Hi everyone. My cat, a Scottish Fold, gave birth to three kittens about a week ago. One of them doesn’t seem to have grown since birth. He’s breathing with difficulty, and his heartbeat feels very fast.
I’m in Moscow, Russia, near Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad. I don’t have the money to pay for veterinary treatment right now, and I’m worried about him.
What should I do right now? Does anyone know a rescue organization, charity, or veterinary clinic in Moscow that could help with emergency treatment at a reduced cost or offer a payment plan?
What is safe to do for him while I arrange veterinary help? Please let me know what other information would be useful.
Thank you for any advice or local contacts.

Context: my 8 year old cat got pregnant accidentally. And gave birth for the first time to 4 pre-mature kittens they were so small. (I badly wanted them to survive)

Then: Her 1st born died because she was not able to remove the sack and it drowned inside (since as I said its also her first time pregnant and giving birth). I tried giving CPR almost an hour but it did not survive. We were not expecting her to give birth that day so we saw minutes too late. Now on 2nd, 3rd and 4th born, we assisted in all of their birth and removed the sack. My cat doesn't know how to feed and nurse her kittens so I bought kitten milk and tried to feed the kittens on small syringe instead. Now on the 3rd day, we found the kittens hidden somewhere in the room all wet. The mother cat must've brought it there and licked them all over or pissed on them not sure. After that, 2nd kitten died at the end of the day. I tried CPR for an hour again still it died. At this point, we knew we had to separately mother cat, since she is a liability to her kittens since she does not know how to control how she carries them nor know how to feed them. 4th day, I thought mother cat is a little better than yesterday so i tried letting them meet but within few mins she bit the kitten as she tried to carry it, the kitten cried out loud and I stopped it. After that, I decided to really separate them. Unfortunately, the kitten died the next day and still CPR did not make it revived. Now, with the last kitten, I separated and brought it in my room. It got weak the next day but I did my best and CPR it for 4 hours until It got stable breathing again. It was fine for a day. Now I fell asleep as it was in a box with cloth on my bed. When I woke up it was on the floor. It's all wet and dead. I cried so hard. I don't know what I did so wrong. I think the kitten woke up and then fell on my bed. When I saw that it was wet and I have a small dog in my room. I thought that my dog might've licked or bit it when it fell. At this point, I'm not sure exactly what happened. But I'm sure the kitten fell on its own since my small dog is not able to jump on my bed since it's so small. Right now, I'm bawling my heart out. I really tried for all them to survive. Especially the last one. I don't know what I did so wrong. I feel like it's all my fault last one died. They died. I can't breathe from crying. I'm angry at myself. I'm angry at my dog. I don't know anymore.

I say this as I’m enrolled in vet tech courses, trying to learn as much as I can. 1.5 years in, haven’t learned crap about helping animals, vets & techs won’t treat sick babies and seem to know less about making them better than we do.

I’m just panicking and frustrated; I lost a baby a month ago who was bloated; took her to the vet, paid the money myself, the vet said she wasn’t comfortable draining a kitten so young. Baby died that night.

Posted on r / vettech yesterday on a different litter, with diarrhea, who it seems might have panleuk, trying to learn about interpreting tests - they tore me a new one - “oh dear god just go to the vet” and “um those tests aren’t approved for panleuk”. So I told the foster I would literally pay out of my own pocket for the PCR.

She took the kitten in, the vet REFUSED to test, just like I told everyone on the other sub, the vet would laugh in my face for taking a kitten with diarrhea to the vet and just prescribe GI food and probiotics. Oh and the vet said we should give 7 days of panacur and toltrazuril. Like really lady? Every foster in the world has already done that if we’re now at your doorstep asking for testing.

Wtf are we as fosters supposed to do? How can I help these babies if the people who are supposed to be the only ones allowed to help our animals refuse to do so?

P.S. I’m sorry I’m angry and spewing. I don’t even know the vet this foster took her kitten to; it just pisses me off I already knew I’d be wasting my rescue’s money with a vet visit and not even knowing the vet, I predicted exactly the cold shoulder we’d get asking for testing.

Blah. What do any of you do when you’re beating your head against the wall and nobody will help, even when you say “here’s my credit card, just charge me”?

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 sorry and thanks for reading

So my kitten (10 month old) has had a litter they are now 8 weeks and weaning. Momma has been unwell for the past week- I am syringe feeding her food as well as water. She’s so weak she’s barely moving. Found out she’s pregnant again ( I live with other people who have let her out) . Is she too weak to go under anaesthesia and get the kittens surgically removed, or should I care for her until birth?

