Opinions about fostering

I want to continue to foster cats (kittens) especially since I should most definitely NOT be adopting any new cats. But is it fair to the fosters to have only the run of one room? On the one hand, if they were not here they would probably be in a one room shelter, a cage in a shelter, on the street or dead. So, being in a home with people who can love them is certainly better than that, right? But on the other hand, a lot of other foster homes have their fosters running freely in their homes (something I may not be able to do because of starting a pee-ing problem again). I read once (here, on someone's thread) about kittens being raised in a bedroom and the comment back was "What kind of life was THAT for a kitten?!?". I felt guilty because Bonnie raised her babies in a bedroom, by herself. On yet a third hand, there are organizations in my area that REQUIRE that you keep fosters separate from your own animals. They must have their reasons for that and maybe I should not feel guilty.

So tell me the honest truth, in your opinion, is it fair to keep these fosters in a single room or should I just not accept any more fosters?

Jen I agree with your thinking 100%. When I first got Andy I kept him in a room separated from Trevor for a few weeks because I didn't want to let them be together unless I was home to supervise and then they only interacted at night. Also, these foster kitties are not going to be spending their whole lives in one room. It's a teeny tiny part of their lives. I only have one question - where did you get that third hand? I didn't notice it when I met you at the PT meeting! :p :p

Dont' feel guilty. I think your fostering cats is wonderful. You are giving them what they need: shelter, safety, love, food.
If you didn't have the cats, where would they be? In a tiny cage, outside dealing with the elements and not so nice of people, hunting for food?
Is it the "ideal" situation for the cats to be confined to one room? maybe, maybe not, but compared to what they could face....I think they would pick your one room and all the love you have to give them to the alternative. And, yes again, it is only for a short part of their life and you are making it more peaceful for them.

I see nothing wrong with having your fosters in a seperate bedroom, that's what I did when I fostered Little Grey. You fosters are in there for a few months max, then they get to live 15+ in a nice furrever home. A room is a much better alternative then a cage or the streets. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for raising your fosters in a seperate bedroom.

I looked into fostering a couple of months ago, they all recomended keeping the foster cats in the spare room to prevent spread of disease and illness and to prevent upsetting the ebb and flow of multi cat relationships.

If you still want to foster.. go for it. Keeping the cats to one room on a temporary basis will not hurt them and it is 100% better than living as a stray.

(PS. I decided against fostering.. I am too weak and would end up with 50 cats)

Did you notice the vote for NOT taking more fosters? Why didn't that person speak his/her mind in a post? I can take both sides of the story! If you want to validate your response to a poll you need to TELL us your feelings. Not just disagree and run away. So, if you vote NO please tell me why that was your choice. OK?

Don't feel guilty, you are doing a good thing. Really, my cats practically live in one room anyways. They love sleeping in my bedroom and don't seem to care much about going anywhere else. I don't think cats would mind as much as a dog would. And at least they have a home!

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Originally posted by PayItForward
they all recomended keeping the foster cats in the spare room to prevent spread of disease and illness and to prevent upsetting the ebb and flow of multi cat relationships

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I also agree with this because the health of your resident cats should be considered first. It's not like the foster's will have to live in the room forever either because hopefully they'll all be able to find great loving forever homes.:)

Before I adopted Cirrus, he had been in a few foster homes but since he didn't get readopted very quickly, he was then sent to a vet's office to live in one of their kennel cages in the back. I felt so bad for him. It was like he was in kitty jail.:( This is why I believe that a separate room would be much better than a cage or other terrible alternatives.

I voted for "it's better than the alternatives", and I really think it is!

One room for fosters can't be worse than some of the cages I saw in some shelters!

How good are your options to find permanent homes for them btw?

Kirsten

I'd say the kittens have a fairly good chance at being adopted. Look at Bonnie's 4. Adopted the first time they went to an adoption day event at 8 weeks old. This is why I prefer kittens. Long term adult fosters would be even harder to send away. (you know, like Bonnie :o )

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Originally posted by jenluckenbach
On the one hand, if they were not here they would probably be in a one room shelter, a cage in a shelter, on the street or dead.

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I think that statement answers your question.

It is NOT cruel to keep cats in a bedroom, especially since its just a temporary thing until they find their forever home.

My foster kittens are always kept in a bathroom for at least 2 weeks before I let them run loose in my house. These two I have now I actually kept in the bathroom for 3 or 4 weeks before I let them out. I have to keep the safety and health of my own cats in mind first and foremost.

Bathrooms, spare rooms, or laundry rooms are playgrounds compared to the cage they would be in at a shelter.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the foster kitties staying in one room. Cats don't mind being by themselves a lot. Sometimes, they prefer it. And as long as you didn't completely ignore them(which we know you wouldn't) I don't see anything wrong with it at all. They're not bigtime sociable animals like dogs who would hate being locked in one room.

Jen,

I didn't vote because I'm sort of in between.

