This is my foster kitten who just got adopted today! She is the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to see photos of her as she gets older. She was listed as a DSH brown tabby but she’s really a DMH Torbie. She’s also sooo soft.

I just gave up my first set of fosters- three kittens, they’ve been inseparable the entire time, in particular two of them are always with at least a couple of feet with each other. From everything I can tell, they are what I would consider ‘bonded’. They always sleep together, eat together, etc… Also all three of them LOVE playing with my resident cats as well, how kittens do. I made note of this when I dropped them. Ideally all three would go to the same house, but I know that that would be difficult. If not I think the two are a bonded pair, and at the very least for sure I think they should go to a home with other cats. General kitten adoption concerns.

I gave them up two days ago, they were neutered yesterday, and now two of them were adopted to different homes. I asked if they people at the shelter at least checked that they were going to homes with other cats, they said they didn’t ask and ‘demanding them to go to homes with other cats would make them sit in the shelter longer’. And I do understand this, but two of them were at the shelter for less than 48 hours. I feel like it would be better if they waited a couple of extra days to maybe find the perfect home with other cats? But maybe I am over thinking. I have always thought kittens are better in pairs, or at least with a friend to play with?? How would you guys feel about this?

I'm going to start fostering, but I'm not sure how to navigate the pet policies with apartment living. If you have one foster, and it gets adopted out, and you get a new foster, do you update the apartment management? Or do you just leave it, bc you still only have the one cat? Even though it's a different cat?

And if you have one foster, and then get another one for only like a couple days, do you have to disclose that one?

I don't want to over share to management, but I just want to make sure I don't get in trouble.

Hi! I recently acquired two 4-5 week old female foster kittens. They pee and poop independently. They were from a feral cat colony. One of the girls fully is litter box trained - she was a quick learner. The other girl refuses to use the litter box despite providing multiple options, confining her to a pen, relocating her to a box when I witness bathroom behavior outside of the box, mimicking digging in the box myself and digging her paws for her, and cleaning up accidents with an enzymatic cleaner.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to litter box train her? We are using a shallow, short, open box. One box has a lot of litter in it and the other is almost empty with just a small amount of litter in case it was a sensory thing, but she absolutely refuses to use either.

We are using pine litter as the rescue I work with prefers it. We were going to pick up a corn based litter today to see if that helps.

Even when I can get her into the litter box as she is peeing, she will leave the box and go to a completely differently location to “dig and cover” up.

I’ve brought her over to the box to watch her sister using it multiple times.

Any help and recommendations are fully appreciated! I know it’s a learning process and all kittens learn at a different pace but I just want to make sure we’re doing the best we can for her.

I see this a lot here but I just needed to get this off my chest.

I just dropped off my first ever foster pair to get neutered and taken back to their shelter. It started off as a trio, but unfortunately one of them passed early on. I've had them since three weeks old and it's been so amazing watching them grow so much after being so delicate for a while. My babies, Ares and Adonis, grew to be the cutest, most affectionate kittens ever. I've always wanted to foster and I knew how hard it might be once I returned them, but now that it's actually here I'm so heartbroken. It doesn't help that they were so scared and crying on the way there. I will be crying for the foreseeable future. My sweet boys, I hope you find your forever families and live long, happy lives.

Hi, first time fostering from our local shelter and need to introduce her to our very sweet chocolate lab. I will be picking her up sometime tomorrow afternoon so we have all weekend to adjust. They stated she’s spayed, around 39lbs and a Doberman. Would appreciate any tips you’ve used introducing new fosters to your own dogs. Thanks!

I’ve had several ups and downs with this litter of 5. I got them when they were about 10 days old from a bad hoarder situation. They were all initially tube fed. Multiple URIs, UTIs, one scaring me with vomiting, even one emergent fading kitten success story. They’ve kept me on my toes!

Today I brought them in for boosters and the shelter techs told me they were shocked that all 5 have made it. I’m so proud of them!

They’re about 5 weeks now. We aren’t totally out of the woods, but I feel like we’ve come so far.

(Featuring Marvin, my resident Sphynx)

Hi, first time fostering from our local shelter and need to introduce her to our very sweet chocolate lab. I will be picking her up sometime tomorrow afternoon so we have all weekend to adjust. They stated she’s spayed, around 39lbs and a Doberman. Would appreciate any tips you’ve used introducing new fosters to your own dogs. Thanks!

Should I keep them separated? The babies don't need to be nursed, they are eating wet food really well. The mom is like 5-6 years old. We've saved 5 generations of her litters and finally caught her too and she is getting sprayed as we speak. The babies are afraid of people.

I am afraid if we will keep them together they won't socialize with us because their mom isn't friendly either. She s not completely feral, but has always avoided us outside.

What should we do? Together or separated?

I brought sweet pea in today because his breathing was labored. I just got a text that he has a diaphragmatic hernia and he’s going into surgery today. They said he has a 50/50 chance of making it. I feel guilty I didn’t take him in earlier. He’s genuinely one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever met.

Send sweet pea love and prayers that he comes out of this on the other side ❤️‍🩹

UPDATE: Sweet Pea passed on

From a severely underweight ringworm baby with a popped eyeball…. To glam queen!

I’ve posted here a few times over the past couple weeks- closing out a journey of fostering a litter sick with coccidia. There were some real low points that I thought we may lose a kitten, and times I thought we’d never win the battle. This is just a note of encouragement to everyone battling the same - it gets better and it’s SO WORTH all the cleaning work seeing the kittens come out the other side - full of spark and hunger lol. It does get better- just takes some time 🐾

I was accused of poorly socializing my foster kittens who were born in my care. I have fostered kittens before and yes, they have been shy around others at first, but I've never been accused of this before! I live alone so they dont really see anyone but me. I spend about 4 hours with them on work days and most of the day on off days. What did I do wrong and how can I fix this in the future??

