The Joys of Fostering - Part Two

The pictures above are my two latest - well, almost latest - foster kittens. The fluffy one is Opal. She's about 6 weeks old and was found all alone near a busy intersection. Calendars and photo shoots could be made with this kitten because she has the "Awwww" factor . But, picture perfect as she is I suspect she might be part feral. There is no cuddling this baby. She's aloof and feisty. Not hostile, just not keyed into humans. The other one is Oscar. For a 7 week or so old kitten he looks like a street wise alley cat. He is dealing with some eye crud, had an ear injury and just looks kinda rough and tumbled by life. Unlike Opal, he is very much into people. He is a darling, sweet tempered little cat. He loves to cuddle and has a purr that fills the room. I fear however that his health is fragile. He doesn't have the robustness that a boy kitten his age should have. And today I got Kate. She's about 5-6 weeks old and mean as sin. More about her another time. That's a good introduction to Fostering Part Two. This is a focus on kittens, which especially this time of year we need lots of. Fall you say? Yep. Cats can have more than one litter in a season and these are the kittens people don't expect. The shelter gets just buried in kittens this time of year. They also tend to be weaker and sicklier because Mom is tapped out from her first litter. Worse yet, they are hard to place. The community is saturated and shelters compete with $25 pet store kittens and free kittens in the newspaper. So - anyway. What equipment do you need to be a great kitten foster home? There are no absolute requirements but here's what I've found works well.

• A cat carrier - the plastic kind most pet owners have. You are probably going to carry them at least twice - at least once to the vet. Most shelters will loan you one.
• A collapsible dog crate - you can use a extra big dog carry crate for this but I've found that the open wires sides and airier nature, plus the collapsability make these ideal. Mine is about 28 inches long and 18 inches high.
• Old towels - these are beds and crate floor liners.
• Fleece - I buy remnants or fleece on sale and cut it into pieces as needed to line beds.
• Shoe or other boxes - these make great beds for babies to snuggle in.
• Very small litter boxes - these have to fit in the crates. Sometimes aluminum cooking liners will work.
• Small bowls - you are going to need to put food bowls in the crate. I personally hate the one piece/two side bowls because they tip and get messy so easily. If you plan to be a foster parent I think it's worth getting the heavy stoneware bowls they sell for rodent type pets for water. They tip less easily. Dry food doesn't matter much.
• Paper Plates - I feed canned food on paper plates. Small plates if it needs to go in the crate big plates if not.
• Sheets - I put the kittens to bed every night at about 10 pm in their crates. Putting a sheet over the crate helps them go to sleep.

More next time about what to do with all this stuff and a great story about an abandoned dog.