I love her and she is incredibly sweet but I just can't keep her. She never uses her claws, and never bites. She is barely over a year old, spayed, and up to date on all her vaccinations. I'm in downtown area. If anyone knows where I can take this kitten please let me know!
i wish i can foster fail :( would love to see pics of your foster fails to feel better!!
I do not have her yet, she is supposed to be a she, I will be keeping her until she gets adopted.
The little girl was abandonned by her mom/family and was found on a woman’s porch. The woman is leaving on holidays tomorrow.
A few ideas :
- Bandit
- Pinceau
- Prunelle
- Sépia
- Pirouette
- Kit Kat
I have to be quick as she will be going to the vet tomorrow and make it official !
Oh and she is French if you could not tell 😉
Sailor was found on side of house with eyes crusted shut and was having difficulty breathing. She was bone thin and not eating from not being able to smell. We slowly syringed churro in her mouth and made it to the vet the next day. She said there was a good chance 1-2 eyes would be lost. Her eyes are almost back to normal and shes such an active and lovable cutie. We are so thankful we found her and thankful the shelters didnt take her because it allowed her to heal her and give her a loving home.
I have a 6 week old kitten.
Found 8 days ago. Been on pate kitten food mixed with water into a gruel ever since. Fed 5 times a day every 4-5 hours. KRM gave bad diarrhoea and he loves the pate so I believe he’s just fully weaned already. Steadily gaining weight. Has been de-wormed and de-flead and also taking antibiotics twice a day for a respiratory infection.
The introduction of KRM and also when given a churu treat led to diarrhoea, so I’ve been introducing dry food after pate meals only a couple of times a day, for the last 2 days. But he likes it and his poop seems okay so far.
At what point would you reccomend leaving the dry food out constantly? I don’t want to upset his stomach, or him eat too much as he is still fragile, but from consensus on Reddit it’s that he should have it 24/7 available at this age?
He is undergoing socialisation training with me as he was feral so I don’t want anything to hinder his progress either.
Thoughts please? Kind regards 🤍
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Hi! I'm fostering a semi-feral mother cat and her three male kittens, and I'd really appreciate input from people experienced with adult feral/semi-feral cats, especially moms.
This is a bit long, but I want to give the full context because I'm struggling to understand whether what we're seeing now is normal decompression or whether separating her from her kittens has negatively affected her.
About mom:
Rhea is approximately 5 years old and has lived outdoors her entire life.
We know she has had at least three litters before this one. We managed to neuter one of the males she was breeding with in the area, although obviously we can't know whether there were other males in the places she travelled to.
She is now spayed as well.
She wasn't living in an established cat colony. She came from a construction site/field-type area.
I'd describe her as semi-feral, although very much on the fearful end of that spectrum.
She will slow blink at us, but if we approach her she hisses/spits very intensely. She has never charged, attacked or swatted at us. Her response to humans is essentially avoidance and fear rather than offensive aggression.
She does not allow touching.
She won't take treats from our hands.
Even on vet-prescribed gabapentin, we cannot approach closely enough to pet her a lot (just a bit). One of the biggest improvements we saw with gabapentin was that she became comfortable enough to eat while we were in the room and to sit much closer to us for example when we were playing with the kittens.
So when I say that she seems "shut down" now, I don't mean that she used to be affectionate or playful with us.
The kittens
She has three boys who are now approximately 14 weeks old.
They're extremely active, eat a lot on their own, play, clean themselves and are making progress with us.
Two approach us quite a lot from the start. They still don't particularly enjoy being touched, but they're curious and very willing to interact.
The third will play with us but absolutely does not tolerate being touched yet. This one was copying mom's behavior the most, hiding with her.
As the kittens became increasingly comfortable approaching us, mom was very anxious about it. It felt like she wanted to monitor/protect them but was also far too frightened of us to actually come close.
She mostly watched them.
She would play with the kittens herself, but never with us in the room (only at night).
Their first 14 days indoors
Mom and the kittens spent their first 14 days indoors together.
They were housed in our kitchen because we have another foster cat in the house who has recently finished treatment for chronic bronchitis, so keeping them separated from her was important.
Unfortunately, the kitchen also contains our washing machine, air fryer and dishwasher.
We immediately moved our air fryer to another room when we realized how terrified mom was of the noise.
We found a very quiet setting for the dishwasher, but we can't relocate the washing machine. Even on the lowest spin speed, the spin cycle frightened her badly.
Our vet prescribed daily gabapentin for her, and we did see improvement. She became relaxed enough to eventually tolerate the machine.
She still didn't want any interaction with us herself.
