, in issues like declawing, allowing adoptees outdoors, managing feral communities etc? Like would you foster for shelter that places barn cats but is vehemently pushing for pet cats to be kept inside but not for another place that does not care whether you plan to let your cat outside?

I am actually glad to hear about the times. I think I would be more reluctant to consider this if I expected a lot of very short-term placements. Sometimes that could of course be ok, for relief. Not that I don't want cats to get to their permanent homes fast, I just think cats in the cages should be pushed into the homes first and if some cats need some rehab (like I would be willing to offer if I just have something to offer), then maybe there should be some initial period when they aren't on the adoption list even.

Oh, I don't believe I forgot to ask this. It was actually one of the things that I considered pretty important.

How does the adopting part go with the place you foster for?

Does your foster just stay on a list of available cats or do you need to bring her/him to adoption clinics? Do you surrender him/her to shelter after a certain period of time or is there a possibility to move him/her to another foster if needed (to improve chances or for example if the foster is not getting along with resident cats) Something else?

This was actually one thing I considered important. I work from home, so I have time to commit for a foster during days but I do not wish to spend weeknights and weekends on adoption clinics. Some places required personal presence not just bringing the cat in!

Here we don't have enough fosters to transfer them from one foster to another. There are some groups out there that have better resources (some are even strictly foster based groups).

I don't bring mine in to the shelter because I don't want to risk them catching something & sharing it with my population (that would be $$ to treat as many cats as I have).

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Here we don't have enough fosters to transfer them from one foster to another. There are some groups out there that have better resources (some are even strictly foster based groups).

I don't bring mine in to the shelter because I don't want to risk them catching something & sharing it with my population (that would be $$ to treat as many cats as I have).

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I am beginning to think that it would be maybe important to start with fairly large group that is doing somewhat OK (if anyone is). As one of my personal problems and worries is that I tend to get sucked in that risk is probably greatest with very small groups. I do not want to right away be in a situation where I feel that I cannot back off without everyone being in big trouble, the cats and other fosters etc. I have no idea how many fosters usually would work for any place. Maybe sometimes it's just a couple.

While I would feel bad taking a foster back to cage/shelter I also feel that having a physical shelter is some sort of guarantee the cat would have a place to return 'to the market' if something were to change. (Like if something drastic happened to us or if the cat just caused all my resident cats to go haywire). I do no think I would consider temporary returns either (for adoption opportunities). I can't imagine any rescue would pay resident cats' medical bills, so I would only take foster back to shelter when the foster was over and if I had to and it was the only way to promote adoption chances.