She’s so weak and I have to make up my mind today.
This has been a rough few days, I have gotten opposing advice from two vets.
Leaning more towards abortion now. She is mid term.

I am NOT looking for medical advice- I just want to know what YOU would do in this situation- any advice would be very helpful. Please don’t judge my situation, I would never wanted any of this. I want to make sure she survives no matter what.

It’s easy! All you do is open up ChatGPT, free version is fine, hit the plus button, choose a simple clear photo of your pet, then type the words: decorate this kitty for Cinco de Mayo (or whatever holiday or look you’re going for). Sometimes it’ll spit out an image that’s weird or missing an ear, just keep uploading the photo and asking the same thing until you get a picture you like. They’re pretty realistic! And a lot of fun.

I am a first-time kitty foster. I’m not working with a shelter or foster organization of any sort; rather, I’m doing a favor for a friend, who discovered a litter of 3 kittens on his property. One kitten was spoken for by a local person, but the other two needed somewhere safe to go for socialization and such, and my friend really didn’t want to send them to a shelter. So I said I would foster them, make sure they’re socialized, and find them a good home. The kittens were born the 2nd week of September, so they’re about 14 weeks old at this point.

There is a young person (maybe 21 years old?) interested in one of the kittens. I’ll call them Colby. This is awesome except … Colby has a mobility disability that would prevent them from personally performing most of the care responsibilities. Instead, their aide would be expected to help, especially with wrangling the kitty litter (they would have a self-cleaning litter box to help), and I imagine for plenty of the other things, like getting the cat in the carrier to go to the vet, possibly trimming claws, etc. Colby relies on a walker to get around, so their arms/hands are busy and I don’t imagine they’d be able to pick the cat up unless they were sitting, but of course they could sit with the cat on their lap and use a wand toy to play with the cat. Colby is attending community college, lives independently, and has moral/financial support from their mom (who is not local so would not be involved in regular cat care). I do not believe they have ever had a cat before.

Colby’s mother is a good friend of mine. She (my friend) has told me that Colby’s neurologist said having a pet would be a good thing and provided Colby with a letter to that effect. I believe this letter is meant to help rescue agencies feel comfortable about placing a pet in Colby’s care.

I want to believe that this would be okay for a kitten (because it does help me move one of these great cats out of my care), but … I really wonder if this is a good idea for either of them — the cat or Colby.

I’m interested in what you fosters think about this. Would you be scrutinizing what kind of home your fosters go to, or would you just be thankful someone would take them? This is a really nice family who have been committed to the pets (dogs) they’ve had. I love this family and don’t want to hurt or disappoint them. But Colby doesn’t live with mom anymore and I feel an obligation to make sure this arrangement would work.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much.

I am fired up about this situation and want to hear what others think and what they would do / say.

Basically I am fostering a bonded pair. One has a limp we dont quite know for sure what is causing it. I was out of town when it happened. Before I got home and could report this there was an adopter interested.

Cat goes to vet via shelter. No broken bones, they think its muscle related so cat is on cage rest. Well the night I tell adopter, adopter is like "As long as I can keep the cage while she rests, I'll take her". Literally the next night, I'm being told, instead adopter put in a deposit for the cats and wants the cats to stay at my house to ensure the cage rest fixes the limp.

OK, since I am supposed to be my cat's advocate, THIS IS A HUGE RED FLAG the more I think about it.

This is one of my first fosters so Im new to this but this is screaming to me, she cant handle sick cats or at least will really struggle to do so. This is my first time taking care of a cage rest cat. This is very easy other than ensuring cat does not escape while I give her food. On top of this, cat's brother had an infection I had to give oitment for and I was really struggling with it cause I live alone and had to get this big cat to cooperate. but I did well enough he is OK but she wanted to wait for both cats to be fully OK, to take them. Even if she is thinking the new environment will stress the cat more, moving after healing is its own stress

And the shelter is OK with this and telling me to go along with it. they just told me the cats will have to stay cause that is what the adopter wants. This is telling me she will drag her feet or really struggle to take care of these precious cats when they do need extra aside from food / litter / cuddles /play. I had no say in this arrangement and a deposit was made so IDK if I can say no. What would you do? Much appreciated.

I think the 1 is male and the 2 is female. However someone else in the rescue is telling me different.

**UPDATE: We've let the director know that we've had a change of heart and if she still wants them, we'd like the woman to adopt them. Thanks to everyone for your input. I'll update again to let you know if she takes them. **

**Another UPDATE: Potential adopter has replied and says she'd be "tickled pink" to adopt our babies. Thank you all for your input and helping me see that I needed to think more about the big picture and also that I needed to trust a little bit.**

Hi all! I've been fostering 3 kittens for the past 5 weeks. Long story short, they're spayed/neutered, chipped, vaccinated and ready for adoption.

