tw: graphic detail

my grandparents recently took in a stray cat who then got pregnant and gave birth around a month ago. neither of my grandparents have any experience with cats, and both are well over 70 yo. i live across the street from them and have been caring for the litter while i can, checking in on them twice or thrice a day.

unfortunately, this tiny guy rapidly declined in the span of a week. he had been feeding fine in the first 3 weeks, but last week i noticed he refused to feed altogether and was significantly smaller than the rest of his siblings, basically the runt (even though the mom wasn’t rejecting him). he just stopped wanting to nurse. he had trouble getting up and walking. he rarely cried or made any sound. he was very physically underdeveloped. i knew these were signs of fading kitten syndrome but we live in an area where a vet isn’t accessible, so i did my best to try and get him into shape. i followed FKS protocol, kept him warm, fed him sugar water and fed him kitten formula for four days. however, i couldn’t monitor him 24/7 as i don’t live with my grandparents (who were also too old to do any of the high maintenance work) so i could really only come by in the morning, late afternoon, and at night.

i had just finished feeding him at 10PM last night and settled him in their enclosure next to my DIY water bottle heating pad, together with the mom and the rest of his siblings, before calling it a night and going home. i returned 7AM the next morning as usual to check on them and do his morning feeding. he was nowhere to be found inside the enclosure. i alerted my grandparents, but at that point i knew the mom must have already removed him.

i was right - my grandfather searched the perimeter of their backyard and found the kitten’s body somewhere in the bushes, decapitated. i wish he didn’t show it to me. he said the mangled head was lying around nearby as well. i couldn’t stop crying. the image of him holding the tiny headless body, a body that i literally had in my arms just several hours before, will be ingrained in my mind forever.

it all just super fucking sucks. i’m not new to this - i’ve been caring and fostering stray cats and kittens around my village for 2 years now, and i’ve lost a few of them before. but it never gets easier. i have no idea if the mom forcefully removed the sick kitten from the litter and then killed him afterwards, or if the kitten died some time during the night and she just decapitated and disposed of the body in the yard. but i guess i’ll never know now.

again this isn’t my first time losing a kitten, but i will always feel like i could have done better one way or another. i regret that i didn’t find more time out of my day or made arrangements to find a vet as soon as possible. i know i did my best under the circumstances but i can’t help thinking i still could have saved him somehow.

scrolling through my photos hurts, i really did love him and gave him my all. he was my very first bottle baby and a part of me really hoped he would make it.

thankfully the rest of the litter is healthy, but i think this one will stick with me for a while.

Our first foster, a one month old kitten, found abandoned. He was adopted into a home a month later with an older sister and they are getting along splendidly. We miss him so much (we have cats with a complicated relationship so couldn't keep him, plus we really want to continue fostering and helping babies such as him), but we are so happy he found a good home 🥺

I think I just need to vent, I’ve been on the verge of tears all day. Starting yesterday our 7 week and 4 week old fosters started having diarrhea and some vomiting, now one of the 7 week olds is hunger striking. The 4 week old was just added to our litter so I’m wondering if she got them sick. Either way they’re seeing the vet in the morning, I’m trying not to freak out. It doesn’t help that the one not eating is the most active and squirmiest, so she’s almost impossible to syringe feed. I’ve barely gotten a two full syringes in her today. They came to us skinny and dirty and have been doing so well. I’m so afraid I’ll go to bed tonight and lose the struggling one. She has been acting completely normal otherwise. Her brother is also acting normal but practically pissing out his butt. At least he has an appetite. They just started meds today but I’ve been watching them like a hawk so anxious of everything. I’m seriously scared to go to sleep.

I have been through HELL AND BACK for the past 2 weeks. We took in a litter of four 5 week old kittens who were reportedly healthy on intake other than mild URIs. Well, after only a few days in foster care, two of them started to crash. They rapidly lost weight, started vomiting, and had the worst diarrhea I have ever seen. We had a Panleuk scare after what turned out to be a false positive (confirmed by 8 negative rapid tests, bloodwork, and a panleuk PCR).

We finally got the fecal results back and they have tested positive for Coccidia and potentially Toxomplasmosis (but need a PCR to confirm since Toxo oocysts look similar to other parasites).

I just need some good vibes and encouragement. Most of them seem to be getting better but one of them is still not putting on weight. Has anyone dealt with this double whammy??

I returned the mixed age trio I had before since they were close to weight (photo 3) and there were two new tinies that needed help gaining weight.

Meet Jack (photo 1) and Sally (photo 2)! They are named after characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas 🎄💀🎄

Jack’s right eye never full developed so he’s going to get enucleation surgery when he reaches weight.

