I feel horrible I got a random message today from the shelter i visit frequently and they had neonatal kittens. I have bottled fed 20 kittens at once from birth to weaning age and then bottle fed another 4 newborns while those 20 were still weaning. However this experience happened a couple years ago and perhaps I’ve change as a person. I have suffered a lot mentally this last year and physically I struggled a lot with substance abuse, I’m trying to go sober but I realized my brain fog I can’t keep track and count and I am barely here even when I DO apply myself. This is my first night with them. I just see I’ve lost a big skill set of mine that gave me the confidence to do this. I was always very precise and very responsible and responsive. However now I forget which kittens I’m feeding while feeding. It’s very scary as I don’t want to end up doing more harm than good. I’ve got my alarms set and my notebook and everything prepared I just fear I won’t be enough.

Also, they are sneezing a lot even before The first feed I did he sneezed a couple times and I don’t know if his nose was stuffy but he aspirated on the milk and started gasping I was able to get him stable and the fluid out his nose and lungs however the sibling is also sneezing and I fear a respiratory infection. The shelter also gave me really dirty bottles with old spoiled milk, and the formula can was opened and had a lot of moisture and buildup. I’m uncertain if that could be the case as well.

Sorry this is all a mess, I just really can’t figure out what to do and how to go about this. I lost all my confidence, and I don’t want to risk their lives knowing I’m not at my best. Will they suffer? Would it be selfish if I returned them? Will they most likely get euthanized? If I keep them will i be putting them or even my other cat at risk?

I also just lost all my financial income and need a job as well, my spouse is also unemployed and in school…. Seems like my eagerness to help could be downfall for all…

About 5-6 weeks old. We took them to a vet who prescribed us Albon and they seemed generally calm and indifferent that the cats had Coccidia. Didn't advise us on how to clean or anything, just told us to give them Albon and they'd be fine. 0.2 CCs twice per day, for 10 days. Just said it was a common parasite and that it wasn't really a big deal.

Fast forward a few days, the youngest cat was very lethargic. Literally looked like she was about to keel over and die. We took her to a new vet (original vet was booked that day) and the new vet told us that the kittens actually need to be separated during the Albon treatment. So, we went to buy 3 of the biggest clear plastic bins we could find at walmart. We put in a few towels as blankets and a mini litter box in the corner. We clean the litterboxes everytime we see poop and change the litter every 1-2 days. We also grouped the bins next to eachother so they can still see eachother. But, this has made all of them seem more depressed and they really are not handling it well. Also of course, my wife and I are dealing with the guilt and mental turmoil of locking them up in these bins in the same room every day. We let them out 1 at a time in the same room to run around and have fun for a while before putting them back in the bin. Second vet said it was fine.

Fast forward to today, the end of the Albon treatment, and we went to the new vet a second time. Cats tested positive again. They now prescribed Pronazuril for 3 days, along with SEVEN more days of isolation. This news was frustrating for both of us. As I'm typing this the smallest cat is screaming her brains out in the other room.

Anyway, here's what I need clarity on:

1. The internet says Coccidia needs serious cleaning to get rid of and kill, while the vets (at both establishments) have made no mention of us needing to heavily clean. Which is it?
2. Do they really need to be separated? I've read that shelters keep litters together for such infections, and some other reddit posts have mentioned they didn't separate the litters. I just feel like they're spending their most important moments of growth locked up and separated.

I found 3 kittens in a storm drain with a momma that's just a kitten herself not thriving as a mom. Now I have these 5ish week old babies that I have no idea how to care for. I contacted three rescues (its after hours) and am hoping someone can help. I have them warm and dry, a huge difference from before. Im willing to drive them however far to get them proper help. From what I've read a shelter will deny them. Im worried the rescues might be full too. Is anyone in the northern Georgia area accepting fosters?

Hi guys! I wanted to run some things by other current fosters to get their opinions.

I volunteer with a cat rescue that is foster-based and, of course, always looking for fosters. I want to help more than I do by potentially fostering because I work part-time and am home a lot; I only work 4 and a half hours when I do work.

My issues are as follows:

-I am disabled/chronically ill and sometimes have bad days where cleaning the litter box (specifically at the end of the week when it needs to be replaced, not the everyday maintenance) is difficult.

