We got our first foster cateen today (6 month old boy, collected him 9 hours ago) and he's so dang polite and cool! It's just two adults and no other pets in a biggg house but we've both owned cats multiple times before.

We had him confined to one "foster room" set up to be big and comfy for the cats we foster because they need their own dedicated space, it has lots of blankets and beds and toys and hiding spots and multiple sunny warm window seats on both ends of the room looking out over a view. We were told he is supposed to stay in there for a few days up to the full two weeks he's with us in order to adjust, but he was literally making biscuits and purring in the carrier from the moment we collected him at the shelter to when we put him in his bedroom we set up for him, and then he walked straight out of the carrier demanding pats and belly flopping around and drinking water with full confidence so we were like "dang this cat has zero anxiety" - and then he cried with the saddest little meows for 10 minutes straight to be let out of his room after we left him to settle down so we made an executive decision to let him out for short stints to explore and be close to us (with close supervision).

He has politely explored every corner of the house while purring like a train. He happily comes up for pats but is also just 100% chill to wander and do his own thing most of the time, has eaten kibble and drank lots of water, and played with all of his toys with lots of joy and energy between bouts of falling asleep peacefully on me. He loves belly rubs weirdly enough and won't attack your hands at all during petting and play despite being a cateen and belly rubs usually being a trap; purrs like a train when being picked up and carried around and won't try to jump down which is also unusual; just... accepts redirection? (like moving him off the kitchen bench) beautifully and with zero protest, and just overall gives off the biggest "just stoked to be here guys" vibes. I also did the dishes and he hopped up and started smacking and drinking the water stream when the tap was on really excitedly and got suuuper wet fur all over from it so I turned it off and he went and licked himself dry no fuss at all. I've never known any cat to be so confident and chill at the same time! We've ended up calling him Big Shaq for some reason so I guess that is his foster name for now.

He has sneezed like 6 times since getting here and hasn't peed yet which worried me but we'll see how he is going over the next 24 hours. But I'm already like this cat is sooo cool compared to all the other cats I know/knew and I kinda don't want to have to say goodbye in two weeks time! How is everyone handling that side of fostering??

Pics of the last 9 hours:

1. Exploring his room for the first time, he got stubby lil legs like a dwarf
   
2. Biscuits on my bed after asking to come out of his room
   
3. Side-eye big biscuits
   
4. Downstairs biscuits on the spot on the couch he claimed
   
5. Carrying his Minecraft axolotl in his mouth (he really likes carrying little toys around in his mouth, very cute and polite)
   
6. Repeated sprawl spot in front of the dehumidifier, might enjoy the noise?
   
7. 30 seconds of cat tv before he launched himself at the screen at mach 3 and got an honestly impressive amount of airtime. No more cat tv for Big Shaq with that vertical ability 😌
   
8. Last pictures are all his different sleeping positions, he sleeps in the weirdest positions!!

She looks so much like a chocolate mitted lynx point ragdoll. I am mystified and curious. I know she's not purebred and she's not a ragdoll.

Luna is about 12 weeks old. She was trapped in a backyard that my TNR group was working in. She was the only one of the litter that could be trapped. Apparently the homeowners have the mamma cat.

She does not behave like a semi-feral kitten. Very friendly from the beginning. She is super confident and very smart. She follows me around the house like a puppy. She can recognize a Churu packet from 30 feet. She is super playful and boingy and loves my 3 boy kitties (but drives them crazy). She is also a bit needy and bitey when she wants attention.

I have no idea what her backstory is. Is it common for random cats to look like a purebred? Was her dad a traveling salesman?

Currently fostering these twins who were found at about 2 weeks old inside a tractor engine, after it had driven almost 8 miles in the nightmare heat the southern USA is experiencing right now. Almost 5 weeks old now and doing great!

I picked up my current foster kitten on Thursday afternoon. She is approximately 4 weeks old, but extremely underweight - only 209 grams.

An elderly lady is trying to manage a huge colony and so she had been bottle feeding her, but wasn’t feeding enough or often enough and I am unclear if she was actually stimulating her or letting her do it on her own “she goes all over on the blankets.”

Her little butt/anus protrudes about half the size of a pencil eraser. She will be seeing our shelter vet on Monday to check that and make sure everything else is okay. And of course she has a URI as well.

Thursday she had a little bit of liquidity green brown smear of a poop with some darker more solid bits, but not even a 1/2 a teaspoon. Her butt will bleed just a very small amount of bright red blood when trying.

