Foster a Cat – Our Journey – Day 1

Foster a Cat – Our Journey Day 1





As a Pet Blogger I regularly receive emails about dogs and cats in need help foster a cat, adopt this special needs dog. I get asked to help with food, shelter, money, fostering and I have helped when I can. But honestly I can be more help to more animals by sharing our candid experience with these things so that others can see a true picture of what to expect. So now that we own our own home and have some quiet space not only did we decide to Foster a Cat an her 5 kittens.

Momma Cat Misty and her 1 day old kittens came to stay with us yesterday afternoon. But let’s back up a few weeks to the actual beginning of our Foster a Cat Journey. Even before all the boxes were unpacked from our move I went over to our local Open Admission, No Kill Shelter and told the director that I wanted to foster a momma cat and her babies. He made an appointment with the foster coordinator to come out and visit the house so that we could have our official paperwork filled out. The foster coordinator came out took a look around asked where the momma and her babies would be kept and gave us his seal of approval. The entire meeting including filling out the paperwork took about a half hour. As long as your house is clean and you have a place within it that is at least to the same standards as the shelter would provide you will be accepted.

Then all we needed to do was wait for the babies to be born. In all honesty I could have brought momma cat home last week when I was at the shelter for a meeting but had decided because of the way she was found that I would prefer to wait until after the babies came in case there was an issue. I live about 45 minutes from the shelter and the vet they use and felt that an emergency in the middle of the night racing down the 4 lane (that is what we call the highway) just wasn’t a safe idea. The shelter was more then willing to hold on to her until she had her babies. That momma cat still has not had her babies but in the mean time they had another momma cat turned over to the shelter. Misty decided to give birth before the cat I was originally supposed to foster. So when I called to check up on the status of momma cat yesterday they told me that Misty had given birth sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning and would I mind coming to pick her and her kittens up before they closed for the day.

I put one of the dog crates in the car with a bunch of blankets to keep momma and her babies comfortable and warm during the drive home. That is how our journey to Foster a Cat and her kittens began. Before we left the shelter they gave us the warm mat the babies had been sleeping on, food for momma, and kitty litter. If we didn’t have our own crate or carrier they would have supplied that as well. I took enough food and litter to get us through our first few days and then will go out and purchase more – but the truth is I could go back and get more if I wanted to.

Misty babies first night

Momma did cry and climb around in the crate when we first started moving. I was a little worried but figured they would not send her home with me in the same crate as her babies if they thought there would be a problem. Momma rested a bit and woke up and cried every so often during the trip home. When we got home I put her with her babies in what I call my library. There is lots of open space in there and soft carpet so the babies would not get cold and momma could have space to walk around and know her babies where safe nearby.

Misty babies Day 1

Misty had other ideas and when I went in to check on her and the babies at about 6:30 last night she had moved 3 of the 5 under the bookshelves and as nursing them. I gt her and the babies out and locked her in the crate with her babies for a while to decide where to move them. My crates really aren’t big enough to fit momma, her babies, her litter, and her food, and water all inside which meant finding a room that was big enough to give her some space but didn’t have anywhere she could hide the kittens that could potentially be dangerous. I moved her to the guest bathroom put her food and water and litter outside the crate and left the crate door open. The next time I went to check on them she had moved her 5 kittens to the space between the toilet and the bathtub and was feeding them. I picked them all up so that I could put down blankets to keep them off the cold floor and put their little mat on top of that to keep them extra warm.

Foster a Cat Misty babies Day 1

Momma seems to approve because they have stayed there all day today.



Would you foster a cat for your local shelter if you knew exactly what that would mean?



Foster a Cat Misty Babies Meet the babies


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Comments

  1. Nena Sinclair says

    Omg, they’re so adorable! Way to go, fostering this cat family! I’ve fostered cats and dogs in the past, but where I live now, I’m only allowed to have one cat or dog and I’ve got a cat, so can’t do any fosters at the moment. I’m always looking for fosters, though, and have rescued many cats and dogs. It’s sad that so many people dump their pets!!

  2. Fostering a cat would be hard with us dogs and we have two cats and if we had one with kittens we would have to keep at least one kitten, so not really an option for us right now.
    emma recently posted..Outerspace | GBGV | Wordless WednesdayMy Profile

  3. I’ve been fostering since 2002 🙂 I currently have a mom and her seven babies.

    I generally give the mom a nice cardboard box.. double the size she would take up if she laid down, line it with towels and let her have at it. Sometimes they want a cover and move the babies to the tube scratcher that I have in that room which barely has enough room for her to lay down in but they always make it work. This winter I found a ‘recycle box” that I thought would make an excellent den for mom and babies and it is proving to be just that.

    In the wild the kittens would be kept away from sources of food and waste disposal to keep predators away, so feel free to move the food and what not away from the spot she has picked. The first day or so she’ll spend a LOT of time with them, but she’ll spend less and less as they grow.

    I’m probably telling you things you already know, but if you have any questions I love to talk kittens so you won’t ever be a bother if you ask..
    Connie recently posted..Progress madeMy Profile

  4. Jessica Sala says

    So cute!!!! I could never foster, so kudos to you. I’d never be able to let them go when it was time!

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