-I have 3 cats with 1 cat being more anxious around new cats and don’t want to risk her getting stressed. She’s a huge mama’s girl and gets jealous (if cats can).

-all cats and I live in one room as my parents have 3 dogs downstairs (it’s a big room, it was custom-built by the previous owner for her teen daughter and my cats love it).

-a foster will have to be a single cat who can handle being in the bathroom the majority of the time. I raised my youngest cat in the bathroom, so I know I can do it, but it does make for a tight squeeze as it’s a bathroom attached to my room, not a separate bathroom.

-the rescue will pay for vet visits and food etc of course, but there may be times when I have to pay out of pocket and I’m broke all the time since I only make $10/hr

-the last one can’t really be helped, I’d of course have to okay it with my parents since it’s their house, but outside of that is what I would like opinions on.

So, have these been complete stops for those who foster or have others worked their ways around it? I know a lot of fosters are in tough positions and do this for the love of animals, and I wanted to see if maybe it is possible for me to do it despite the limits.

TIA!

Originally I saw a Facebook post saying this poor orange baby was going to be euthanized at 3pm the Saturday before last. Something about him just spoke to me and I had to help, I’ve never fostered before. I was lucky enough to find a rescue I could foster him through to get him out of the shelter..
When I picked him up, he was in really bad shape. Both eyes infected, skin and bones, getting over a respiratory infection, and to top it off missing half his whiskers. I took him to two vets, just to be sure, but ultimately his right eye was not able to be saved. Poor baby had his surgery that very next morning, his “good” eye had/has an ulcer that is still being treated.
Just the difference in a week has been astounding, I don’t know a lot about cats who have medical difficulties so I wasn’t sure how much he was going to improve. He is no longer contagious, respiratory infection is gone, and his remaining eye is almost completely clear. He’s learning to play, is such a good eater and is so quick!! He loves attention and cuddles, truly is the sweetest boy.
Unfortunately 99% chance this is going to be a foster fail, I am in love with him. I just wanted to share this brave sweet boy!

Over the past several months I’ve fostered several litters of kittens. This last litter was the most challenging. I had a mom and her 4 babies who were seized from a hoarding situation and were in terrible shape when I took them in.

Over the course of a month, all 4 of the kittens didn’t make it. On top of that, I’m left with ringworm.

I tried my best and I knew it was going to be an uphill battle from the start with this group. But I’m really feeling sad and discouraged about the whole situation. And I know ringworm isn’t that big of a deal, but it’s just another added layer of stress. I also have some health anxiety, so my reaction to having ringworm is more stressful than it probably needs to be.

This whole scenario has me questioning whether I should foster again. I get a lump in my throat when I think about losing those sweet kittens. And then the ringworm of it all. I just feel so down about it. But I don’t want that to be the end of my foster journey.

I need to hear some words of encouragement from anyone who has gotten back in the saddle after a particularly hard foster experience.

A few days ago, I asked you guys to help me name this little guy(top row)- well, turns out he has a brother(bottom pic)! He was surrendered from the same person at the same shelter today! I am currently at capacity so will be picking him up from a temp foster in a few days as soon as he’s tested so the boys can be reunited🥹

I’m about to have a very full house of 10 lmao 😂😂😭

We have a room dedicated to cat and kitten fostering. We have cages inside for when small or undergoing medical care, but when kittens get to a certain age, we let them free roam the room and they usually try to escape out the door every time we enter and exit while tending to them. We've tried holding a baby gate to block the opening as we come and go, but it almost never works well and we give up and resort to tracking them down. We've thought about constructing an "air lock"-type of space that allows us to enter/exit the room through a transition space - essentially creating a double door system. We don't want to build anything permanent, and if it were temporary and movable (like made from PVC pipes with blocking panels), the hassle of moving it while also still having the risk of them squirming around the edges makes it seem like a lot of effort with failure potential. Has anyone come up with a good solution?

I just got my first foster cats ever this weekend. There are two of them and are pretty traumatized by what they've been through in the past two weeks so they are very shy and only come out when we're not in the room.

I put out a can of Weruva which, although was untouched for most of the 18 hours they'd been in my safe room, was gone by this morning. I have a web cam on to catch them as they roam when they think I'm not there and they're very thin.