Then the kittens got sick with conjunctivitis.
Around day 14, all three developed eye symptoms. We took them to the vet and they were diagnosed with herpesvirus/conjunctivitis and prescribed treatment.
Because they're still spicy about handling, giving the medication means catching them and making kitten burritos to safely treat their eyes.
This was extremely stressful for mom to witness.
Whenever we had to handle/restrain a kitten for treatment, she would run away and hide inside a box.
The kittens themselves also hide afterward but they recover and go in play mode. They play, eat extremely well, interact with us and generally seem completely fine aside from needing their treatment.
Why we separated them
After discussing everything with our vet, we decided to separate mom from the kittens.
The reasoning was that the kittens are already around 14 weeks old, eating independently and need regular treatment and human interaction.
Meanwhile, mom was adjusting to indoor life for the first time at ~5 years old, to humans, dealing with unfamiliar household noises, monitoring three extremely active kittenss, watching those kittens increasingly approach humans she is terrified ofw and seeing us restrain them 3 times a day for medical treatment
We wondered whether removing the responsibility of constantly monitoring her kittens might allow her to decompress and start adapting to indoor life at her own pace.
Our biggest ope, if possible, is eventually to socialize her enough that she could be adopted.
However, we're also trying to be realistic about what is fair to a ~5-year-old cat who has lived outdoors her entire life. We don't want to force months of extreme stress on her simply because we would prefer an indoor-adoption outcome.
Mom has now been separated from the kittens for 5 days.
She is in a different foster home entirely, so she cannot see or smell her kittens.
There are two resident cats in that home, but they do not enter her room.
Her foster has provided multiple safe hiding places and is giving her space.
For the first few days after separation, mom meowed/called for her kittens.
Now she spends almost the entire day hidden.
She mostly comes out at night.
She doesn't play.
She doesn't really explore while people are present.
Sometimes she seems to simply sit and stare.
She is eating, drinking and using the litter box normally.
The kittens, meanwhile, appear completely fine without her. They're playing constantly, eating extremely well, interacting with us and continuing their treatment.
The part I'm struggling with
Before separation, mom wasn't comfortable with humans either but she didn't spend time hidden and staring into nothingness
She already explored primarily at night.
She never played with us.
Her main daytime activity seemed to be watching and monitoring her kittens, and she would play with them.
So I'm wondering whether what looks like "shutting down" is actually just the absence of the kittens revealing what her baseline behavior around humans currently is.
Or did we remove the only source of security/familiarity she had in an environment that was already terrifying to her?
It's only day 5 in the new foster, after only 14 days indoors before that, so I realize this is an incredibly short amount of time for a 5-year-old semi-feral cat.
For experienced feral/semi-feral fosters, I'd really appreciate your thoughts:
Would you consider this behavior normal at day 5 after both separation from her kittens AND moving to a completely new environment?
Would you continue the separation and give her more time to decompress, or would you consider reuniting her with the kittens after their treatment is finished?
Could her kittens have been functioning as a social buffer/security blanket, or could keeping them together actually make it harder for mom to adapt because she's constantly focused on monitoring them?
What specific behaviors would you use to distinguish "terrified cat decompressing" from a cat whose welfare is genuinely declining in foster?
How long would you personally give a cat with her background before evaluating whether indoor socialization is realistic?
This is probably my biggest question:
We're not expecting her to become affectionate in days or even weeks. Slow blinking at us and eventually eating in our presence already felt like significant progress!!
I mainly don't want to mistake "this cat needs much, much more time" for "this cat is miserable and we're pursuing the wrong outcome for her."
Our priority is her welfare, even if the best outcome for her ends up being different from the indoor-adoption outcome we originally hoped for.
I'd especially appreciate experiences from people who have fostered adult semi-feral mothers after their kittens were weaned/separated.
I have a 3 week old kitten I’m fostering for a shelter. To put it simply, I think he’s miserable. He fights the syringe and bottle so I’m practically force feeding him (I go very slow and carefully so he doesn’t aspirate. Feeding takes up to an hour!) I know he hates his feeding sessions because he mews and tries to back away from the syringe every time I feed him.
Then, every time I try to hold him he’s mewing and trying to squirm away, like he doesn’t like human contact. I feel like I’m raising him for failure, and that he’s gonna hate people when he’s older because of me ): I’ve tried spending a lot of one on one time with him and grooming him with a toothbrush to make positive associations, but it’s just not working.
Has anyone else had spicy bottle babies? What did you do? Any help is appreciated!
