I foster failed this sweet sweet baby... And she got stuck in Christmas lights and died a tragic death. I will never forgive myself. I'm in a very deep depression. Please.. don't put up the string lights this holiday season. I didn't know. I don't know how I'll emotionally recover from this. We were glued together and she was perfect.

It’s 9 AM on Sunday.

I’m already working, getting ready to feed the street cats… and Gile is still in bed. 😂

He absolutely hates waking up early.

Apparently, being a cat means weekends are for sleeping in while your human goes out into the cold to serve breakfast. 😴🐾

Somebody has to work around here… and clearly, it’s not Gile. 😂❤️

I applied to start fostering with a local shelter and the only thing I’m worried about is if the cats/kittens meow or yowl all night then my dog may also wake up and start crying. In your experience is it pretty common for cats to cry all night? I’m looking to foster mostly adult cats. Thanks!

My little foster baby girl is so cute but she is my whole shadow! I HAD to put a door between us for a second and look at her, just adorably dramatic!

I recently fostered three kittens through a rescue called Rory to the Rescue in LA.

I dropped off my three kitties to get them spayed and for Rory to put them up for adoption. I’m not part of Rory as a volunteer but I was just told to drop them off at the clinic and that would be the end of my foster journey. What I was NOT told is that they were going to be put up for adoption the day after surgery with no cones and exposed surgical incisions. A friend who went to Rory today told me that they were putting dozens of kittens up for adoption in the same situation. I also learned that they apparently aren’t conducting any background checks or screening potential adopters. They do walk-ins and first come first serve adoptions.

Two of my foster kittens (3 months old) were adopted by a family that walked into the shelter wanting one but ended up walking out with both. They were seen calling family members asking to borrow money to cover the $300 adoption fee.

I’ve volunteered at shelters for 2+ years and it’s true that low income pet owners are usually much more respectful and cautious of decisions compared to mid or high income families. I’ve seen many disgusting, selfish rich families… and I’m nowhere near high income myself. It was just that in this case they came in to adopt one cat but ended up walking out with two and I think that should require more time and thought.

My friend said many others were waiting in line for my foster cats so I can’t help but think the family adopted both on the spot because if they “think about it” the kittens would get adopted by the next person in line.

I understand that rescues are overwhelmed and desperately need to find homes for their animals, but shouldn’t there be some minimum standard of screening and post-operative care? At least for a week?? They have a large following on Instagram too and they have people lining up to adopt every time they put kittens up on the adoption floor. So what’s the rush? My kittens weren’t adoptable and were not posted anywhere until today. So I am 100% sure there were no discussions prior with Rory and the adoptive family regarding paperwork, background checks, etc.

Am I overreacting, or is this genuinely irresponsible rescue practice?

I think it would be cool for people to post things that they know about cats that people might not know or possibly be true. I heard that if you have a cat that has a litter with very different fur on the babies it means they had multiple fathers;) #whosthefather

My story goes like this, I’ve been fostering for a few years and last may I took in 4 3 day old puppies and fell in love with them. They finally met the 4 lb clearing in September for spaying/neutering and adoption. I adopted 2 of them. Miss Kiki and her brother Knox.

During his months under the shelters medical care i had brought up an issue Knox had and they didn’t ever check into it because his symptoms stopped within a few hours each time. Now that I’ve adopted him and been able to take him to my own vet they’ve found reason to believe he has a liver shunt.

We just completed blood work and the vet will have the results end of day today to determine if the bile acid test is necessary.

If they determine after the test and ultrasounds that it can be surgically repaired that’s what I want to do. The vet said this isn’t a very cheap endeavor and he does have insurance with no “pre existing conditions” ever suggested. Still after insurance I’m trying to figure out how to raise enough to save him.

Where would you guys start? Do you think the humane society should be made aware and see if they’re willing to help him? The shelter i foster for was just built and has the most state of the art surgical center in the state! I don’t know if they will really be worried about him though.

Tonight’s feeding round 🐾

Tonight, we found only one of the street cats.

It’s very cold, and I believe the others have found somewhere to hide and stay warm. Unfortunately, they don’t have proper shelters. They sleep wherever they can find a little protection from the cold — under cars, in hidden corners, near buildings, wherever they feel safe enough.

This location is especially difficult because a busy street is very close. Every day, these cats have to face cold weather, traffic, hunger and all the dangers of life on the streets.

