One of the few joys of online updates during the coronavirus pandemic, for me and for a lot of other animal owners, I bet, has been following the daily adventures of several litters of homeless kittens being fostered by our friends and neighbors. As many of those formerly tiny creatures head to their new, forever homes this week, I’d like to honor the fantastic foster homes who’ve cared for them. I asked five fosters—three from my community, one a long-time foster in California, one a Facebook Friend from the United Kingdom—to share their pandemic foster experiences with us.
Here are their stories:
Trudy Meakin Rogers (Washington): I have always been a person who had the need to care for animals, children, people. Seems natural and comfortable. We fostered and then adopted our youngest child, which was the hardest and most rewarding experience in my whole life. So when a good friend and I contemplated the idea of fostering for SCRAPS (Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service), it was a no-brainer. We walked into SCRAPS in the Spokane Valley, had orientation, walked out with a feral kitty. That was a bit over two years ago. Now we have a foster kitty room.
When the pandemic hit, it left SCRAPS and many other rescues in a tough situation. They could no longer have volunteers helping with the many things that are needed. The foster department put a call out for help. Their goal was to get as many animals as possible into foster homes so that their care would not be compromised.
The great thing is, many folks who would not generally be able to foster because of work were able to step up. On the SCRAPS Fosters’ private group on Facebook, it was so exciting to see these new foster volunteer names pop up, asking questions and seeking guidance. As we continue into the next phases and these fosters return to work, we will once again need more fosters.
How do the foster kittens land at SCRAPS? Most of the time, we do not know—unless they are ill and neonates, where they need extra care. Since the end of February, I had a pregnant momma that had five adorable babies. A solo boy I named Fauci was found with the momma and siblings taped in a box. They were all mixed up in the afterbirth. The other babies passed within a few days. Fauci made it for ten days, but he developed sepsis and passed. I cried for days. The momma, I believe, is still in foster care. Currently, I have six four-week-old babies who were neonates that were also left in a box. They really are miracle babies because they all have survived and they are doing well.
Adopting out during social distancing has its challenges. SCRAPS has a Spokane County Foster Kitties and Pups page on Facebook that allows us to show off our upcoming fosters that can be adopted. For my last five adoptions, we met up in a secure location. I had baby wipes for the kitties and we wore masks. That was about the safest I could come up with.
Foster animals stay at your home for different amount of times based on what their needs are. I once had a feral for about eight months. My family just adopted one of our foster kittens that had herpes as a baby and is partially blind. He needed time, in hopes they could do surgery, but it was decided surgery could hurt him worse. He had been with us almost a year. We fell in love and felt it would be tough for him to leave since he was only five weeks old when he came to us.
We have three “foster fail” cats that we have adopted. Sadly, if we kept all our fosters, we would have a house of a few hundred adoptees. Of course, I will continue fostering, Love these little ones.
SCRAPS Foster Program (Spokane, WA)
https://www.spokanecounty.org/4228/Foster
Photo by Trudy Meakin Rogers
Zoe Willingham (United Kingdom): The kittens I’m fostering were found in a woodland by a client who was walking her dog on May bank holiday Monday. Initially, her dog found them. There were three. The lady picked them up as they were cold, hungry, and flea-ridden. She went back an hour later to check if mum was around, but nothing . . . except two more kittens in the same spot. They were also in a state and she picked them up, too. She knew I rescue cats and would never turn them away. It was 9pm at night when I got the call to ask if I could take them. I quickly set up a nursery. We have this ready at all times in case of strays—they seem to find us, these animals in need! There were five kittens, about four weeks old when they were found. Sadly, one had to be put to sleep this week. Despite all my efforts trying to hand-rear her, she wasn’t thriving, and had been diagnosed with a congenital kidney failure. It was devastating to lose her so young, at only six weeks old. This leaves four. They are thriving, but I cannot bear to part with them. When they are older and stronger, they will join the group of 21 other rescue cats we have. All the cats live beautifully together and get on. They are all rescues, many with special needs, and they have their own garden, fully enclosed, and a catio.