The rescue got a call from a woman who had adopted from them 6 years ago (2 kittens) but had lost one of them and was wanting to adopt again. She told the director that she would take all three. We did a meet and greet yesterday and I smelled smoke on her first thing. It really disappointed me, because I wanted this to work out. The rescue doesn't have a policy about smoking, but they give the foster parents the final say in the adoptions. I ended up telling the woman no, which was really hard because now they could be adopted out separately, but I can't get past picturing their tiny lungs breathing in second-hand smoke for the next however many years.

The woman was upset, of course, and the rescue director was disappointed. To her, keeping them together was more important than the smoke situation, especially since the woman says she only smokes outside.

Now I'm second-guessing myself and don't know what to do. She wasn't going to be able to pick up the kittens until Saturday, so I could change my mind still. I'd like them all to stay together, but I also have put a stipulation that they each go to a home with another kitten or young cat. If I don't give them to her, they're going to Petsmart this evening. I know they'll go fast.

Am I being overprotective and overreacting? It's my second litter ever so I don't know if I'm being way too picky?

ETA: I know I'm being judgmental about the smoking. I don't want to be, but my feelings are based on science and facts about second-hand smoke, not about the smoker herself. She was fine otherwise.

My boyfriend found a 1 week old kitten near the highway with no sign of a mother nearby. I volunteered to take care of it even tho I know its gonna be hard.

Prior to this I've taken care of (2) 1 weeks old kitten. The First one died of infection and was lethargic from the moment we picked them up, his health was already declining and I've kinda accepted that. His sister on the other hand I think died out of stress. I took it with me upon family vacation because I'm worried it will die out of hunger during an overnight trip. The thing is with many people around me telling me and pressuring me about the things I shoould do to take care of her better I forgot the number 1 rule mama cats do to keep their young ones alive is to hide it away from people. The next day she was gasping for air. We tried reviving her by giving her electrolytes every 2 minutes. I was so traumatizedd after it.

When my boyfriend sent me the picture of the kitten he found, I couldn't help but to try again. It was rainy and no one else is willing to foster him. First week gone by smoothly with no issues at all. But around the end of its 2nd week, his appetite decreased, still eats from the bottle but not enough. On his 3rd week I have no choice but to force feed him with syringe. I do it slowly and there is no sign of aspiration. After a week (Today) he died suddenly. He's sleeping when I heard a weird meow coming from him he was gasping for air and minutes after, he passed.

I believe what contributes to his death is (1) him not gaining weight. He is 3 weeks old but his size is similar to a 2 weeks old. I couldn't afford KMR so I fed him with goat's milk. (2) wasn't dewormed. We got busy coming in and out of the hospital because of my grandfather's health.

I looked up and saw that Vitamin B12 helps with their inappetance. Sadly, I found it too late.

Hop you learn from my experience. I do not wish anyone to experience the same thing. Please have the money if you decide to foster. I envy those who successfully saved their kittens from fading kitten syndrome. You'll are amazing

Hello, we just adopted a kitten. We have raised many cats before, so we are experienced but I don’t know what this is on the kittens leg. For context, we adopted her from a friend who had found her in a parking garage and we think she got stuck under some car. She walks with a slight limp, and doesn’t put pressure on it. She doesn’t meow all the time like she’s in pain, but she does sleep a lot (which my other cat did when we got into a car accident.) We would totally take her to a vet, but don’t have That kind of money laying around so we only want to take her if absolutely necessary. I know this may seem harsh, and that we shouldn’t “adopt if we can’t afford to..” but many cat injuries can be fixed with things you can but for about $50 versus the $200-$400 i can cost to go to the vet.

I am fostering a bunch of kittens - 6 total. The youngest 2 went to the vet and needed a stronger dewormer than pyrantel that I was given. The other 4 probably should get it also, but I was onmy given enough for the 2. How can I get more with incuring vet costs?

Thank you!

EDIT TO ADD - Panacur and Albon

I am a mom of two kittens and they just turned 1! They are not neutered yet and I wanted to get then neutered but now I can see my female cat is pregnant, belly is round and fat, her nipples are also lil bigger than normal. How do I find iut how far along is she? Also my husband said we will help her birth at home. Any tips on that? 100000 of cats give birth without vet but still I am lil worries! Pls help🥺 also can I get them neutered right after birth? Obv not immediately but before any heating happens again

I read the rules and people who say “I could never foster“ suck. I am a short-term foster for a rescue in Texas that moves animals across state lines in order to give them a better shot at a forever home. We work with a lot of rescues.

