Best Advice/tips/tricks To Give For Fosters/shelter

[Shar371]

Hey everyone! The first kittens are beginning to mew, and the shelter I volunteer with is gearing up for the season. We're starting with training: Our first session is in two weeks (to teach fosters/volunteers/new prospects), and I wanted to see if anyone had any best practices, tips, tricks, advice and so on from their experience that they can offer?

We are predominately foster-based, but we are preparing a nursery at the shelter (away from general population) in case our foster network hits capacity again this year. Last year, we also had quite a few queens with us (either they came in with kittens, or queened in foster/at shelter), and did our best to keep mom-and-kitten groups together.

 

[Sarthur2]

What does the training cover? Once we know, we can contribute ideas. We also have a huge selection of very informative articles on many topics related to cat care!

 

[Shar371]

Hey Sarthur, thanks for the response! I've forwarded the articles from the pinned post along to our coordinator, who is heading up the training. The initial training is just the basics... How to bottle/syringe feed (the mechanics of it, what you'll need, how to mix KMR from powder), how to stimulate elimination and clean them up, what sticking points to watch for. We're going to cover keeping them warm, and the importance of tracking weights, how to keep everyone clean, safe, and happy. We were thinking about having example feeding and weight charts to hand out. We're also anticipating a lot of questions this year on how to recognized symptoms for panleukopenia, calici, fading kitten syndrome and the like, and what fosters can do when they see symptoms.

We're trying to keep the initial training to a Meet-and-Greet, to get our mentors on the same page as the newcomers, to get newcomers "hooked", and give them an idea of where they can best devote their time and energy (for instance, the 0-2 week olds might be too much, but they can take the kittens that can go 4-5 hours between feedings, or kittens just weaned but too young for general population... or they might decide to foster adult cats, or a pregnant cat, and we got them through the door with cute kittens!)

The plan was to use the feedback from that training to help develop our procedures better, and have another training in a couple of weeks. By that time, we hope to have a really efficient process down on how to weigh, feed, clean up kittens and nest and have everything logged so that we can keep everyone doing the same process every time, foster or shelter. We have a sister shelter who has been amazing in giving us assistance to get running and policy/procedure templates, but this is our first full season as a shelter (we started shelter operations under some unusual circumstances), so we're building the bridge as we walk on it.

We're also trying to set up a way to have "kitten kits" available in the "Overnighter" and "Just Call Me Meowmy" versions, so that fosters (or even rescuers outside of our organization) can come and get a kit with some KMR, syringes, nipples, some fleece for nesting, soft clothes for cleaning, etc. to get them through the first night, or the first couple of days, (especially first time fosters, or fosters who pick up on a last-minute call) until they can get their own supplies.

 

[Sarthur2]

It all sounds good! I'm very impressed.

Do you have grants to help with operating expenses, or are you fundraising?

The meet and greet sounds great, followed by a training session.

You might want to create your presentation in the form of a power point that can be reproduced in booklet form to use as a handout/quick reference guide for the newbie fosters and volunteers.

Will you have a vet working with you on a regular basis for vaccines, meds, and spays and neuters?

 

[Shar371]

We have some grants, but we are actively fundraising (big campaign now is for facilities... We're in former-flood property right now, by the grace of the landlord, but it isn't ideal for either the organization or the landlord. We're also working on building out a clinic for our animals, and community animals with low cost spay/neuter). A lot of support has been coming from the sister shelter... financial, personnel, information... they can even take some of our animals from time to time when we hit capacity.

We're shooting for a powerpoint, but may not have handouts of the slides. Originally, there was no "cap" on the event, and word got out about it; We're going to have a full house. We're going to try to keep the handouts to the "must know" bullet points, some quick contact information, and have and example of feeding schedules, weight records, etc. so that, even if the potential fosters are caught on the back foot, they've got enough to get them started.

We have a vet as one of the founders, and keep duplicate copies of records (one set with the foster, one set at the shelter). We also have a weekly "foster fest" for simple vaccines, flea treatment, dewormers, microchipping (all once they're old enough). We, thankfully, have a whole bunch of vets and vet techs who volunteer their time in addition to the employed folks, and are near a vet-tech training program.

 

[SmolCreeperCat]

You might consider checking out Kitten Lady's website. She has loads of videos and articles and I believe she has great informational booklets free of charge or low-cost for shelters. I love how you're organizing things with temp fosters and everything! The biggest thing I wish I had heard was "Eventually you WILL lose a kitten no matter what you do and how hard you fight. It doesn't mean you failed and we're here to support you when it happens." Losing a baby still always hits me hard.

 

[Hobbyfarmer]

It sounds like you've got some great advice so far. I would add 2 things based on working at a municipal animal shelter for 5 years. These simple suggestions will help avoid confusion and heartbreak while also improving foster retention in your program.

First clarify your adoption requirements, process, and fees. That way it's crystal clear from the start what they'll need to do if they themselves/friends/family wish to adopt when the kittens (or puppies) are old enough.

Cover how to identify basic feline illnesses. Most importantly how to authorize a vet visit if needed and spending limits.

Best of luck to your organization! Kitten season was always rough.

 

[Shar371]

For anyone else who stumbles across this looking for news/advice, and knows they're going to be host to bottle babies this year, I let my fingers do the walking to source Miracle Nipples the other night, and found a site called Henry's Pets (geared towards squirrel rescue) that has them for a pretty low price (10x mini for $30). They also sell the luer-lock syringes (2ml x50/$18), which I haven't price-compared, and I don't know if the shelter proper has a better source for. I haven't ordered from them yet, so I don't know how reliable the shipping is (our volunteers/donors lean pretty heavily on Amazon and Chewy for online orders, which is very reliable for us).

Henry's Pet's Miracle Nipple Link

 

[lacy2000]

For anyone else who stumbles across this looking for news/advice, and knows they're going to be host to bottle babies this year, I let my fingers do the walking to source Miracle Nipples the other night, and found a site called Henry's Pets (geared towards squirrel rescue) that has them for a pretty low price (10x mini for $30). They also sell the luer-lock syringes (2ml x50/$18), which I haven't price-compared, and I don't know if the shelter proper has a better source for. I haven't ordered from them yet, so I don't know how reliable the shipping is (our volunteers/donors lean pretty heavily on Amazon and Chewy for online orders, which is very reliable for us).

Henry's Pet's Miracle Nipple Link

That’s where I get my miracle nipples! They ship pretty fast. Just got an order today that was ordered for me (by a generous friend) last Friday.

 

[Sarthur2]

Thanks for the website tip!