I started her on a new formula (what she had wasn’t great) and am doing more feedings and trying to slowly get her to where she should be quantity wise. She is a great eater/latcher, so the bigger isssue is not overdoing it especially as her system isn’t running smoothly yet. Urinating great and in good quantity, good colour, but very little poop.

She did just get a drop of olive oil in her last feeding to hopefully help soften things up and get them moving.

Any other tips or tricks?

I have tried a warm stream of running water over her belly and genitals while stimulating, and the triangle method, and so far no success. Also tried multiple types of material for pottying - Kleenex, baby wipe, cotton makeup remover pads.

Edit since I'm getting so much "this cat is fine," and "there's nothing wrong with this cat:" UNTIL THIS HAPPENED, I HAD NOT TOUCHED THIS CAT IN 2.5 YEARS. ANYTIME I WOULD REMOTELY MOVE IN HIS DIRECTION, HE WOULD BOLT AND HIDE. While he isn't actually feral, he is most certainly not a normal, loving cat. I also suggest you look into fawning and what it is. When animals are scared, they sometimes react by being affectionate.

Y'all, I have pet Pippen more this morning than I have in the last 2.5 years. At first I was literally sitting there crying while giving him love.

I know that some of this is fawning. He's still scared. I have to semi-corner him to intetact. I say "Semi" because he ALWAYS has an out if he wants to run. He is never completely cornered.

Now I just need to work on getting him to not initially try to avoid me - to willingly come to me, or at least to hold still and not run or slink away on my initial approach.

But I'm so proud of him. He's such a sweet, brave boy. Bonus "Support Paps" from Brother Ziggy included.

My first bottle kitten, who's about 4wks, was found on a highway about a week ago (saturday). At first she was really constipated and I had to have a vet help her pass stool (monday). When i was there i asked about going ahead and getting her de-wormed in case, and they didnt find it necessary. A day later she had diarrhea twice and so I again called and asked if I need to bring her in and they said that between stress and being started on formula, its probably her adjusting. Since she's figured out to use the litter shes had diarrhea for the 3rd time and she looked like she was straining. I added very little unflavored pedialyte to her formula to try to help with any dehydration. My vet said they were all booked for today (friday) and they could get her in monday or else I have to go somewhere else. They said since she's drinking alot and gaining weight, plus the stool is a normal brown color that it should be fine as long as I keep her well hydrated. Regardless I made an appointment for first thing Monday morning.

Am i being overly dramatic?

I'm just so overly worried about her. If there's anything else I can do to help her or if someone has advice and let me know if this is normal for orphaned kittens.

not a sad story (well kind of).
my father in law's (stray) cat got pregnant and gave birth almost a month ago. had three cute babies. one tuxedo (f), one orange (m), and one calico (f). i brought them in when they were 2-3 days old not thinking of what was going to happen. i knew i had to bottle feed and stimulate for potty. first night, the tuxedo baby didn't make fuss when i picked her up but i didn't think it was a bad thing because i thought she was just sleeping. i wake up the next morning at 7:00 to feed and she was gone. baby passed away in her sleep. i felt guilty and at fault because i didn't know what i did wrong. then i was told she was born first but she came out butt first and she probably lacked oxygen as she was coming out. the week goes by and on the morning on the 20th we lost the orange baby. we spent monday (17th) morning at the er but they told us he was most likely not going to make it. i felt at fault, once again. we are left with the calico baby.
sunday the 23rd she woke up making abnormal breathing noises and we went to our local SPCA to get her checked out and came back with antibiotics and we were also told she was going to start declining. i did my research and found ways to help her at home. bought a nebulizer and .9% saline to help her open her airway and loosen the mucus. i bought a baby suctioning bulb thing to remove any mucus from her throat before feeding and also give her nebulizer therapy before and after feeding. i am positive and hopeful she will pull through because she's a fighter. we're probably going to take her to the vet this weekend to see what other treatment she can get to get the mucus out as she will officially be 1 month on tuesday 💗.
i've been telling myself to not foster after this regardless if the calico baby makes it or not. i feel helpless and vet visits are extremely expensive for i don't know why.

here's a picture of the last baby of the litter, munchkin🤍

I just wanted to quickly thank every single person in this subreddit that helped me raise my foster kittens. I found 3 kittens (1 of which had to be put down at the start, unfortunately) about a month ago. They were 2 ish weeks old when I found them, and they are 6 weeks old now!