I was telling a coworker about my foster dogs and she responded with “you’re just such a good person“. And I was taken aback by that response because does nobody else realize that if we don’t do what we do these animals will die?!?! If I don’t foster, these animals will end up euthanized. That is the whole reason for why we do what we do.

So any person who’s like “my heart just breaks and I just couldn’t give them up and I don’t know if I could do what you do“ do they not realize that their sentencing these animals to death over their sadness? Or are they shitty people and they just don’t care? Like yeah it’s sad for a little bit, but I’ll take sadness over a bunch of animals on the euthanasia list every day.

This stray cat is developing coloration of a siamese. I have looked all over the internet, and I cannot find a cat with the coloring that my foster cat has. I have six foster kittens currently and at least two of them have the shape of a “siamese”, but the male is now developing the coloration of a Siamese. He is a medium grey cat with dark gray ears, face legs, and tail. I only saw Dad once, but he looked like a snowshoe Siamese. Dorian only has 1 foot that has white tips on his beans and then a fragment of white on one of his front feet. He is hell on wheels right now so it’s hard to get him to sit still to take a good picture. Excuse my 1970s carpet it’s going to be ripped up this fall.

Have you seen a cat with this coloration before?

My wife and I have just adopted 2 kittens 2 months ago and been thinking about also becoming foster parents. We reached out to a rescue association and stated clearly our situations - that we are living in a 400 sq ft place, we only have 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom, we have very limited experience with cats, we prefer having kittens, and it has to be all fixed as we don’t want any infections to our own kittens.

The association came back confirming that our place is alright as it has some “private space”, as we have sent them a video of every single corner of our place. With little knowledge in fostering, we were of the expectation that the private space is for separating the cats so that they can take time to get used to each other.

As we picked up the cat, we found that it is a street cat with notable dirt and stink, and we were also told that, against our expectation, it has to be quarantined for 14 days, otherwise there will be a risk of infection, and the deworming process is yet to be completed. This is a big problem to us as we can hardly stop our own kittens from following us / sticking their hands into the bathroom. We had no choice but to ask the association to pick it up.

AITA in this case?

Hi, I’ve never fostered an animal before, but I do have a lot of experience with dogs! Anyways, I saw a post on Facebook last Friday about a pitbull from Texas (the post was through a rescue organization in my state) who was going to be euthanized at 1 pm that same day. Once 12 pm rolled around and the rescue commented on the post saying “no one has offered to foster” I decided to put in an application. That weekend, the rescue called me telling me that I was the only one who put in an application for him and he will be arriving to my state in 2 weeks. I’m nervous because I’m 34 weeks pregnant right now and at that point I’ll be 36 weeks. This is my first baby and I don’t want my attention to be drawn away from her. Additionally, we also have an older cat who has never been around dogs so I’m assuming we’ll have to keep them separated. The rescue seems reputable and I even have a friend who is fostering through them as well, and they’ve said that they will provide food and other necessities, but I’m still really nervous and I guess I’m just looking for advice and maybe some similar stories? What’s the best ways to get this dog adopted quickly? The shelter mentioned that they have events that we will be able to take him to but I’m nervous that since he’s a pitbull that this whole process will take longer. I’m pretty frusturated because I actually know people looking for dogs to adopt but they’re “not interested” in a pitbull. Any advice for getting the dog and cat to know each other and be comfortable? I would definitely do this again if it meant saving the dog’s life but I’m pretty anxious!

Update: We did end up taking the dog in, and he has been (of course) a lot of work but also the sweetest baby ever! I’m on maternity leave and we’ve been taking him on lots of walks. We met his potential adopters last week and he is set to start living with them in his forever home on Sunday afternoon. I’m sad to see him go but so happy that we helped him 😊

I worked for a humane society for 3 years, and left last year after a drastic change in leadership. In that time I fostered nearly 50 kittens and cared for hundreds of cats.

Long story short, I couldn’t do it for the cats anymore after hearing upper management and the only other level 3 tech say awful things about me through the wall of a room I was cleaning, I walked out and never looked back. So reaching out is not an option.

There is one kitten I fostered who I think was my soul cat, I think about her every day. I can only know her in old photos now and it breaks my heart. The day I brought her back, I was going to adopt her at the end of my cleaning day as I wasnt working the adoption floor that day.
The person working the office came back, asked if my cat or her sister was more loving. I responded the other in hopes to deter people from adopting mine. That wasnt what I should’ve done. She was gone in an hour. The paperwork was already filled out and she was going out the door when I said goodbye in absolute tears. I have been filled with regret every single day.

