Reap the Rewards of Fostering a Feline
We always have an urgent, urgent need for Foster Parents.
Why is fostering so richly rewarding? Because when you take in one or more foster cats, you are personally responsible for saving their lives. Whether you can care for one cat or many, once or frequently, we would love for you to become a Foster Parent at whatever level of commitment you choose. We offer training, guidance, and lots of moral support.
Foster parents have the unique opportunity to personally help our rescued kittens heal both emotionally and physically from whatever trauma they have been through.
Many fosters are cat lovers who are stepping forward to “do the right thing” by homeless cats in their neighborhood. Sometimes these animals come right to our doors…somehow “knowing” where there’s a heart that will reach out to them. They are the cats whose owners moved away and simply abandoned them, not understanding why their home has disappeared, but now must scavenge for food and shelter to survive. They are the kittens born to somebody’s unspayed pet and left in gutters, dumpsters, vacant lots…in the hopes that they will die quickly as a “disposable” inconvenience. They are the kittens delivered by stray cats who are abandoned because their mother is too ill or inexperienced to raise them. They are the cats lost, forgotten, and unanswered for by protective forces.
When one of these animals enters your life, however, it is sometimes hard to change your routine, incur extra food and medical costs, and possibly upset your own pets. Many people faced with homeless animals tell themselves, “It’s not my problem”, “It’s not my fault”, “It’s so sad, but there’s nothing I can do”. Well, fortunately, there is something you can do without making a lifetime commitment.
So why in the world would any sane human being volunteer to be a foster parent for an an animal they don’t even own? Why would someone take on the responsibility for an animal someone else was supposed to take care of but didn’t? Why would anyone want to give up their spare bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, etc. and take on responsibility for a pet they will eventually place in someone elses home?
People who choose to foster do so because they know that if they don’t step up to the plate, the fate of these animals is either sub-par living conditions or death. They feel good knowing they are making the difference, every minute and every day, in the life of an innocent soul; that a few months of inconvenience turns quickly into a rewarding, educational, challenging, and fun experience they will never forget. While it’s true that fosters do get very attached to their animals, they also find a special joy in sending a pet to a wonderful new family.
Many families foster as a way to teach their children about compassion and responsibilty in a creative and collaborative way. We have had parent-child partnerships take on nursing bottle babies or moms with litters, as a tag-team effort with joyous results. Parents who homeschool have also found that fostering is a great teaching endeavor for their family.
Becoming a foster parent can be rigorous, but it is always rewarding! Foster parents agree to take animals into their homes on behalf of the organizations they work with, and care for them as if they were their own pets until they can be adopted to new homes. At the least, this involves feeding, cleaning, grooming, and playing with the animals. Sometimes, however, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for fosters. Because many rescued animals are sick, stressed, or frightened, they may require special care. A frightened or abused animal may require weeks of extra attention and behavioral modification to become ready for adoption.
Fostering is challenging, fun and rewarding. If you love animals, and have the space and time to open your heart to a foster animal, you will find it immeasurably rewarding. Fill out our Foster Application if you’d like to become a foster parent with Kitten Rescue. We provide training and pay for all medical costs! We have all ages, breeds and personalities of cats and kittens which need your help.