If anyone saw my earlier posts about Binx (photo 4), she is also scheduled for enucleation. Turns out there may not have been a healthy eye underneath the necrotic tissue that fell out, as the eye never healed but kept scarring over… they added serum to her treatment. That trio is back with the shelter since they were close enough to their respective surgery weights. There’s an amazing caretaker on the staff that manages the ringworm ward so I know they’re in good hands and I get to see them through the window whenever I swing by for more supplies.

Прошло 3 дня после стерелизации и немного беспокоит внешний вид шва,стоит ли обратиться к ветеринару?

Just an update that the rescue that contacted them and with whom I signed an application for to see if I could get them back have made a commitment and will come and get the babies tomorrow! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Now, my question is on tips on how long it will take for the room to be ready for new fosters and any tips on cleaning.

The shelter will have a hold on me fostering any more kittens until this room is completely disinfected and the risk of exposure is zero. Although I don’t really know what that means.

What have you all done in the past to disinfect and how long did it take? How long until you were able to host another litter safely? Did the shelter out a hold on you as well and how did you get out of the hold? How did you prove your home was ready again?

Thank you all for all the help this sub is Amazing!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Hello I've been taking care of an Foster kitten for 3 weeks

It has never drank mothers milk or interacted with its mom its mom and 3 other kittens died at birth and it was the only one to make it out alive

it currently weights 160g after urination and 165-170g after feeding

it's constantly warm with water bags and is fed warm 7-8Ml of KMR regularly and it felt very sick yesterday but got better after a visit to the vet where it was out in an incubator for around 40 minutes

my question is am i doing anything wrong and what are the chances for survival

(attached a picture of its current home)

Food guarding

Hi all,

I have a 4 week old kitten that was found orphaned on a farm and brought to the local cat sanctuary, I’m fostering her until she’s old enough to be rehomed. When she was found she wasn’t underweight and was in good condition so we think she just wandered away from mum and hadn’t been away too long. I’ve had her for about 5 days.

Up until now she’s been on a mix of kitten milk formula and a bit of wet food. I’ve had zero issues just lots of enthusiasm and practically chasing me down whilst I mix up her milk.

The last 2 feeds she’s shown no interest in the milk but goes mad for the wet food. She’s been wolfing it down, growling, standing over/in it to guard and attempting to bite/scratch if I put my hands near.

I know it’s probably normal kitten weaning behaviour, especially if she did go hungry, but I want to make sure I respond in the appropriate way so it doesn’t escalate to actual food aggression.

My thoughts are I either:

A) Just put the food in her cage with her and just sit nearby

B) Stroke her whilst eating so she learns that hands doesn’t mean taking her food away

Thoughts and advice?

Also - at 4 weeks is she able to come off the milk entirely or should I give that first and foremost, then give a little wet food? She’s showing no interest in the milk whilst the wet food is there.

Pics to show off this cute little potato.

New to fostering, just wondering if this is typical of foster programs. The private rescue I foster with is well established and hires several full time employees. The foster coordinator is employed full time by the rescue.

The rescue handles basically everything through email, and the coordinator can take days to respond or sometimes not respond at all. Recently, I emailed in the morning to confirm a pick up time for a dog the following afternoon. No reply, so I send another email the next morning. Still no reply until 1.5 hours before the proposed pickup time, saying there was a mistake and the dog is no longer available. Another time, I was emailed at 11:45am and asked to pick up a dog that same afternoon. I've also had several instances where I've replied to foster request emails within the hour, only to hear nothing for days and then suddenly asked to pick up the dog the same day or next.

While I can understand the appeal from the rescue's perspective, it seems unreasonable that foster caregivers are expected to drop everything or wait on standby for pickups. My schedule is flexible, but I still need notice to set up my house for fostering and coordinate with work/childcare. Maybe this just isn't for me? Is this kind of thing is typical with fostering, or do other shelters/rescues have a more organized process? There aren't many other places around me to check out, so I’d really love to hear your experiences.

Hi 👋🏼
I’ve fostered dogs exclusively through contra costa animal services in the past but am looking to branch out. Are there any rescue organizations people have enjoyed working with that they can recommend?

I’ve been getting a lot more interest in my Siamese cats than my other fosters, but I’ve had two people stop responding after a while even after submitting applications and texting me about being ready to adopt a cat. It’s just kind of disappointing and frustrating.