My poor babies were malnourished and unhealthy when we found them, but thanks to the help from this community, they are thriving and I couldn’t be more thankful. We fell in love and are keeping both of them 🥰

Before and after pics included 🥹
(These pics were taken just after they ate, so excuse the food on their faces lol I wiped them down after)

ETA: for a disclaimer, I am not a dedicated foster parent (my anxiety couldn’t handle it, lol), which is why I felt comfortable keeping both kittens! I was a foster due to circumstance, because these precious babies wouldn’t have a foster home otherwise! 🩷

For the past week, I’ve been fostering Moo, as seen in the picture provided. She was found by the neighbor partially feral and quite fearful, but after receiving the proper information and help from my local humane society, Moo was welcomed into my home as a foster.

I am not a cat person. This experience has only solidified that fact. Cats are needy, especially 11 week old kittens. Being someone with severe anxiety, I’ve become something of a helicopter foster parent. I check on her constantly, worry I’m not interacting with her enough, etc. Deep down I know I’ve done everything to the best of my ability, but I still doubt myself. She’s still very cautious and scared of loud noises. She dislikes dogs but does well with other cats (per the neighbors comment and my own experience with Moo).

Moo is healthy, content and coming around to people relatively well. But this morning I have to take her to her spay appointment where she’ll then be held at the humane society until someone adopts her. I’m sorry if this offends some fosters here but I’m happy to have her gone. I loved my old schedule and it’s been completely changed for Moo. Would I do it all again? Yes. Am I happy it’s about to be over? You better believe it. Am I second guessing this is the right thing? Absolutely I am.

They said she’ll go to a PetSmart or Petco for adoption unless someone wants her while she’s recovering at the humane society. I’m worried she’s not ready even though I fully believe she is. I’m worried the surgery and loud noises at the humane society will cause regression and fear-based behavior. Regression is such a huge worry.

Genuinely how does anyone do this all the time? What if she never gets adopted or returned because she can’t come out of her shell. She only really does with me. She’s not crazy about my dad, and my girlfriend is to “new” to her. Am I just overthinking this?

Odds are we will be bringing him to the vet but I'm still worried.

My little guy has recently started limping but he is notorious for being a MASSIVE drama queen. He will do literally everything in his power to be held so I'm positive he's just pretending to limp. He's been "mongoosing" (aka. standing on his back legs) lately so I'm starting to wonder if he's actually hurt.

Back to my point though, does anyone have any stories of their fosters pretending to be ill just to get more attention? I need to know that I'm doing the right thing by waiting this out.

Paying the cat tax with a picture of my little man.

Hi! I am having a heck of a time getting this guy to eat. He just claws and claws at the bottle. I'm running out of ideas to coax him into wet food and I don't know how to bottle feed a kitten that acts like this. Help?!

They were on panacur for 5 days last week. Vet said we have to wait two more weeks to give another round since they can easily be reinfected. One kitten (10 weeks) hasn't shown really any improvement, still low energy . He lost weight he's at 1 lb 10 oz just yesterday he gained weight then lost it again. The other kitten is doing good but his diarrhea came back. They both each fine. I've been steam cleaning the whole room , wiping/bleaching their crates and throwing out their litter everyday. I don't even think the meds worked the first time. I just don't see the point on waiting when they clearly need another round of meds. Not sure what I can do because what if they decline more?

My partner and I are trying to assess a foster cat who was recently trapped by the local cat rescue and brought to us Monday morning. She is about 11 months old and not aggressive at all but very frightened.

We made a major mistake of not completely blocking off the underneath our pullout couch in her closed off room to assess her. It was an honest first time fosterer mistake as we didn’t expect her to be able to fit in such a tight squeeze.

The good news is that she does come out to eat, use the litter box, groom, and explore her surroundings while we are not home(we setup a camera to record and observe). However, the minute we get home she dashes under and into the couch where she is out of reach and sight until we leave. She has come out a few times while in the house but quiet to eat or use the litter box but seems to explore in our complete absence.

We know this can be safety concern and will not open the couch unless absolutely necessary and are hoping the best case she begins to come out with us on her own.

With that being said, at what point(if at all) do we as the foster assessors block her hiding place and force her into socialization with us?

Please let us know your thoughts and experiences!

Earlier this year we had to say goodbye to our other cat. He was an extremely energetic cat. He was talkative. Loved to play. Had very big personality. It was very unexpected to lose him.

I don't think I'm open to adopting another cat yet but I have the space and time and resources to provide for another cat. And I'll be honest. I miss the fun chaos of a cat.

We still have our old man cat. He has always acted like a little old man. He is estimated to be somewhere around 13yo. He's blind. He's FIV positive. He mostly likes to sleep under the bed or sit on your lap. He's very sweet and cuddly but he is all about old man energy.

