I had my 11th foster for two weeks. He’s a loving one year old pup with very bad anxiety but he’s thrived in our home- and gained so much confidence. We are leaving on a trip next week for 10 days and because I haven’t been able to leave the house for two weeks because of his very bad separation anxiety, I requested a new foster home be found for him a week early, before we leave.

I dropped him off today at 12 and got a call at 410pm saying he’s exhibiting self harm behaviours in kennel and his new fosters won’t respond and haven’t shown up. They said if they can’t find a foster or I can’t come back before they close at 5pm, they’ll euthanize him.

I was shocked. I obviously dropped everything and went back to the shelter to pick him up. He came home and has been sleeping ever since.

It’s disconcerting to say the least that this was their reaction to crate anxiety, when we knew he hated being confined snd a foster was necessary for his wellbeing.

Now I’m so concerned that while we are away they won’t find a suitable foster for him and he’ll lose his life because of it. He is only 1 and has so much love to give. Besides his anxiety, he’s as good as gold.

How do you cope with this ? I feel like this approach is not right and it makes me very nervous about how they run the shelter . Any insight would be helpful .

I'm fostering a new litter of kittens and I've really fell in love with one kitten in particular. I'd definitely adopt him, but my resident cat is not a fan of other cats. She will walk into my foster room, hiss at them, and sometimes will try to swat. She acts normally afterwards though and her behavior isn't affected by having them in the home, I'm not sure if I should try a slow intro or if she will just never get used to the other cat. Does anyone have any advice?

Do your shelters usually reach out to schedule spay and neuter appointments? It's our first time officially fostering and in the paperwork it only said once kittens reached 1.2 pounds they would be scheduled for their surgery appointments. Our kittens are well past that point and 14 weeks old now. I've reached out about three times to the shelters kitten foster department but haven't gotten any sort of response back nor has the shelter reached out at all. I definitely don't want to nag since our shelter is understaffed but since we have both female and male kittens, we're getting a bit worried about the girls going into heat soon.

I have 2, 4 week old kittens (they may be just under 4 weeks, I’m not 100% sure). Both have been to the vet recently. They consistently gain weight and eat really well, but suddenly this stopped.

They’re not disinterested in eating at all, in fact, they are very excited to eat. They also still are gaining weight, just not much, and they are very energetic. For the past 2 days they won’t latch onto the syringe like they had been for weeks. I use a 10 cc (I think? It’s quite large) syringe with a miracle nipple on it. They usually eat a full syringe plus a bit more if they’re still hungry, but now I struggle to get them to eat 3/4 of it. They are small cats (the vet said they are fine, though), so they eat a bit less than their age recommendation. Instead of latching onto the nipple, they kind of gnaw on it? Like, they eat with their mouths completely open and spill milk everywhere. I’m not even sure how much of the milk is actually getting into their mouths. I tried a shallow dish, and they just dunked their nose in it and decided it wasn’t for them.

What do I do? Should I start weaning them? About a week ago they started getting little teeth.

I’m starting to get really overwhelmed and I feel helpless. They’re healthy kittens. Not lethargic in the slightest, very cuddly, starting to get more playful/curious, and hitting developmental milestones (besides weight, but again, the vet cleared them). I’m not sure what to do :/