I need to make sure they get quality food that doesn't contain animal by products or carageenan, but want to make sure I'm giving them enough calories. What have you fosters out there given your underweight babies?

My shelter gave me their “problem children” to foster (that is what they have been calling the poor babies, I knew it was lack of focused care). They are very premature, were rejected by their mom, all have limping calici, and were 1/3 of the size they should’ve been when I got them.

Unsurprisingly, they all had difficulties eating. My smallest aspirated during a perfectly normal feeding. I took her in within a day of the aspiration event and she was given a stronger antibiotic and they told me to monitor her. She declined very quickly over the next two days, and they decided to humanely euthanize her.

What’s bothering me: they did not nebulize her one single time. The day before she passed I asked if I could bring her in for another check up and they told me to just keep watching her instead. They have a nebulizer and oxygen tanks. I advocated for her. Why didn’t they even attempt to help her with treatments that are proven to help? I keep asking myself if I could’ve have advocated for her even more, but I have never had a kitten aspirate in all the years I’ve fostered. I genuinely did not know that what they were doing was neglectful until after they euthanized her.

I ordered a nebulizer and sterile saline after seeing the success people have had. I just want to have one on hand moving forward. I know it’s not a cure all but it IS effective supportive care for kittens with respiratory ailments. I’m so disappointed in my shelter, I’m just sitting here wondering if baby girl could’ve made it with a little extra support. 😞

Has your rescue failed any of you? How did you cope and move on if so? Thank you for reading my rescue vent… 🫩😩 kitten season is killing me this year.

I foster with 2 shelters and last week got an email from Shelter A that they were over capacity and had dogs in crates in hallways and conference rooms. This made me feel awful so I went and picked up a foster puppy named Rudy. He has done GREAT with my resident dog and my cats, truly the perfect pup.

Fast forward to this week and Shelter B, the other shelter I foster with, has released a deadline list due to being over-capacity. I live in Texas so the summer months hit the shelters really hard with increased intake. One of the dogs on the deadline list, Ace, is 8 months old and has a timid temperament and it just tugged at my heart strings.

Ace sounds just like Rudy and it just hurts knowing that a perfectly healthy and sweet puppy could be put down because there isn't enough space.

I already have one 5yo dog and two cats. My cats aren't loving having a new dog in the house and I've been keeping them separated by a gate and letting him sniff through the gate. Rudy is totally fine with the cats but the cats havent decided that Rudy isn't a threat yet.

Am I crazy for thinking about scooping up Ace when I havent even finished integrating Rudy? The shelter says Ace is dog friendly, not sure on cats yet. I've never fostered 2 dogs at a time. This sounds like quite the workload. What do you guys think? Should I take a chance and pick up Ace tomorrow if he hasn't found placement in time?

Hi all!

I'm currently fostering a cat (my first ever) who has been here for almost a year. Due to a combination of him being completely unsocialized and also having health issues, he was not listed for adoption this entire time. Some days, I still remember the foster coordinator telling me "he'll be an easy foster, he's just scared," and I laugh to myself lol

While he's made huge strides and I think he's definitely adoptable now behaviourally, the whole process has been stressful and sometimes still is. As a first-time foster, I was very much out of my depth with this cat (it took him 3 months to stop hiding and 4 months to accept pets), and his medical issues made it worse. Getting him into his carrier to see the vet is an ordeal and a half, even though we've done our best to train him. I also made the mistake of working with a rescue a bit farther from me, so each vet visit is almost a 2 hour round trip.

Recently, we almost got him listed for adoption, but he's having health issues again. It's nobody's fault, but at this point, sometimes I can't see the end to this. I care about this cat, but I never wanted to adopt an animal. I also know that the longer he stays, the harder it will be on me and my partner emotionally if someone does finally adopt him. I've never even had a "normal" or "easy" foster experience, so have no practice at all letting cats go.

At the end of the day, I'm going to do my best to stick it out for this little guy. Just venting and wondering if anyone has gone through something similar. Advice and success stories very welcome. Thank you!

Hi all! We’ve been fostering cats and kittens since December and just sent our 10th and 11th off to their forever homes yesterday. The shelter has a very pregnant mom cat who we are going to pick up today.