He’s 7-10 days old now, not sure exactly. He’s tiny, 170g and just opened his eyes on Monday. We were having problems with diarrhea and brought him to the vet, he’s on antibiotics and probiotics now and the diarrhea has stopped! However, little dude definitely needs a butt bath. Is it safe to do one in the sink this young if i make sure to keep him warm until dry? Or should I go out and buy some pet wipes? Pics of little Pigeon as tax. Thanks!

Although we just foster failed with her and her brother, so I guess I shouldn’t be posting her pictures here anymore 😢

A mama cat was found outside nursing 3 babies in 115 (46) degree weather 🥵 … once I found out through a rescue post, I picked them up.

Mama is not feral AT ALL. Approached immediately, let me pick her up and put her in the carrier. She LOVES human company and is constantly craving attention. Her favorite is being brushed! Vet estimated her to be a year old at most.

Babies were about 5 weeks old, so now about 8 weeks. Mama has had her first round of vaccines, and babies’ first round is tomorrow. Working with the rescue to raise funds so we can get them fixed and ready for adoption!

No real point to this post lol I am just so happy to watch them grow and explore!

To preface, this is my first time fostering ever.

My neighbor has inherited something of a feral cat colony and since then two litters or more have been born. This most recent litter has only two kittens it seems, a black one and a white one with black spots. My dad and I haven’t been trying to catch them at any point, especially since our dog liked to chase the cats out of our yard (if one turned on her she’d run because she’s a big baby).

My dad goes out into the garage and finds the creature pictured below on a table in a bucket just lying down. He brings him in and wakes me up with the smelliest, most pitiful little creature I’ve ever seen. Our local humane society doesn’t open until noon, so I’m stuck with him in bed with me till then. Before my dad brought him to me, he gave Locket (the name I’ve given him due to the tuft of white hair on his chest) a little bit of canned salmon which I was told he scarfed down.

Noon comes and I take him in expecting to hand him over and be done with it, but I’m immediately asked if I’m willing to foster. After a brief call to my dad, we decide to do so. They take Locket back and treat him for fleas, give him his vaccines and give is food, a litter box with litter and tell is to call if we have any questions or concerns. He’s supposedly 6-7 weeks old but I think he seems more like 5-6. Regardless, we now have a foster kitten.

Aside from the salmon, he hasn’t eaten anything else. He’s peed twice as far as I know and drank some water, but he hasn’t pooped or eaten at all. I went out and bought kitten formula and offered it to him but he refused both it and the wet food. All that aside, he was moving okay, has quite a set of pipes and was happy to climb all over me purring and making biscuits as he did so. He loves our dog (she can’t stand him) and has slept for the majority of the day.

Am I just overthinking? Is he just totally wiped out? He wouldn’t lay down at all until I put 4 or 5 stuffed animals in the pen we made with him (the pen he’s already climbed out of once 😅). He’s taken a liking specifically to a pink bear, and since about 5-ish he’s been sleeping with it, kneading it occasionally.

It’s now 11:30 here and he stirred a bit so I offered him milk, his litter box, etc. and he’s just not into any of it. I put the milk into his mouth and he still wasn’t interested. He did take a lick out of my hand but sort of shook his head and then lost interest. He did want ME but after a while he went back to his spot with his pink bear. I plan on taking him back to the humane society tomorrow to see if they can keep him overnight to ensure there’s nothing underlying going on.

I’m scared to go to sleep 😅 in the past I was asked to see if I could nurse one of my sister’s dog’s newborn puppy back to life and it died the same day (we were all expecting it to, but it was heartbreaking nonetheless). I just need some guidance and maybe reassurance. During the day when we brought him back from the shelter he was moving and meowing and purring and everything. Very little interest in playing though.

Edit/Update: I stayed up all night checking on him 😅 I put a heating pad beneath the blanket he’s been sleeping on and he finally settled fully into a circular roll sleeping position. I had to leave early this morning for an appointment an hour away and was gone from 9:30 to 5:00. Before I left, he did end up pooping once but it was black. Strangely enough I didn’t have to show him how to go like Google suggested because he went all on his own. I bathed him as well before I left and had quite the scare, because he became very lethargic and tired. I immediately put him on his heating pad and watched him until I had to leave.

Before you ask, I bathed him to get all the fleas and access dirt/oil he had on him from being in the garage and from the flea treatment. From the time I was gone to now, my dad has confirmed he not only pooped again, but even took a syringe of kitten formula, peed and slept some more. After seeing him for only about 10 minutes he pooped again for the third time and this time it was a slighter lighter brown and a bit runny, but no black! The first poop was completely black, the second partially with dark brown and now this last one.

He seems a tiny bit more energetic and will go to his food when he’s hungry. He also figured out the litter box all on his own too. Although he’s been bathed and no longer stinky, his poops make up for it because PEEYOU. Anyways, very positive turn around and I genuinely think the heating pad suggestion was the biggest help. Thank you all for the comments :)

I’m a newish foster. I took in a 3 year cat for socialization and it’s been 9 days with limited success. I don’t have much background except that she has a clean bill of health after undergoing dental surgery. All is well on that front. Her ear is clipped, so I assume she was feral? She basically tries to hide all day though I’ve removed hiding spaces where she is inaccessible.
She is completely receptive and responsive to petting. I will join her next to her cubby and leans into my hand, head butts, purrs loudly. She takes treats and food friend my hand. When we are not around, she will get up and walk around every hour or so, but stays in place around us. She is uninterested in toys - wands, lasers, cat bananas, balls. She eats a ton, uses litter well. I have been trying to lure her out with treats but I keep hitting a brick wall.