Maria Burton (Washington): I became a foster home for a litter of kittens because I signed up as a volunteer/foster at the Spokane Humane Society. (I loved it so much, I’m now employed there.) I’ve had almost 50 foster animals come through my doors in the last two years, and most of them were kittens. This litter was most likely born outside or in a barn, as momma cat was feral. They were six days old when I met them. Momma cat wanted nothing to do with her babies; she was quite young herself. Since momma didn’t feed the kittens and they needed medication for their upper respiratory infections, momma was spayed and vaccinated then released to a lovely barn to live as the spicy feral cat she is. There were originally four kittens. Unfortunately, two passed away before I got them, and one passed away after that. One miracle kitten survived. That kitten stayed with me for about two months, then went to the PetSmart Everyday Adoption Center from Spokane Humane Society and was adopted by a lovely lady within hours. I always miss the former fosters when I first get home without them . . . but a new foster kitten needing care came into my home the next day. Fostering is so incredibly rewarding. It can be hard and messy (so much poop), but so worth it. It breaks my heart when they leave, but that means there is room in my home to save another life!
Spokane Humane Society Foster Care (Spokane, WA)
https://spokanehumanesociety.org/foster-care/
Sarah Blain Bain (Washington): In February, a beautiful gray cat showed up on our porch. Our other two cats tended to chase her away but, over time, she was able to sit on our porch and our cats Rose and Swiper began to just leave her alone. When I’d go outside she’d let me pet her, and so I started to leave some food out. I’d see her in the morning from time to time and, once in a while on a walk, my husband would see her in other people’s yards.
The more I left food out, the more she’d come up to the porch. Duh!
One neighbor said, “Oh, that’s the neighborhood cat.” Another neighbor said, “I put milk out for her.” Another neighbor said, “She had a litter of kittens last year.”
Eventually she worked her way into our home until one day I noticed her belly was sagging a bit more than usual. Turns out she was already many weeks along, so I did what I do and I put her in my college daughter’s empty room and made a little nest for her. One week, then another, and then a visit to the vet who said, “Any day, any day.”
This was around the time Covid-19 was being talked about, but nothing had been done yet.
Then I got a frantic call from our daughter, who was away at her freshman year of college: “I think our college is closing down until mid-April or longer.” The day she flew home is the day Kombucha (by then named by our children) gave birth to six kittens, all gray. Three days later, work sent me home (at the time, the duration of my work-at-home was unknown but it ended up being for six weeks) and the classes my husband taught went online, and we all hunkered down for six blissful weeks of watching tiny kittens grow and grow.
At eight weeks, they had their first trip to the vet; by week nine, they’d all had homes promised to them, by week 11 mama cat got spayed, and by week 12, just as we started to open up the state again, kittens one to five left for their forever homes. We kept Kombucha and Greta and now we are the unexpected owners of four cats and one dog.
Liz Palika (California): Yes, I fostered during the pandemic. I’ve been fostering for many years, starting back in my vet tech days when I fostered kittens, rabbits, and ferrets. Most recently, the last seven years or so, I’ve fostered for SPOT Saving Pets One at a Time in Oceanside, California. They take young kittens at risk of euthanasia in the shelters, put them in foster homes for as long as is needed, and then SPOT takes care of applications, screening, spaying/neutering, and adoptions. I have lots of kitten fostering experience. I’ll take in litters of bottle babies; many fosters don’t want them as they take so much time and effort. In this particular litter, they were from a shelter about an hour away and nothing was known about their background. They were about two weeks old so still needed the bottle. Four kittens in the litter, three girls and one boy. No mama. They are nine weeks old now, and two will be spayed/neutered next week. I expect they will be adopted soon after, as they are very nice kittens. The other two will be spayed the following week, I think. Then I’ll scrub the back bedroom (aka cat room) and another litter will come in. All the kittens will be leaving; I’m not going to keep (aka “foster fail”) any of these, although one of the little girls would really like to stay. She’s working on me. My last foster fail was Kirk, now six years old.
The hardest part of fostering is sometimes you lose a kitten. Many times they come to me in terrible shape—starved, sick, cold. SPOT and I do everything we can, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. Someone once told me, and I’ve forgotten who so can’t give them credit, “There is nothing braver than an orphaned kitten.” They are so tiny, so lost in our huge world, and they try so hard to live. It’s hard to lose them.
SPOT Saving Pets One at a Time (Oceanside, CA)
https://spotsavespets.org/
Do you know someone who’s fostered animals during the stay-at-home?