I picked up two foster boys the other day, about 5 weeks old. We were told they had a URI and eye infections and that one kitten was a bit more sickly but nothing about fleas nor given medication. Today I was giving one of them a bath since he had laid on poop in his litterbox and he has fleas! Which means they both have it. They have been separated from our other cats since day one since they're sick, but I'm beyond paranoid about my other cats getting it through my shirt or smth. I have never dealt with fleas before. I messaged the shelter but they're super out of the way so it's hard to get back unless it's shot days. Please give me your best tips, sincerely, a new foster parent who decided to specialize in medical emergent bottle babies 🥲
Hi there I was a serial cat/kitten foster mom until I finally adopted my angel 1 year old cat named Princey 4 months ago. He’s 1.5 now and has the sweetest personality. He’s naturally fearful from the shelter because he hid the first 3 days when I had him and I had to throw out my stainless steel litter box because it gave him flashbacks to being in the shelter cage and he refused to use it but he completely warmed up very quickly after his 3 day hiding stage and he’s the kind of cat who loves following me around and sitting very close to me wherever I am.
I really miss fostering though and would love to foster another kitten for a few weeks before kitten season is over for the year in NYC when it gets colder out. I’m just wondering if you think this will be harmful for him in any way? He’s so sweet and I would love to see him interacting with a kitty I think he would be so sweet and nurturing to them based on his personality but I’m just wondering if he will get extra trauma if I don’t end up adopting the kitten (I probably won’t because one thing about my adopted cat is that he almost never meows and I don’t think my boyfriend wants me to adopt a kitten who will potentially be meowing a lot in the morning, also there will be more chaos of course).
Anyway please let me know your experience with this and if you think it’s a good idea for me to foster a kitten, and if you think it will be harmful emotionally for Princey in any way. Also if you have any advice to make them both as happy as possible while fostering. Thank you!
I’ve got two 10 week old girls who I think are bonded, but I’ve heard a lot of conflicting opinions on whether kittens can be truly bonded, so I came here to ask what the community thinks on the issue!
My girls were originally in a litter of 5 but the litter was split up for reasons unknown to me. Their original foster kept 3 and I responded to a blast requesting a foster for my little ladies. They had ringworm and were quarantined together for about 4-5 weeks. Now they sleep together, eat together, play together, and groom each other. I’m an experienced kitten foster and know this is all very normal for siblings. HOWEVER, what’s having me believe that they’re actually bonded is that they FREAK OUT when they realize they’ve lost sight of each other. They start running around meowing for their sister and won’t stop until they find each other. I’ve got other kittens at home, which they will play with, but they almost always prefer to play with each other and leave the other kittens once they realize their sister is open to playing.
In my experience, kittens don’t truly bond in the way that adults do. They’re generally not going to be heartbroken about going to different homes and adjust quickly once adopted. That being the case, I’d usually have no problem splitting kittens up and I’ve done so with every other litter I’ve had, but these girls seem different… kittens will normally be okay being separated from their siblings after a few hours or days apart, but these girls just won’t allow themselves to be separated even for a few hours!
Do you think they’re truly bonded?
I was given four feral kittens to foster. They said that their eye infection had been taken care of and I was told that they were healthy but needed domestication. Within a few days, a kitten's eye started to water and I was told I could use the ointment I already had for my own cat. (I checked in before I introduced ANY medication.) The eye got progressively worse. I mentioned that the kitten might need to see a vet. They dropped off some OTC drops. Next day- eye is worse and kitten is wheezing. I again mentioned taking her to the vet and I asked if I could give the kitten antibiotics that I already had. They said yes. Two days later, no change. Again, I say that the kitten needs to see a vet. They make an appointment. The dr. tells me the eye is gone! What? I am devastated! If that was my kitten, I'd have gone with my gut and taken it to the vet. I feel horrible. I can't stop crying. I know charities are limited in funding, but given my concerns, I feel like more could have been done. (Not to mention interrogation I received from the vet and the lecture I got for using other cat's meds on this one.) I can't see myself letting go of this kitten because something horrible happened to it-on my watch and I'm scare to foster again.
Hello, I am new here as well as new at fostering. I took in an 8-10 week old kitten at the beginning of June (poor baby was thrown from a moving car). She was very cuddly at first, then only wanted to play. She gets along with my two smaller dogs (although they are scared of her sometimes but do still cuddle with her) and she always wants to play fight with my older cat. My older cat is not a fan, but sometimes it is hard to tell if she is enjoying it because she will follow the kitten to play fight some more.
