Animal fostering

So, in the poll, one of the most requested topics was fostering! So here's the rundown on fostering:

The animal shelter here has application where you fill out what kind of animal you'd be willing to foster, and any stipulations you may have. Cat or dog, momma with babies, pregnant momma, would you foster a sick animal, be willing to do behavioral training, nurse an orphan, etc etc.

We said that we would take small dogs, heartworm dogs, and cats and kittens.

Dogs that have heartworm are treated with shots of poison. The poison kills the worms, which break off from the heart and enter the blood stream. Exercise will cause the heart to pump faster and bigger pieces to break off, causing clots. The clots can cause heart attacks and strokes. Therefor, dogs being treated for heartworm need to be kept calm, and mostly crated. They need to be leash walked and crated for about two weeks. Dogs can't catch heartworm from each other because it is mosquito borne only.

Our first fosters were a pair of adult male cats who had gone on a hunger strike in the shelter. One of them was near death, and in my opinion was just waiting to die. He didn't eat or drink anything for three days... no using the litter box, not even moving. I held him down and squirted food in his mouth via a syringe. After day three I took him back to the shelter where they put him on an IV and gave him shots of vitamins and iron. He bounced back quickly after that. They were both covered in scabs from fleas. They also had nasty respiratory viruses. Most cats at my local shelter get respiratory viruses when they come in. It's hard to contain them because there are so many cats squeezed into such a small area.

After however long it takes to get the animal ready to be adopted, the animal goes back to the shelter to try to find it's forever home! I am pleased to report that my foster babies both found homes in less than a month!

So you want to foster a cat from the shelter and have other cats at home? This is what you need:

A room you can isolate the foster in. We use the guest bedroom, but any room is fine. Somewhere without wall to wall carpeting is best in case they have an accident. Many cats will have a bacterial infection, and it can make them pee outside the box. Cover porous furniture in the room with towels for the same reason.

A litter box with unscented clumping litter for adults or NON-clumping litter for kittens. Kittens will eat litter and you don't want them to eat the clumping litter. Bad news.

For cats that refuse to eat... heat up wet cat food. If the smelly wet cat food won't even get it, try meat baby food.

If they have nasty congestion, rub a warm wet towel on their nose to try to open it up. They're more likely to eat if they can smell the food.

If you have another cat in the house, wash your hands like a crazy person. Change your shirt after holding the foster.

Give the foster lots of attention. Find something to do in the room you're keeping it in. Attention will help sick cats eat and socialize kittens.