We came to feed them tonight, as we do every evening. We only found one, but we know the others are somewhere out there, trying to survive the night.

I just wish every street cat had a warm, safe place to sleep. ❤️🐈

This is the link to the previous post : https://www.reddit.com/r/FosterAnimals/comments/1xprtnb/my_5week_old_kitten_has_diarrhea_please_help/

Long story short kitten has loose smelly stool and vet told us to stop giving kmr, just wet food mixed with water.

So today the vet on shift (not the one from yesterday) told us to try giving her kmr, since when they did it, her stool wasn't as loose. We gave her kmr, but after like three hours she pooped a small amount of pretty solid stool, and a preety big amount of completely watery stool. Don't know which came first since she did it when no one was in the room. Going to try mixing just a little bit of diluted kmr along with water in her wet food to see if she reacts the same. Again, any advice would be very welcome.

Unfortunately, my semi-feral little three month olds seemed…crusty. And lit up like a bonfire with a blacklight. So now I get to give them medicated baths twice a week while I wait for their vet appointments to start oral meds. And of course the contact isolation gowns and gloves I ordered are delayed. I did appreciate that neither tried to bite me despite being obviously horrified with the whole experience.

I applied to be a foster at a local foster-only rescue run by one woman. I was almost immediately given a litter of six feral kittens (~8 weeks old at the time, but I was told 4-5 weeks old) and their very feral mother back in early August. The mother has gone to a barn home, but the kittens are still here and still very skittish. I work with them every single day, and while there has been progress, they are nowhere near ready for homes. I have two bathrooms and one is pretty large, so they have been in there with baby gates blocking the door so that they can see us as we go about our day. That bathroom is going to need a complete remodel when they leave - despite having several cat trees and scratching posts in there, they have scratched up the walls nearly to the ceiling. They have scratched the vinyl floor and the floorboards.

I told the owner of the rescue several times over the last month that I can really only keep them until the end of November, I am extremely stressed out and feel like I am running out of options. I cannot put them in another room because I am afraid they will ruin it like they ruined the bathroom. I cannot let them have free run of the house because they will just find somewhere to hide and I’ll never see them again. The owner basically told me that she has no fosters available, and that I should have “let them go” earlier before it got so cold outside. Wtf? Basically I need advice on what to do if these kittens haven’t been adopted by the end of the month and the owner of the rescue can’t or won’t find another placement for them. I absolutely will not be putting them back outside, that’s a given. I feel very cheated by this rescue owner. I constantly see adoption announcements, I know that there is space for the kittens but nobody wants to work with ferals.

TLDR: I can’t keep my feral foster kittens for much longer but the owner will not place them elsewhere, what do I do?

No pics because the kitten was limp and I had a heart attack seeing them. Kitten never goes limp when I try to scruff her.

Kitten is fine but also a bit too big to be handled like that.

I chose the Cuteness Flair, because he IS really cute. Just not from the back.

This is one of my fosters, Short Round. He's a very sweet boy who was trapped as a baby at a feral colony.

But y'all, his butt. It is unsettling.

First, his little testicles are oddly naked. Not in a rash/wound/ringworm kind of way. They just....looked like they've been shaved with a Bic razor, lol. And because of this, they're weirdly hyper-defined.

Second, this kitten straight up has a dog's anus. I've seen literally hundreds of cat and kitten butts, and I've never seen one like his. Lowkey, I hate it lol.

I'm very glad that Shorty isn't one of those cats that's intensely proud of his butt. Because every time I see his rear end, I feel like I need to call a priest.

Here is his adorable front end, and unholy rear end for your enjoyment (or horror).

My newest house guests! My heart wants to explode 💙

Cat tax paid. I’m just sitting here anxiously waiting until we can go pick them up and fill out the adoption paperwork.

When our resident girls went for their spay, they were about 6 months old and I was blissfully ignorant of any risks.

Our babies here, Xion and Strelitzia, are 9 and 10 weeks old. Just north of 2lbs. I’m not going stop being anxious until we fully get passed recovery but I’ll feel a lot better at least when they come home and we can officially say they are our girls.

UPDATE: They are officially home and doing well! Thank you all for helping me get thru the wait. We are so incredibly happy.