Now has come the time for this little munchkin to get spayed and will also be posted for adoption. She is my first foster so I am torn and slightly devastated. I have definitely grown attached. She has recently started cuddling with me/curling up in my lap and accepting affection from me, which doesn't help. It was easier to let her go a couple of weeks ago when she was tearing everything up, like kittens do haha. It has been difficult to trust the process in knowing that she will go to a good home and will be loved. I worry for her, but also consider that four animals may be too much for me to handle by myself. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle your first foster? Especially when the time to be put up for adoption has come?
Hi all! I few days ago I made a post about my two babies (mainly about Cassie, the calico). They were really sick, vomiting, "crashing", etc. After I posted, Cassie's sister, Chloë, started going downhill. She also became weak, lethargic and also seemed like she was dying (looking back I think they were fainting or going in shock, however I'm not 100% certain). We went to the vet again (as some of you had advised) and they got sub q fluids, a vitamin shot and an anti nausea shot. The vet said it was likely a viral infection impacting the stomach. We were given some antibiotic drops and we were advised to watch them closely and to make sure they eat (both of them lost weight). I am so incredibly happy to report that both of them have been symptom free for over 24 hours now!!🥳🩷 They are currently having the zoomies while I'm typing this, lol. Thank you all so much for your advice and support, it is truly appreciated!! It helped us navigate this difficult journey. Much love from me, Cassie & Chloë!! 🩷🩷
This is Cashew , Almond and Pistachio. I had them for over a month. They all eat and drink but have been eating less since I had them. They play but lower energy too. Diarrhea on and off. Puking once a day or every other day. Losing weight. Acting okay. They have a vet appointment Thursday. They're all in their own room separated from my other cats but how easy is it to spread to my resident cats because I walk around in the same shoes and the kittens have escaped their room but I grab them as fast as I can and move them into their room. I'm paranoid because online says how easy it's to spread and how I have to disinfect everything. You think my resident cats will be okay as long as they are kept separated?
My kitten is extremely sick and I'm running out of time and options. I apologize that this isn't a foster situation, but this seems to be the only group I get genuine replies and help from. I adopted a seemingly healthy 12 week old kitten 5 days ago with all vaccines / shots/ etc. fully updated. She has been a super sweet perfect angel. The first day, she was non stop purring and making biscuits.
Over these past 5 days, we've had non stop vet visits. She's been refusing to eat, and now refusing to drink as well as having severe diarrhea and vomit. The third night is when I noticed worms in her stool which I collected and brought to the vet the next day for testing. She was dewormed again, given fluids, b12, anti nausea, etc. and we were then sent home. This was a huge red flag to me, seeing as the vets kept sending home a kitten who hadn't eaten for multiple days.
After giving her some time for the treatments to work, she vomited again and has continued refusing to eat, as well as strange behavior in the litter box such as vocalizing and switching positions. Thanks to another commenter on here who helped tremendously, we began syringe feeding her which was previously impossible.
This morning I took her to the vet again, but the bills kept piling up and I couldnt afford them. I'm a 22 year old recent graduate, and I also felt like these vets just weren't listening to my concerns or treating the most dire issue which is that she hasn't eaten for several days and needs nutritional support. They sent me to another vet recommended by the rescue organization we got her from for more affordability.
I brought my mom with me because she's kind of a Karen and I thought her skills could be useful in getting someone to hear me out. This vet showed the genuine concern for my kitten that I'd been hoping for, and decided not to keep giving her more fluids and meds and just hope they work and send me on my way. I expressed all of my concerns, including that I cannot keep syringe feeding her forever. It's extremely difficult because of how feisty she is, it's keeping me up at all hours of the night, and I haven't been able to get a single thing done for nearly a week because of the care I must give this kitten. I'm so stressed out and incredibly emotional over this. I can't even imagine how stressed out this poor kitten is between all the vet visits and forced feedings.
Like I said, my mom is a Karen, and requested that my kitten stay over night and receive nutritional support. This vet doesn't do over night hospitalization, but decided that they will for my kitten due to her condition. The rescue organization and my mom are helping me cover these costs luckily, so she was worked up today with a blood test, another fecal test, and an X ray. Essentially nothing but the worms that are almost done being treated had come up in these tests and I'm becoming extremely concerned. It feels like there's no explanation for this, and I'm at such a loss. My poor kitten has become so sleepy and skinny despite 4 vet visits full of treatments and tests. She was originally 2.4 pounds, and is now 1 pound 15 ounces.
