Becoming a Paws Darwin Foster Carer for Our Cats and Kittens
Fostering a cat is fun and exciting! A new cat without all of the responsibility of owning a cat. Right?
While foster carers may not have the responsibilities of cat owners, that doesn’t mean they have no responsibilities at all. Afterall, a cat is a cat, and it is important that they are getting the best care possible no matter what.
The welfare of our animals is incredibly important to us, and our foster carers play a BIG role in the life of our shelter cats and kittens. If you are to be one of our foster carers, we have certain responsibilities we expect you to uphold, and certain guidelines we ask that you follow.
Before we jump into the nitty gritty, let’s first outline what to expect when taking home a kitten versus a cat.
Kittens
Our kittens are usually ready for foster and adoption at 7 to 8 weeks old. At these ages, kittens are independent from their mothers, and are capable of most basic cat behaviours such as litter use, eating solid foods, and grooming. Kittens have boundless energy and require a lot of consistent attention and socialisation. While most kittens are curious and eager for new experiences, some kittens may be less keen. Almost all of our kittens are abandoned or strays and many of them may be semi-feral either from experience, or as a genetic trait passed on from their feral mothers. Being trapped, captured, taken to our vet to be poked and prodded, then being moved into the shelter (with a lot of noisy dogs) is an experience even the most well socialised kitten will struggle to deal with. Letting them learn and grow in a home instead of a shelter will give our kittens a running head start to a normal, happy life.
Cats
Many of our adult cats have just graduated from kittenhood, and still have a lot of energy and spunk in them! Some cats mature faster than others, but all of them are ready to start their journey into adulthood. Adult cats know who they are and what they need in their life. They should understand appropriate manners (whether they adhere to them or not) and know what to expect in a human and cat companionship. Adult cats require less attention and care than kittens (though they still need lots of love!) and thrive on a consistent daily routine. This goes especially if you’re fostering a middle aged and elderly cat. While less common, some elderly cats are still looking for a furever home. More likely to come to us as surrenders, elderly cats have lived a life of domesticity and need, perhaps more than other cats, to continue their life in a home.
Necessities
When you foster through us, any basic necessities needed when caring for a cat or kitten will be supplied to you by us. Many of our foster carers choose to supply their own items, however owning the items you need is not a prerequisite to fostering one of our animals. When our cats and kittens go into foster care, the items we will give you include:
- A bag of cat litter
- A litter tray and scoop
- A food and water bowl (separate)
- Cat toys
- A cat bed
- Wet and/or Dry food
Because PAWS Darwin is a not for profit organisation, we rely on donations to our shelter. As a result, we will not always be able to supply you things like cat litter and cat food. If you are unable to regularly supply these items while fostering, please let us know. If we’re able, we will try to set aside these items for you to pick up from us. When you do need a supply pick up, please book an appointment through our facebook page or email or call the shelter to let us know in advance.
Feeding Regimen
While in the shelter, our cats and kittens are fed once daily in the morning between 8 and 9 am. Some of our cats and kittens may have a different feeding schedule depending on their personal needs and our staff members will be sure to inform you of the specific dietary needs of the cat/s or kitten/s you foster, as well as the food they have been eating. Our staff ask that you stick to their feeding regimen as change is difficult for a cat or kitten and it may cause them undue stress.
However, we will encourage feeding regimen alternatives to help coincide with your schedule.
Medical Needs
We will inform you if any of our cats or kittens have special circumstances or medical requirements. If our animals have serious medical needs or require certain medical attention, they may only be available for fostering. If you are fostering a cat or kitten that has medical needs, you will be at the behest of our vet team, who may
need consistent updates and vet appointments. All of our cats and kittens have certain medical needs.
Adult cats require one yearly F3 vaccination, and kittens require multiple yearly F3 vaccinations depending on their age. Our kittens (and some cats) may also need to be desexed, our vet team will inform you of when our kitten is booked in for desexing. Vaccinations and desexings require an appointment with our vet, you MUST call or email our vet clinic to book them in when they are due.
Not all medical needs require appointments however. Adult cats require a 3 monthly worming regime, kittens require either a fortnightly (under 12 weeks of age) or monthly (3 to 6 months of age) worming regime. Worming tablets will be supplied to you by our shelter staff when our cats and kittens are due, simply pop into the shelter to pick up the appropriate worming tablets from the front desk.
Depending on age, our adult cats may require special care. Elderly cats aren’t as likely to show signs of age as dogs (or humans) do, but are still susceptible to age related illnesses such as arthritis. Our foster carers are not responsible for any and all medical expenses our animals may incur.
Pet Introductions
Introducing cats or kittens to your own furry babies is a step by step process that takes time and patience.