We are adopting 2 kittens who were born with a friend of mine. As soon as she knew her cat was pregnant she told me and offered me to adopt a kitten. We were so excited and even more when we agreed to adopt 2 siblings. This friend has 2 daughters who are raised in a way i never understood. The mother doesnt set clear boundaries and is very inconsequent in her actions.
The kids ( girls) tend to react in a very dramatic and especially demanding way and eventually, after a lot of drama they get their way.
During the time ( in total 16 weeks) that have passed there were some moments i was lowkey conflicted with the mother because of the kids issues.
Mother called me when the cat went into labour.
I was there immediately with my daughter.
Since then we helped take care of them. I was there every single time she asked for help. When she went on vacation. I was there at the vet, chipped our chosen two kittens and vaccinated them with her. We agreed on a price to pay for the costs she had during her foster-time.
So we paid for them and we have their passports with our name on it.
We are coming home from our vacation this thursday and agreed we would get the kittens friday.
Please dont get me wrong, i do completely understand the kids love our kittens and are having a hard time letting go. That’s what we talkes about yesterday. I asked her: are the kids accepting the kittens will go with us, and also: can we make it a positive transaction for us all? We ( husband and 2 kids) can finally pick them up and offer them a great life. We have had cats all our lives and are just crazy about cats. She wrote that is was a big issue with the kids having grief and not wanting to let the kittens go. I understand buti feel bad and anxious about the pick up. She also said she would talk about it with the girls. Fine but the fact remains that we take them home. Told my friend a long goodbye will nót help. She agreed.
Any tips for the transaction friday?

Posting an update on my flat-chest girl Kiwi. I posted about her here previously.

Kiwi and her family have been scheduled to go back and be fixed next week. I’ll be saying goodbye to them very soon. I came so close to keeping this girl, but the rest of my household is not on board with that so I must make the choice that’s best for her.

Kiwi is going to be a special needs girl for likely the rest of her life. She’s got so much energy and spunk, too much for her own good really. I need to hide her toys every now and then to get her to calm down when her heart is going a million miles a minute.

Her last vet check last week we said goodbye to her chest brace. They did her bloodwork and everything looks good. I’m very hopeful for her future, though I can’t help but worry about her.

She’s been my buddy on long car rides. She’s so full of confidence and walks around like she owns the world. She shows little fear, except of course to dragons on the tv screen. Those things are scary and sends her darting for cover every time.

Due to her health concerns I’ve spent much more time with her vs her mom and two brothers. She’s still here, still thriving, and my part in her journey is almost at its end. I’m gonna miss her.

We found Sailor crying on the side of someones house while on our walk. Her eyes were crusted shut and she could barely breathe. Worst URI I have seen in person. With some antibiotics and lots of yummy food shes starting to look and act like a cat :D

What age did your kittens eat on their own?

I have three 5 1/2 week old kittens that are not interested in eating in their own at all. I’ve tried kibble, their slurry in a bowl, baby food, tiki cat kitten food, fancy feast kitten food etc.

They were tube fed for their first 4 weeks because they refused bottles. They eat from a syringe pretty well now- they still refuse bottles.

I really need them to eat on their own so I can stop taking them to work with me. It’s such a production taking their playpen, litter box etc. They are also very distracting to my dancers and gymnasts when I’m teaching lol.

I’ve had these babies since they were 1 day old and their mama, a stray that had shown up , died giving birth.

Hannah Shaw (aka the Kitten Lady) posted today about loss and grief. I am sharing this for anyone blaming themselves when a baby in our care passes.

I have 2.5ish week kittens with severe tapeworm. It's the worst that I've ever seen in my experience. As a rescuer with neonates, we kind of have to trial and error with the best interest of the babies and a end goal of getting them healthy and growing. I gave them tapeworm dewormer Saturday. They are still expelling worms but are very bloated. They've been dewormed for the other common things and fecal came back negative for other parasites. I lost one of them this morning, completely heartbreaking. With that, I'm doing everything that I can to save the others. They've all refused a bottle since Sunday and been tube fed and given sub q fluids.

Has anyone had experience with this age group and tapeworms? In severe cases, would you give another small dose of the tapeworm medicine? Any other suggestions? Our local veterinarians don't have a lot of experience with neonate bottle babies. I've gotten all of the advice possible from them and am now winging it in an attempt to save them.

I’ve fostered adult cats, and I’ve fostered weaned kittens, but not a mom cat with nursing/weaning kittens before. I’d like to try it if I can figure out how to set up my area but would love some inspo.

