My Foster Cats and Kittens
I began fostering cats and kittens for A.D.O.P.T., a no-kill animal shelter, back in May 2008. Six months before that (a week before Thanksgiving), I was laid off from my job after working at the company for 17 years. With all the extra time on my hands, I decided to start volunteering at A.D.O.P.T., first on poop patrol, cleaning litter boxes and feeding the cats and kittens at the shelter, then helping to maintain our off-site cat facility at a local PetSmart and doing adoptions on the weekend. I had indicated a desire to help out with fostering. Several months later, I got my first opportunity when I was asked to foster a young cat that had been adopted but whose new owner was suddenly called out of town before she could pick him up. It was only for a week, and he was a sweet, quiet little boy who loved snuggling. It was a super easy foster situation, and he was absolutely no trouble at all.
I can't say the same for my second set of fosters....12 kittens between 4 and 6 weeks of age. Yeah, I jumped full-on into Crazy Cat Lady mode. From then on, I'd had kittens and young cats on and off year-round. The last set of fosters I cared for from A.D.O.P.T. arrived at my house in June 2011. They included a mamma kitty named Electra and her six adorable kittens. Electra and all but two of the kittens had been adopted by October (I actually adopted one of them). I took the two remaining kittens back to the shelter, where they were eventually adopted together.
There are other shelters and rescues in the area, like Feral Fixers and Fox Valley Animal Welfare League, both of whom I have fostered kittens for. FVAWL isn't a shelter/rescue group. They are a non-profit operating a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and help to get homeless cats/dogs into foster care and no-kill shelters.
My last set of fosters was a group I got from Feral Fixers at the start of the pandemic (Summer 2022). It was, by far, the most stressful fostering experience I've ever had. Between the isolation of the pandemic and the needless death of one of my foster kittens, I'd hit my breaking point and decided I needed to take a break from fostering for a while. I also found that my cardmaking had overtaken the dining room and was creeping into the living room. So, I ended up converting the Kitten Room back into a craft room. Maybe I'll get back into fostering at some point, but I'll find other ways to help for now.
I can't say the same for my second set of fosters....12 kittens between 4 and 6 weeks of age. Yeah, I jumped full-on into Crazy Cat Lady mode. From then on, I'd had kittens and young cats on and off year-round. The last set of fosters I cared for from A.D.O.P.T. arrived at my house in June 2011. They included a mamma kitty named Electra and her six adorable kittens. Electra and all but two of the kittens had been adopted by October (I actually adopted one of them). I took the two remaining kittens back to the shelter, where they were eventually adopted together.
There are other shelters and rescues in the area, like Feral Fixers and Fox Valley Animal Welfare League, both of whom I have fostered kittens for. FVAWL isn't a shelter/rescue group. They are a non-profit operating a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and help to get homeless cats/dogs into foster care and no-kill shelters.
My last set of fosters was a group I got from Feral Fixers at the start of the pandemic (Summer 2022). It was, by far, the most stressful fostering experience I've ever had. Between the isolation of the pandemic and the needless death of one of my foster kittens, I'd hit my breaking point and decided I needed to take a break from fostering for a while. I also found that my cardmaking had overtaken the dining room and was creeping into the living room. So, I ended up converting the Kitten Room back into a craft room. Maybe I'll get back into fostering at some point, but I'll find other ways to help for now.