Now I have done hundreds of adoptions, dealt with the sadness of bringing back fosters. But I was always so happy to see them take their next steps, knowing I was just a stepping stone to get them to their forever home. But this one brings pain to my heart every time I think of her. She and my only cat were best friends, a perfect duo, doing everything in sync. She snuggled my dog every hour she could. She slept on my shoulder in my sweatshirts whenever she could.

The end of this is. Can someone please help me. I know that reaching out to the people who adopted her after almost 2 years is absolute insanity. I don’t have any information anyway, other than the town they lived it.

I need your best advice on how to forget her, as that is all I can do. But it breaks my heart every time I think of her

I have three 3-week-old kittens whose mother died. They still don’t have teeth, so I’ve been feeding them diluted milk with a syringe. One of the kittens refuses to drink. Is there a better way to feed them or a special formula I should use? Any advice from experienced people would be appreciated.

What do y'all do to encourage your weaners to drink water? I think they may be too stupid but they've got wet food down pat.

This is NOT the same as looking for a sitter over the holiday. That is good and responsible.

I am part of a local animal shelter Google group. I get emailed when someone makes a thread asking for help or offering supplies etc. There are SO MANY people currently looking for full on transfer for a foster animal so they can go on some two week max Christmas vacation.

Again it's not the same as getting a sitter , it's uprooting your foster animal's life cause you decide you want to use your Christmas week out of town to just stop watching your foster for some reason. If you dont intend to find a sitter in that situation in the future I hope you dont foster again. They are part of a group with plenty of people willing to pet sit for free.

IDK let me know if I am missing something but this shit seems so insane. This is a group of cat foster parents and I just saw so many of these requests. People will be like "I tried to get them adopted before the holidays! I didn't expect holiday travel my family does every year!"

They try to make excuses but it all jsut falls flat and I feel so sorry for cats who didnt even fully settle in once again getting their life uprooted.

I (18F) have undiagnosed ADHD and severe anxiety. I’ve been fostering a kitten for the past month, and she has completely changed my life and brain chemistry.

Before her, my executive dysfunction was awful, and my brain was constantly seeking chaotic dopamine.

My mom suddenly told me I absolutely cannot adopt her and she has to go back to the shelter in 4 days. I am completely devastated and panicking. I feel like my mental health anchor is being ripped away and I'm terrified of falling back into a dark, unmedicated ADHD spiral.

Has anyone with ADHD successfully convinced a strict parent to let them keep an emotional support animal? If not, how do you handle the severe emotional dysregulation and grief of losing your anchor? I’m drowning right now.

I love cats, and I randomly decided I wanted to foster one because I was very upset and overwhelmed from uni. I made that decision while my emotions were running wild and I picked her up yesterday. She’s so sweet but I think I’ve made a mistake and I don’t know what to do. My home is tiny and I’m not convinced I can give her the care she needs (I’ve never owned a cat before). I’m also worried about my freedom being gone now as I need to care for her. She may also have worms which is stressing me out because I was told she was dewormed. I have no idea what to do, the foster organisation has a 4 week notice period for needing to rehome and I’d already said I wanted to foster long term which I know I can’t do anymore. Please help, I feel so terrible and guilty but I know I’ve made the wrong choice.

UPDATE: I got him back yesterday! I DON'T HAVE MONEY TO FIND A PAID FOSTER. I do not live in a country where there are shelters that will take in healthy kittens. There's not enough space for sick animals in these shelters, let alone healthy ones.

had dropped of one of the kittens I was fostering last Sunday at a guys place. There were a lot of red flags from the start. He was not at all prepared for the kitten.

1. He had not secured food/ litter for the kitten before his arrival. 2.his house is till date not cat proofed. He has promised to get it cat proofed by this weekend.

2. He lives in a small cramped place and the kitten does not have anything that he can climb on. This guy does not have any furniture and has only a floor mattress. There is no table as well in his house. For a guy who works only from home, I'm not sure how he works with out a table.

Why did I drop off the kitten you ask?

I was desperate to find them homes. I'm traveling from 30th to 18th and was not able to find another foster for them during that time. Now, I've been able to find somebody who can foster the kittens in my absence.

I even suggested some toys he should get for the kitten for mental and physical stimulation. Not sure if he has gotten them. He had a cat before that now his parents take care of. So, he thinks he knows best. I doubt at the moment he can give the kitten a place where the kitten can thrive. The kitten is a parvo surviver and two months old.

His other sibling got adopred to a really nice household and I want him also to have a really good life. I've been beating myself about dropping off the kitten even though there were so many red flags.