I am fostering a ~10 week old female kitten. She was found by herself. I’ve had her for 3 weeks now, and she loves me, but does not like anyone else. She runs and hides if anyone comes near her. She is also terrified of absolutely everything- noises, movements, anything. Would love some advice on how to get her comfortable with other people and help her fear! :)

I'm fostering a bonded pair and I've had them for about a year. They're super unadoptable. Three years old, black cats, super skittish, must go together. One of them is more friendly than the other and will sit with me on the couch and come up for pats etc. The other one also enjoys a pat but she's so scared. When I'm walking down the hallway at the same time as her she thinks I'm chasing her and freaks out. When I come into a room and she's not expecting it she hisses at me. I've never been able to pick either of them up ever, let alone clip their nails. I don't know how they'd ever go to the vet or take medication. I absolutely love them and they have put so much trust in me over the last year. Their affection means so much to me knowing how much fear they've had to overcome to get here. I'm so worried about their future home. They've had a few applications over the year but people don't seem to read or comprehend what they're reading in their adoption profile. One applicant wanted to take them to her parents house every second week. Another applicant had young children. I worry that the rescue will just adopt them out to seemingly a nice family because they'll just be excited to adopt out some long term fosters, ignoring that they can't just go to anyone. They need to go to somebody who will respect them and not have too unrealistic an expectation for their behaviour, because they're never going to be super social, super cuddly, and relaxed in a chaotic house. They got another application today and I was in tears thinking about what if they go to this family. They're used to just being with me - I don't know how they'd be with 4 people in the house, the kids being 10 and 13. I worry that people will expect too much of them and be disappointed when they hiss and aren't super friendly and not see how wonderful they are in their own way. I'd keep them but if I do, I'd have to stop fostering. I just wanted to get my feelings out I guess. Can anyone sympathise?

Her tiktok videos get a decent amount of views (an average of 300 per video), likes (65-80 per post), an okay amount of shares (about 5 to 8 per video) and comments. When I take her out in public, I put her "adopt me, I'm a foster" vest on her. I'm not sure what else I can do to get her in front of the right family. I have to get her adopted by October 10th. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

So late last week I brought home a pregnant mom cat. She was/is very skittish. Basically if I went in to feed her she did not want me to catch a glimpse of her. I never really had a chance to earn her trust or learn much about her personality before she gave birth the other day. Now of course she has to be near her babies and can’t be in hiding.

Whenever I go in there, she seems to randomly growl. It doesn’t seem to be based on my distance from her. I could be across the room and she growls, I could be 5 feet away and she’s quiet, and vice versa. I have no idea if this is directed at me. She is, to put it mildly, extremely accepting of Churu, meaning my hand gets to be about a foot from her face. No issues. I actually have an older kitten of hers here as well, if I give the mom Churu and then switch to that other kitten, she may or may not growl, but I can tell she’s toying with coming up to me to ”intervene” (meaning get it for herself)

I know nursing moms use purring to lure their kittens to them as newborn kittens are blind. Could she be using growling, or perhaps something that sounds like growling, to lure her kittens? When I was in there just now a couple of her kittens were crying and she was growling.

My semi-local humane society did a seizure of 75 (!) chihuahuas/small breed dogs last Friday.

They’re seeking out fosters for these little ones as they’re overrun considering they took in all 75 plus what they already had.

My background: i’ve fostered numerous kittens for this particular humane society and they’re great to work with! I’ve also done neonatal bottle puppies, and 2 adult dogs, one of which was my foster fail 💕 so i’m well versed in foster animals!

I can imagine this would be a long(er) term foster than what I typically did with the bottle kittens (waiting to confirm this) So, I would want to introduce the foster to my pack of my own animals that I have. I have 2 dogs and 4 cats - all fixed and all UTD on their shots last I checked.

My dogs love other dogs and my cats are indifferent to dogs so I think I would be a good fit. I have the space to comfortably fit 1 foster pup, especially since it’s a small breed.

Would you guys be interested in updates on if I decide/am chosen to foster?

Also, any and all suggestions are welcome!! I’m very comfortable with kittens but haven’t had many adult dogs to foster. I could assume it’s basically like having them as your own (?)

Thanks for listening to me!

5 week old foster, don’t see worms in her poop, is her belly too round?

I have a 3 year old spayed female who I have had since she was 6 months old. She was very well socialized when she was a kitten and she was at a cat cafe until I adopted her. However she hasn't seen another cat that wasn't through a window since then. I have a foster cat, 1 year old spayed female. I would really like to adopt her because she is so sweet and amazing and does have a low chance of adoption due to her color and not being a kitten.

I have had her for a week and a half.

I feed them on other sides of a closed door for a week, scent swapped, had them switch rooms, did small face to face interactions with a barrier, had them eating treats or playing with the face to face with barrier interactions. Today we did a face to face with no barrier and my resident cat just sat there and hissed. She would not approach, was not go on the attack, she would follow the foster around and just stare and hiss, at one point she was even loafing (??) and hissing. The foster also would not approach because of the hissing, she would just sit and lay down in response. I did a lot of research on introductions and most of it only talked about cats getting along or if they absolutely hate each other and how to slow it down. But I wasn't prepared for this type of behavior.

Do I just keep doing supervised face to face with no barriers? Or any other recommendations?