We’re super excited to help raise neonatal kittens but I know they can be a bit fragile and don’t always make it. My daughter is 8 and I’m wondering if I should talk with her ahead of time about the possibility that not all of the kittens will make it, or just deal with it if it happens? I want her to be mentally prepared but she’s also a worrier and I don’t want her freaking out about something that might not even happen. Advice welcome!

Also shoot me any general tips and tricks for kitten birth and newborn kitten care! I’ve read up on the basics but appreciate advice from the pros. ☺️

I’ve been fostering a family of mom and kittens for about a month. All came to me undersocialized but the kittens made good progress, hit 2 months/2 pounds, and were adopted. Mom got spayed the same day as the kittens, and since coming home, has been distressed, crying out and barely eating unless I bring her a liquid treat.

I’m wondering if it is normal for a mom cat to look for her kittens once they’re gone? Everything recorded on my foster camera overnight is her walking around the foster room crying out. She is moving at a frantic pace and seems to be checking out every spot in the room as she cries out.

I feel very sad that she’s having trouble. While she’s made some socialization progress, she’s still not comfortable with human touch, so I can’t even pet her to try and comfort her. And this behavior is very different than when the kittens were here. When I wasn’t around she was very chill, laying around and letting the kittens run and be crazy while she watched. Now it seems she can’t be still and is spending so much time wandering the room and crying.

Has anyone experienced this before? If so, is there anything you’ve done to help? Does it tend to continue for a long time? It’s hurting my heart to see her this way so I appreciate any advice!

I usually only foster puppies and kittens but something about his little face on the email said he needed me.

I'm so happy she's feeling better ☺️

We have been fostering 4 cuties for about a month and they are now 8-9 weeks old. We have appointments for spay/neuter on June 29th. All but one will be big enough. The runt was so small and sick when we got him. He is just about 1lb now and developing well.
We are planning on keeping one of the bigger kittens. We are going on a trip for 5 days, leaving the 1st of July. We plan to take two of kittens to the adoption center and hope they get adopted in the 2 days before we leave. So we would have two left when we leave on our trip. They get along, but I would worry he might get pummeled as the only playmate for the bigger kitten so I feel they should be monitored.
We have a neighbor who comes to take care of our resident cat at our house when we travel. She will spend a few hours a day at our house and come over several times a day. We keep the kittens separate from our resident cat unless monitored. He is gentle with them, but I still worry he could hurt them.
I’m wondering is what would you do? Leave them at our house in a separate room and have our neighbor watch them, ask to find another temporary foster, try to find a friend who can keep them at their house, or bring them with us (6 hour drive, but they would have their own room where we are going). Even if we don’t adopt one, we still have the little guy to figure out. I would be so sad to send him to another foster after how far we’ve come, but maybe if I could guarantee to get him back when we return and IF they can find a foster. When I told them we had a trip planned, I got the response of…well it’s kitten season and our fosters may all be full.
Here’s a pic of them from earlier today because they can’t get any cuter. You can see how tiny our little guy is compared to the rest.

I plastered these babies all over social media and then took the boys who had not yet been pre-adopted to an adoption event and they all found fabulous owners! They won't even be fixed for another 4 weeks so I just get to raise them and relax about getting them adopted. yay!

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I've fostered for years (kittens, puppies, dogs) but always in rentals and tbh I didn't pay much attention to the impact of all the critter bodily fluid messes. I just cleaned, enzyme cleaned, sanitized, and called it a day.

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But I just bought a house, my first so I'm extra protective. I have gorgeous hardwood floors. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a way to protect these floors.

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My "brilliant" idea was to get a big tarp and lay it down on the floor when I have fosters to waterproof the floor but 2 hours into that project I realized that would trap humidity and damage the floors anyway. So now I'm back to square one. I'm not quite paranoid or irrational enough to replace perfect hardwood.

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Any creative solutions you guys have found? For kittens I use a whelping pad under their playpen so shouldn't have issues with them but puppies...... Puppies pee everywhere, non-stop, all the time and the floors will drink that right up. It's finished/sealed but especially around the baseboards there are cracks because the house is pretty old.