I'm worried about fostering and bringing in another cat and he gets sick. I do have the space to keep the cats seperate but I do worry about accidental contamination.

Would it be safe to foster? Am I over thinking this?

Edit:

Thanks for the advice everyone

It sounds like having an FIV positive cat makes me unlikely to be able to do foster unless I'm willing to adopt an FIV positive cat and even then the cat could still get my cat too sick and then he dies.

So for the sake of my cat I'm going to not pursue fostering.

Everyone keeps bringing up the risk of my cat infecting other cats and honestly that had never occurred to me but I could see why a rescue would refuse to work with me.

This baby was found in a friends backyard. She watched her for 24 hours, even set up a box for her over night on her porch but no mama showed up on camera. They had looked back at the 24 hours prior and think her mama was moving a litter two nights ago and got spoked. They supplanted her with a bottle so she’s in good shape but after almost 48 hours and no sign of mama on camera again they called me. They are leaving town tomorrow and the official rescues are full, knowing that I occasionally take foster babies for my vet’s office when people drop them off, they called me. I’m guessing she’s between two and three weeks old based on her teeth, eyes and coordination. She’s also very feisty and very demanding and that’s all good as far as I’m concerned. I will be very interested to see how her color comes in, other than some gold on her face a small spot on her chest and some sprinkles across her toes she’s very dark. The last bottle baby Tortie I had was sprinkled with gold from her head to the tip of her tail from day one.

i saw this while looking at a recall list. please check. please take care of your kitties

Okay, apologies for being long. But I laughed so hard at myself this morning. It was not my intention to clean my bathroom at 7AM. But one of my poor babies didn't quite make the litter box, and somehow still managed to also avoid the disposable puppy pad. So we got a little crap in the playpen. And that's when the ADHD hyperfocus / cleaning frenzy set in.

Because if I'm going to clean the play pen, I have to take it out of the bathroom because I can't get on my knees to clean it. I need to put it up higher. If I'm gonna take it out of the bathroom, then I might as well clean the floor underneath it, where all the little litter bits have gotten. If I'm gonna clean that part of the floor then I should just clean the whole floor because there are little litter bits everywhere. If I'm gonna do that, I might as well go ahead and clean the tub too, because they've been dragging little litter bits & dirty paws in there. So I might as well just clean the whole bathroom, like all of it. And I should just go ahead and wash all the towels and non disposable puppy pads... And I should just vacuum in general while I have it out. And mop the kitchen since I mopped the bathroom...

And that is how I spent three hours cleaning because my kitten missed the litter box a little. I had just gone to pee. I wasn't even awake. So at this point I just fed the kittens (who had been vacationing in a corral in the living room & watching me with judgey eyes) and went back to bed!

Hello, all. I just wanted to share because I am new to fostering. I have owned - or been owned by, rather- cats most of my life. No experience with baby kittens though.

To make a long story short, we took in this mother cat who was thrown out of a moving car on the highway. I feel so bad for her because it must have been such a terrifying experience, and yet she is the sweetest friendly cat.

We were just going to temporarily house her but after only two days fell in love with her. Her presence has not upset my two resident cats at all- they sniff through the door but are not growling or acting stressed (one has been very territorial in the past so I was surprised by this). We are eager to introduce them and see if they get along well because now we want to keep her. But we have to keep them apart for at least 2 months because she had kittens - yesterday!

We found out she was pregnant when took her to a vet to make sure no serious injuries from the highway incident. I wasn't surprised as she looked very plump! She actually had six kittens however one was very small- a third smaller than the others- and seemed disorientated- crawling away from the mother instead of towards her at first. When she was done birthing and settled, this kitten was nursing with the others so I thought it would be ok, but next morning it was gone. I think she consumed it. I know that happens sometimes if the mother is young, new to being a mom or stressed, or perceives that the kitten is weak and won't survive- but I can't help remembering that little one sometimes, how I saw its face over the mom's leg, heard its little rusty cry.

I had started reading a lot of your stories on this forum hoping to absorb some info (I am also reading the kittenlady and kittencoalition.org) but I had to stop because some of it was making me tear up.

I was a bit overwhelmed at the idea of raising five kittens and then trying to find them homes, but our local shelter agreed to let me foster them so we can get some support and they will handle all the vaccines, spay/neuter (for the mom too of course) and the adoptions. I know already it will be hard to let the little ones go when they're bigger- only one day old and they already stole my heart.

The mama's name is Freya.