I'm Going To Be Turning The Second Bedroom Of My Apartment Into A Foster Room. Any Advice?

[I_Wuv_Kitties]

The second bedroom of my apartment is going to be a foster room for pregnant/nursing moms and maybe 1-2 adult kitties who need to get out of the shelter. Any advice for how to setup the room?

I think I'm going to get tons of blankets (they're cheap enough) and put them over the entire carpeting to try and prevent any damage or soiling. Seriously, those 50"x60" fleece blankets are $2-4 a pop. I think I'll get a bunch and have multiple layers between the cats and the carpet.

Also any ideas on how to sub-divide the room? Maybe so one cranky kitty could have her own area away from the other kitties.

 

[Ardina]

It's awesome that you want to foster! If at all possible, I'd figure out a way to have an impermeable flooring of some sort that's easy to mop and clean. Maybe you could use some garage mats? Young kittens are going to have accidents, moms delivering kittens are going to be messy, and you'll want flooring that's not going to hold onto germs/fleas and pass them onto your next fosters. Besides that, lots of cardboard boxes and blankets will help them feel comfortable.

 

[laurenfosters]

My husband and I did this with one of the spare bedrooms in our home! We have made a lot of adjustments over the years as we've determined what works and what doesn't. Here's what I have learned:

-Don't add any large (human) furniture that cats could get lost or stuck under. We used to keep a couch in our foster room but the first time we fostered a mother cat and kittens, she kept trying to "hide" her babies under there. It was a nightmare because I constantly worried they'd become stuck.

-Durable, easy-to-clean flooring is a must. We had the carpet in our foster room ripped out and replaced with "luxury vinyl," which is basically just a fancy way of saying vinyl that looks like wood. It's impermeable, wipes clean with a damp cloth, sanitary as it won't harbor bacteria/fleas/eggs, and is resistant to scratching whereas carpet would have been destroyed by now. I realize with a rental apartment this might not be an option, but you might be able to buy a snap-together flooring kit that can be applied right on top of the carpet.

-Make sure everything you buy can be sanitized and/or machine-washed. We had a flea incident last year from a foster cat and it was a disaster. I ended up throwing away a lot of items in order to be sure all traces of the fleas were gone. We even got rid of a big, gorgeous cat tree we had because it was covered in "carpeting" and I didn't feel safe knowing things could be nestled in there. The cat tree I have now is made of finished wood and all padding can be removed and thrown in the washing machine!

-Blankets are great but I would recommend also stocking up on various sizes of towels. Just the cheapie ones at Target or Walmart. Potty pads are also great to have on hand in case you have a cat with litter box difficulties.

-Sign up for a Chewy.com account. You can put your regularly needed supplies (food, litter, treats) on an auto-ship schedule which saves you 5% on each order and ships for free. It also helps you to keep track of your expenses in case you plan to deduct them come tax time.

-As for dividing the room, I would go with a few play-pens, rather than something more permanent. That way you can simply collapse them and store them when they aren't needed.

Good luck!

 

[Draco]

all above

and don't forget cat trees and scratching posts, toys too! If you can, add shelves on the walls for them to jump and to get away from other cats, some cats like to observe from above.

 

[amysuen]

No experience with fostering but I second laurenfosters potty pad suggestion. My parents have a cat who's afraid of the litter box so they put adult incontinent pads around the litter box for her to use. Works for everyone.