My heart is broken for this little kitten who seemingly just has worms but has not been receptive of any of the insane amount of treatments and deworming she's been through. She's at the vet for tonight being carefully treated and worked up, but I'm so scared to receive a call that she won't make it through this. Part of me thinks she can't heal until I've named her, which sounds insane but I am literally going insane. Her name is currently Betty which I adore, but I'm also leaning towards Sabrina or Daphne. Please help me name this sweet baby and give me any reassurance/ tips/ information that you can offer. I appreciate you all <3
As the title says, this is Meatball. He is absolutely the most chaotic ball of dryer lint I have ever met. He had a hard start to his life, but we has made leeps and bounds since then.
His story starts in a cardboard box with his sister, Spaghetti, found on the side of the rode with no markings to tell you they were in there. Someone spotted them and brought them to the shelter, where I was promptly contacted to come pick up these approximately 4-day-old kittens. They were teeny tiny little nuggets, and they scared me at first because I lost my first baby this year, and I was scared to lose another. Well, this first night was a true struggle. Meatball aspirated everytime he would eat, so I finally figured out he has to eat vertically instead of on his belly. Once that problem was worked out, then we had massive diarrhea, and his sister started failing to thrive. This guys kept me on the ropes, and there were many tears. Things finally started to look up for our little boy, but his sister was still worry some. After many, and I mean many, trips to the clinic, we were on the right path. He was gaining weight like a champ, and his sister was also starting to turn a corner. Then, as we are starting to wean, and we got the diarrhea again, but not as bad as last time.
Well, this Saturday is where our story ends, but his beginnings. He is going on a sleepover this weekend with his new family, and while I know there's a chance he could come back, I honestly can't believe someone would actually say no to this little guy. I cried when I got the text that they found someone for him, but I am excited for this new chapter for him. He is my cuddly boy who loves to pull your face on for a kiss, and maybe a little nibble. I will miss him with my whole great, but I know there are other babies out there that need my help just like him.
I love you, Meatball, and I can't wait to have these last few days together be for you go off to your new normal. They might have you for the rest of your life, but I had you when you needed someone the most.
Tldr: I took this guy in when he was a few days old, and we struggled at first, but now he is amazing, and I have to give him away. 😭😭😭
Hello everyone, i am thinking of applying to foster a cat, but i have never had a pet before. I have of course done lots of research however because of this my ideal foster would be a healthy cat with no special needs that just needs a calm place before going to its forever home. Is this something shelters do? Ive read up on fostering and it sounds like often its done to rehabilitate a cat medically or behaviorally. Because i have no experience i would be worried to take in a pet like this and accidentally do something wrong.
I saw somewhere say that shelters often only allow these sorts of fosters if someone is thinking to adopt the cat and wants a sort of trial period, has this been true in your experience? While i would love to adopt a pet, my long-term future is not certain enough for such a long commitment right now and i do not think that would be responsible.
Kiwi is my cat, now and forever. I really thought I could give her back, move on like so many cases before. I dropped her off with a goodie bag to take to her future home and tried to smile. But later seeing her listed for adoption felt wrong. This is my baby. I emailed the rescue pretty quickly and was so relieved when they emailed me back that they’d make her as adopted and would see me later for pick up.
They had me fill out the medical waiver, acknowledging her grade four heart murmur, squished ribs, and dented back. But she’s not currently needing any special care, just a perfectly happy little kitten.
Her brothers have each been adopted by separate homes though her mom is still waiting.
(Mama kitty is so sweet, but a little shy. She also hated my dogs. Fingers crossed she finds a quiet home where she can build her confidence and be cuddled as much as her heart desires.)
Kiwi is so happy to be home again and follows me everywhere. She loves to play with the smaller two dogs and tries to get the older cats to play with her to mixed results.
(hey i just want to start of by saying thank yall. its so good to learn from experienced people on this matter.)
long story short: we found him and locals told us his mother was absent for three days at least. he was covered in fleas and was extremely underweight. he was 200 grams at three weeks old.
its been almost 3 weeks since i got him. so that makes him about five weeks old. he's been doing good. his bladder infection is gone thanks to the antibiotics but i have a diffrent problem now. his huge belly.
i dont remember him having this big of a belly a week ago. he is growing up fast but still weights less than he should (375gr). he started weaning and now he can eat dry kitten food confidently. i always assumed his belly was because of worms but vet told me he was too young to deworm. now i saw couple of people sayig kittens can get dewormed as young as 3 weeks old so i didnt understand the vet but didnt push it untill today. his well being was okay besides the belly. i know its not poop because he poops a good amont each day and im hoping its not fip. thats my worst case scenario and though he doesnt show any affects besides the belly, im worried
anyways the vet gave him the dewormer (only a small amount). im hoping it will cure his large belly. also can kittens get fip when theyre 3 weeks old? im so worried that my older cat who is 10 years old will get it from him.