As you well know, I've fostered plenty of cats and kittens from the shelter. I have a spare room that I can keep them in. But my MAIN concern is the health of MY cats.

It seems that everytime I bring in a foster from the shelter, they come down with a URI which spreads to my cats. Fostering is a wonderful thing. But in my opinion, they're better off at the shelter where they can be seen by people who are looking for a pet rather than having to notify the foster parent and make arrangements to go to their homes.

You do whatever YOU think is best. I have given up fostering because first of all, my cats health is the most important. Secondly, if anyone of them got sick because of the foster I took in, the shelter is surely not going to pay for the vet bill of my personal cat.

I think you should foster kittens most definately. I would however consider it personally difficult if you were to foster adult cats in one room.

I think stick to kittens if you only have available one room.

At the rescue where I adopted both Jazz and Scout they really encourage people to take a cat home to try it out for a week or so before officially adopting, of course only if your application qualifies you. Anyway, their theory is it's the best way to make sure you are getting the right cat for your home and even if it doesn't work out at least the cat had a week or so out of the cage to get some exercise and a bit of a normal life. Some of their cats are confined to cages for months at a time so anything is a great break for them.

On that note I believe your fostering is a great break for them and so much better than the alternatives. Plus you are helping to socialize and increase their chances of adoption. I know a lot of people would like to know things about the cat before adopting, like behavior, temperment, how they are with other cats, etc. Fostering is really the only way to know these thing. I think you are helping them in so many ways.

As I only have one cat I may be not the right person to give any advice, but I do believe that cats love having a certain routine in their life and your own cats seem to have arranged that for themselves pretty good, but as you can see with Sterling and Jim further additions or changes have taken their toll.
I know how much helping cats means to you, so I voted to keep the kittens in a seperate room, because I think this means less stress for your own cats and you can keep up the good work with fostering.
I don't see anything against keeping the kittens in one room only, because that's more than they have in most of the shelters, plus you can give them a more thorough care and much love and most of the time you have more then one kitten, so they have company...
...but the thing is that you have to decide wether you can deal with this option (keeping them seperated)...I agree with moosmom that the permanent cats and their health and happiness should always be considered to be most important...

If don`t/can`t foster but IMHO.....

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Originally posted by aly
............It is NOT cruel to keep cats in a bedroom, especially since its just a temporary thing until they find their forever home. ........
...... Bathrooms, spare rooms, or laundry rooms are playgrounds compared to the cage they would be in at a shelter.

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I just couldn`t put it better! :)

BTW, just a quirk of hers I guess, but Ebby seem to prefer to spend most of her time in the bedroom, (or her apartment as I call it :) ). This morning was typical, she came down and lay around in the living room for about an hour, then back upstairs, not only in her room but in her hidy-hole under the sofa bed! If she acts to form, later on in the afternoon she will spend some time in my bedroom, then this evening, she may, or may not as is her wont, come downstairs again.:)

Chris

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But in my opinion, they're better off at the shelter where they can be seen by people who are looking for a pet rather than having to notify the foster parent and make arrangements to go to their homes.

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True. And in the case of our local humane society that has regular hours daily when they are open to the public, this would be a BIG concideration. But our little shelter building is manned 100 % by volunteers and people cannot just go there to "look". They need to set up an appointment with an available volunteer (same as if it were a foster home).
Of course, those potential adopters might still miss out on a cat that is in a foster home because that cat was not at the shelter at that particular time.
An important thing to note is that our organization's founder does not want kittens under one year old in the shelter building. So they are to be fostered SOMEWHERE (if not here) until that time.



And for all those keeping track of this thread, the fosters in reality have 2 rooms. If you happened to see the screen door we built on our vacation, it blocks the stairway to the 3rd floor. There are 2 rooms on the 3rd floor. This gives me the option of keeping 2 sets of fosters separated in one room each or one set of fosters in the two rooms together. So I will use that space with the utmost of efficiency according to the cat's needs.

It sure as H*LL beats the alternative!! I've been fostering for 3 years and the kittens/adults are only allowed in the general population once they are well socialized to me, are UTD on shots, are completely healthy (no URI, ringworm, etc.) They do just fine. My "kitten room" is a large loft which is almost as big as my old apartment. :D

Jen,

Our shelter has TONS of kittens right now. I volunteer there on the weekends. What concerns me is that I've noticed lately kittens are coming in and getting URI's within a week or two. Then they go into isolation. They try everything to get them well enough so that they can come back out and be seen for adoption. But alot of them, because their immune systems are not fully working yet, don't make it. I do believe in fostering the kittens. At least this way they may stay healthy. But it's very difficult to find homes for them if they aren't at the shelter where they can be seen. It's a Catch 22 if ya ask me.

There's tiny kitten that came into the shelter the other day that I was going to foster. She's beautiful. Big blue eyes, blue and white tiger markings, maybe about 4-5 weeks old. Cathy asked me yesterday if I wanted to foster it. My heart says Absolutely!!! But my wallet says uh-uh.