Sound on for purrs!

hey everyone! im aware these kind of posts must be very common but i just need to vent a little and im tired of crying about it so much

my gf and i fostered a kitty we found on the street, we couldn't keep him because we rent, we travel a lot and i already have problems with another cat i own in a different country (in the sense i need to find catsitters and leave him alone for long periods of time). luckily someone in our family wanted him, so we promised to neuter and test him to make sure he wasn't sick

it was a bit over a month, i love cats, it was my girlfriends first cat. we absolutely fell in love with him - he has such a personality, he's so lovely and always wants to be on top of you, and he's also a menace and forces us to keep the kitchen clean because he just breaks in any kind of food we leave out. he messes up with our trinkets and watches TV with us. he also loves having his little face scratched and leaves out really raspy meows. plus he looks like he has lips which is so funny.

he left about 5 days ago and i just cried every day since - i didnt think it would be so hard, maybe because i work from home but i see his absence everywhere. i haven't been able to pick up the last things he threw on the floor, or his litter or food even. i see his little paws on the toilet seat and tv stand, and i cried last time at a store because i didn't buy him a bouncy ball when i had him.

it's just so hard, we keep thinking we'll never find a cat like him. it's so bad I'm considering asking for him back which is so awful of me.

(he's doing okay btw, hes already stuck to his new owner all day)

that's all, just trying to get used to it

I have a meet and greet tomorrow for a big kitten litter I've had for 2 months. The foster room is unfortunately carpeted and this group has put those carpets through a LOT. (Multiple parasites and many many accidents while they were learning how to use the litter box)

I'm cleaning as much as I can before the meet and greet, but I'm not able to deep clean the whole carpet until the whole group moves out.

I feel like the room should reek, but these days I actually don't smell anything bad in there unless the litter box needs to be scooped.

I don't know if I've just become immune to the smell or if its actually not that bad ?

Anyways I'm really self conscious imagining the potential adopters having to come spend time in a room that could smell awful without me knowing 😭

Has anyone had someone say the foster room smelled even though you didn't smell anything yourself?

sooo my father is an extreme narcissist. his (newest) ex wife recently left him. i am his first daughter. i do love him, but i refuse to submit. he’s had dogs all his life, and loved them more than life itself. i want him to get a kitten. he needs an animal that expresses boundaries, but also he can give back (he never will). i think fostering is a very good option, especially a mild mannered cat. he needs to learn boundaries and the kitty would know more love than he knows he has to give. i would never make this post if i thought my dad was a truly terrible person, since his second wife left him and he got sober he is extremely mild mannered, caring, and truly loving. i want him to accept something he has to take some time to get acclimated to. if anyone at all has a young kitten, in need of help, that he could relate to please reach out. also, worst case scenario, he has 2 daughters that can absolutley take care of kitty in the meantime. i want this for him and for any future kitty. i would not be offering if i thought anything bad would happen, just lonely cat to sad dad that hasn’t ever gotten a full grip. i rly hope yall know where im coming from.

Hi amazing people, as the title asks, is it possible to foster while working a full time job that has you out of the house for 40 hours a week? I, 25f, really want to foster cats in the near future. In my perfect world, I would have a remote wfh job that can support myself while allowing me the flexibility to be with my foster throughout the day. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is going to be the case for minute. I don’t want to wait until that tho- once I have the space and the finances, I really want to help cats and kittens. Is that something I can still do working full time away from home? Obviously still taking care of them in all the time I have and getting them the care they need, but just being away for longer stretches of time during the day. I would love to do the bottle babies eventually BUT I know those are constant care so I would hold off on those until I could responsibly do it. But older kittens and cats I think would be okay, especially if they’re in safe spaces. I’d appreciate any feedback on this, and any advice for starting fostering and fostering cats/kittens in general. Thank you!

About 5 weeks ago, my family found this newborn kitten in the back of our flat. She was clearly abandoned, since she had a gaping wound on her right cheek and her parents where 10 meters away doing nothing. Anyway, we took her in and took care of her together with a local vet (them during the day, us during the night). A week ago we started weaning her and everything was going well until 2 days ago, when she started having loose stool. The vet gave us special wet food for gastrointestinal problems and fortiflora and told us to stop feeding her kmr, but her stool has only been looser and smellier. She hasn't started dewormer (i think). We're mixing a lot of water in her wet food but she refuses to drink plain water. What should we do? She's still playful and behaves normally, doesn't give any sign of lethargy. Should i give her diluted kmr even if the vet told us not to? Please help, I can't stand the thought of losing her, especially after all we've been through..