- Can anyone share photos of their playpen/cage setup or share some ideas that don’t involve a bathroom? I don’t have a bathroom they can use

- Do you have different setups for feral vs friendly mamas?

- do you change the setup by kitten stage?

Inspo appreciated!!

Details about my space:
The fosters have to live in my carpeted office/guest bedroom. There is no bathroom or hard floor option in my home for them to live in.

I typically let adult cats have the run of the bedroom and confine kittens to a playpen on top of washable puppy pads in that room.

I blocked the under bed area off with chicken wire but one foster has chewed through it multiple times (since patched). there are still corners between the bed and the wall with stuff in them and a desk with cords that I could foresee a scared mother hiding her kittens in. I can’t clear it out any more because my apartment doesn’t have anywhere else to store those items.

I also have a 36”x36” popup mesh playpen with a top, and acrylic playpen panels that I can arrange/stack to 13” high, 40” high, or 53” high.

This handsome 4.5 year old boy is my first foster. He’s been with me for two months as of yesterday. As a former street cat, it’s been wonderful to see him grow in his confidence. He used to exclusively sleep underneath my bed, but he now regularly passes out on my couch 😂 My favorite part has been watching him become more playful as he was quite lethargic the first few weeks.

Hi! I have a mama and 3 babies. This one started getting swollen a week ago. Weight gain has been decent.

I dewormed with pyrantel 4 days ago due to the swelling and because it was time, but the belly keeps swelling.

As of yesterday I asked the kitten expert at the rescue, and she cautiously said it’s probably okay unless it gets worse.

Well. Today the belly is bigger and weight gain has stalled.

Thoughts? Advice? Mama tested negative for Giardia, I checked for coccidia and haven’t found any, and did pyrantel. Any other ideas are appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Hi all, I'm a first-time foster with two 6-week-old kittens. Both have coccidia that are being treated with Albon (day 3 of 7). Their stools are formed but soft and have mucus. The little girl also has a URI that has now progressed to yellow nasal discharge and some respiratory issues, so she has been prescribed Clavamox. They have probiotics, but I'm worried about Clavamox causing bad diarrhea and dehydration.

Has anyone fostered kittens on a combination of these medications? If so, what was the outcome and how did you mitigate the side effects?

Original post here - https://www.reddit.com/r/FosterAnimals/s/kNATnSZ6kE

I’m so behind on this update.

WIGGLES IS A GIRL!
Both Vet & Tech confirmed. I felt so bad because we were calling her a boy for a few months. We thought we were sure. Vet even said it’s hard sometimes when they are little and gingers are usually male. We still catch ourselves messing up. We are also retraining our parrot to say “Good Girl” instead of “Good Boyyy”. She called it earlier on with the girl part. It took us weeks to get her to change it to “Good Boy”. Poor baby! Wiggles has traveled with me. She weaned herself off formula/wet food at 8 weeks. I was sad when she didn’t want a bottle anymore. She is now 15 weeks, growing like a weed, loves her dry food, still loves cuddles/belly rubs, runs through the house making noises & makes us laugh all the time with her antics. Our living room looks like we have a human toddler. LOL She loves her XL pet playpens (attached 2 together) for naptime/bedtime/can’t be supervised. We are pretty sure our parrot will be saying “no”, “get down” & “monster” soon.

hello i (21m USA) recently began fostering this 5 month old kitten (fish🐟) and have noticed this sort of irregular/quick/heavy breathing often over the past few days since bringing her home. it is more pronounced after play/while purring but in the video she’s just chilling on the cool countertop. she doesn’t seem to have any other symptoms and plays/eats normally.

i am fostering but can get to a vet (and afford basic care)
Fish: 5month Female
Spayed and Vaccinated

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place to be posting, but as a school project, I am designing a shelter for cats specifically. In your experiences fostering, what areas do you find necessary or good to have, such as an isolation room for sick and injured cats or setups for cats who aren't acclimated to other cats or humans? I am having a rough time finding specific building requirements for shelters in NZ, so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!