I give you alot of credit for what you're doing. I think 2 rooms is great for them! Keep up the great work!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jenluckenbach
[B]True. And in the case of our local humane society that has regular hours daily when they are open to the public, this would be a BIG concideration. But our little shelter building is manned 100 % by volunteers and people cannot just go there to "look". They need to set up an appointment with an available volunteer (same as if it were a foster home).


I've been fostering these past six months and think it's fine to have foster bedrooms set up. Our rescue recommends a foster bathroom, that is easily disinfected. (I still have bedrooms, I don't know how I feel about a bathroom)
So, instead of getting the foot traffic in the shelter, our cats get 'web traffic' for people who are specifically looking for a 'kind' (or breed) of cat.

These cats are often overlooked in shelters and are snatched right up when placed in rescue. Example: Zazu, my flame point Siamese, 6 month old, was in an Animal control in Tampa. His adopter was from Jacksonville. Maybe she checked her local shelters for a Flame male, but could she go all over the state? No.
But, when pictured on Siamese Rescue, she was able to know ahead of time where exactly he was, come visit him, and consequently adopt him.

Jen, I've got three kittens right now, itegrated with my 3 cats. All is well. Tomorrow they go for their spay, I will again open the foster room, to keep them more quiet. They are not unhappy in there.
It would be hard to do at your house with over 10 residents, but keeping them separated is not cruel at all.
These cats only had days to live, their life keeps on getting better and better.
We fosters are a 'way station' between the awful shelter life and the great forever home life.
We do the best we can. One of our fosters had a beautiful Seal girl, she could NOT get along with other cats. Lived in the master bedroom for six months. Humans slept with her at night. Guess what happened? Adopted.

:)

Jen , you are doing the right thing. cats dont really ned a whole lot of space. They feel completely comfortable in a room , actually it gives them a feeling of security. michael , and the Siamese hardly ever go to the other parts of the house , Moose and Nugget are living room Cats and Princess spends her time in the baseent. One room is plenty for 2 kittens!

Please continue fostering!!! I think the reasons are obvious and were pointed out many times on this thread by Aly and others.

When I fostered kittens I kept them in a large, multi-level cage for half the day and then restricted them to one room when I was home. I felt guilty at first, but when I realized they make a playground out of any size space I just started to enjoy the sweeties and stopped feeling guilty. It wouldn't have been fair to stress out my kitty by having the little monsters invade the entire house and it was a choice I had to make for Nipo's sake.

As someone who has many cats and is fostering you bring loads of knowledge/experience to the process but at the same time you must make restrictions to keep your own cats healthy and safe. I think the good you are doing far outweighs what you may consider the "bad."

Jen I think you know in your heart, that to keep fostering, can only be of a benefit to these unwanted kittens,cats.

From what I have seen and heard you do a marvellous job, and you should hold your head up high and be proud of your foster furbabies, where it might not be the ideal situation in one room, and as an avid cat lover you wish to beable to offer them more, these babies would no doubt be at Rainbow Bridge by now, so in answer to your question, I think you should keep at it.

I admire you very much, and the wonderful job you and other foster mother's do on here, remember it is not a permanent situation for them, and they will soon find loving homes, probably with the space they need.

GO FOR IT GIRL!!!!!!:)

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Originally posted by aly
I think that statement answers your question.

Bathrooms, spare rooms, or laundry rooms are playgrounds compared to the cage they would be in at a shelter.

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I totally agree with Aly!

Whenever I have strays in my house (usually just overnight or a couple of days max - 'cos Ally goes Psyco) I confine them to a bathroom, with scratching post, litter box, food, water and bedding. Sure, it's pretty small, but the alternative (ie OUTSIDE in the BIG BAD world) is a million times worse!

PLUS even one bedroom in any house HAS to be larger and more "homely" than a cage at a shelter. At least then they also get used to being in a home environment, with cooking smells, lots of different noises, carpets, curtains etc..... At a shelter the only thing they are familiar with is a cage or enclosure and the sight and smell of other animals. Surely being used to being "in a house" even if it is only one room, is better than that!

Jen, I think you do an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC JOB, and I really hope you continue!

I think for the cats it is much better to be confined than to live in a cage or even outside. But the question you have to answer is how is it for you?

Noone can do more for her cats than you do. However as Donna points out, the fosters can bring infections in or behavioral problems etc.

I know that I couldn't do it. I would break down when I had problems like you had them the last weeks. So if you decide to do less (and this is your decision) you should not feel bad about it. You make a huge difference for the cat world. And you are allowed to define your personal limit.:)

I knew from the beginning of this thread that I would continue fostering. I was just curious if anyone had any valid reason to NOT keep fosters in a single room.
I have learned by experience that behavioral problems can be the result of having these "extra" cats in with the resident cats. And I am WELL aware of the fact that medical illness is a real possibility with exposure. But making the decision to keep them separate will hopefully prevent the biggest majority of these problems.
Thanks for all your kind words.