I have just been a wreck lately guys. 
All hell is breaking loose in the foster world, which is why I haven't been on as much lately.
Kittens in many foster homes have been getting very, very sick, and some haven't made it at all. We are all devastated and getting a lot of backlash for it. Most of the symptoms aren't even showing up until a few days AFTER adoption, but the adopters are coming back and blaming all of us foster parents for adopting out sick kittens.
There are many things we WERE aware of. We have had kittens with crazy URI's that last SO long and are completely resistant to antibiotics. We've had the worst eye ulcers I have ever seen, and some foster moms have even had to have some fosters eyes removed. There has also been some terrible bouts of vomiting an diarrhea.
The beginning of this week, the shelter sent the remains of 2 kittens who had passed to be tested. One was a fellow foster mom's baby who literally was fine one day, dead the next and the second was a former foster of mine who died a week after adoption and showed no symptoms while in my care. The kitten from the other foster mom's home was shown to have feline distemper. She has numerous other fosters and she is scared to death! they have all been re-vaccinated, and have to be monitored for 2 months. The results for mine are not back yet and should be next week but they did determine he was FULL of tapeworms. No adoptions are happening from here until we get to the bottom of what is going on.
There have been numerous instances lately where us foster parents feel we have been misled and lied to. Our fosters are not getting the vet attention they need unless we pay for it ourselves and the shelter has now decided that the animals will just be PTS instead. We were completely misled to believe that the new executive director had stopped the mass euthanizing, but are now finding out that is not the case.
The straw that broke the camels back was this. A couple weeks back a foster was adopted and a few days after she showed symptoms of a bad URI. The adopter was amazing, and wanted to do all she could to help this girl get better. She brought her to the vet. The vet called the shelter and the shelter agreed to take over the care of this girl. At that point the vet told the adopter that they would just "wait and see" where only minutes before they were talking about all of the different things they could do treatment wise. THEN the adopter was told to call the shelter to get updates and not the vet, even THOUGH it was HER kitten! She adopted her! She emailed me, as she was concerned about this and didn't want the shelter to euthanize her, as she was more than willing to pay for her care. The next day she was told the kitten didn't make it through the night, when in fact, I found out, she was euthanized the night before! The adopter was NOT consulted or given ANY options! I found out what the symptoms were and they were symptoms that I have nursed kittens for numerous times in the past. It was completely deceitful and NOT right and I can't be a part of this anymore!
I have been beyond distraught over all of this, depressed, crying constantly and I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I want to continue to foster and help these animals, but with how things are right now, I CAN'T be a part of the shadiness of the shelter with everything coming to light. I just don't know what to do. It's such a nightmare.
Edited by Kailie - 11/11/11 at 5:52am
, Kailie. What a horrible situation. I've read of new resistant strains of distemper wreaking havoc at shelters and rescues, but the shelter's reaction seems really extreme. 
I think doing what you can to take action will go a long way to helping stop the tears. 
.... That is just SO wrong and deceitful 
I would be heartbroken too over this situation.
Sending many vibes you and the kitties way- and to all of the people who adopted cats that died too. 