A new cat should always be kept in one room when they first arrive to help them acclimatise to their new (foster) home, which also has the added benefit of making it easier to integrate with an existing cat. Advice saying ‘throw them together and let them sort it out between them’, really isn’t the way to make a successful cat-to-cat introduction! It’s a matter of taking the time to do it properly, because a bad introduction can cause problems between them that might never be resolved. The existing cat will be able to smell the new cat through the door, and at first will see the new cat as an intruder, so owners should expect some hissing and growling. As scent is such an important feline sense, you can use a soft cloth (or even a sock) to pick up the new cat’s scent from its facial glands, followed by the existing cat, other pets and even human family members, and you could leave it by the existing cat’s bed. When the scents are mixed like this, they will eventually make up a new group scent and the existing cat will start to see the newcomer as part of the family.
The next step is to make sure that both cats have positive associations with the other, and this is done by feeding them on either side of the door. To begin with, the cats might not want to go anywhere near each other, so the food bowls might have to start quite far from either side of the door. The bowls can be moved closer every time, and eventually they’ll be eating on either side of the door, and will associate the other cat’s scent with good times (food!). You should also start ‘site swapping’ at this point, where they shut the existing cat in the new cat’s room while the new cat explores. This has the added bene!t of mixing their scents even more, and then the door can be opened slightly while they eat on either side of it. It’s often a slow process and is different for every introduction. It may take days, weeks, months or years for two cats to become friends, or it may never happen. You MUST understand the proper process of introduction and follow it to a T. Your pets must also be ready and willing to welcome a new animal into their home. Any dogs you have must have already met our cat or kitten before we can send them into your home. Please also understand that while kittens are easier to introduce to other pets, it is far more risky, and our staff may choose not to send a kitten into foster care with other pets if they cannot fully guarantee the kitten’s safety.
Meet and Greets & Adoptions
All potential adopters are required to have met the animal they are interested in adopting before submitting an application. Thy do this by putting in a meet and greet request. When we get a request for an animal in foster care, we will email you the meet and greet request with their details and you are required to contact them to arrange a play date.
For every meet and greet you do, we ask that you email us how the meet and greet went and whether you think the person would be a good match for our animal/s. If we get an application and have not recieved that email from you, we will email you to ask for you’re feedback. If there are two or more potential adopters, we will ask you who you think would be better suited.
You’re opinion on any potential adopters is very valuable to us and is an important part of our adoption process. We will not go ahead with an adoption until we have recieved your feedback.
If you’re interested in adopting, we ask that you put in an application as soon as possible and email any recent or upcoming meet and greeters that you have submitted an application for your foster animal.
Outdoor Cats
As we are trusting the welfare of our cats and kittens to you, there are certain things our fosters are limited from doing.
All of our cats and kittens are indoor only, and are prohibited from being let outside. Outdoor cats have an average lifespan of 2 – 5 years, as opposed to the 15 – 20 year lifespan of an indoor cat. The outdoors is a dangerous and uncontrolled environment, allowing our cats to roam exposes them to unnessecary risk.
Keeping our cats and kittens healthy and happy is one of our top priorities. If our cats are allowed outside, their health cannot be monitered and they cannot receive their minimum amount of care.
Hand Wrestling
If you’ve talked to other cat and kitten carers or trainers, you’ve probably heard the phrase “what’s cute in a kitten, is not in a cat!” This is important to understand when interacting with cats and kittens and reinforcing their behaviour. Playing with your hands instead of toys communicates to cats and kittens that hands and feet are toys, and that people are to be treated as playthings. Hand wrestling significantly increases the chance of the cat or kitten developing play aggression. Adult cat claws and teeth cause serious damage, and cats don’t understand the harm that they cause to humans while playing. Cat attacks can and do send people, children and other pets to the hospital or vet. Play aggression is a contributing factor for a cat or kitten’s likelihood of being euthanised.
Free Feeding
Our cats and kittens adhere to controlled feeding times, and must not be fed freely. Free feeding can be the cause of multiple avoidable behaviours and health issues. If our cats and kittens are free fed, our foster carers and our staff members will not be able to monitor eating habits and recognise potential problems. A change of eating habits in cats and kittens is one of the first and most common signs that there may be an issue with their health or wellbeing.
Free feeding is also the main force behind improper weight gain. Gaining unnecessary weight can severely impact a cat or kitten’s quality of life and health. Overweight cats cannot perform many basic behaviours, such as running, climbing, and grooming. Improper weight gain in kittens is even more serious, as they are far more susceptible to health issues. A cat or kitten who gains, then loses excess weight, may still be impacted by that temporary weight gain for the rest of their life, and they may be far more likely to gain that weight back in the future.