Foster Care
Home Up

Foster Care for the Humane Society

Mom and kitten Here is a mom and one of her five kittens for which we did foster care recently. It's hard to get a picture of all five at once. It's like ...well it's like ... it's like herding cats, that's what it's like.

There are so many rewards in doing this type of foster care. Plus, it's easy. The mother cat does all of the work, feeding the kittens and cleaning up after them. Hopefully she'll teach them how to use the box correctly. This particular mom didn't have good box habits herself, but most of the time there is no problem.

When we do this foster care for kittens, we take care of the family until the kittens are about eight weeks old. Then they go back to the Humane Society to be adopted. The kittens need to be about two pounds before they can be adopted out, and they reach this weight at about eight weeks.

Here's what you have to do for our Humane Society. First you let them know that you're interested in doing foster care. Then they'll have you attend a class to discuss what the process is. This is a good meeting, as it lets you know how to tell the kittens are sick, what to do about it, etc. Then after a while you'll get a call asking if this is a convenient time for you. You'll of course say yes. You go to the Humane Society and pick up a mom and a bunch of little kittens. The first time you do this, they'll probably give you kittens around six weeks old.

You'll have to have a room prepared for them -- you don't want them mixing with your own animals because while the Humane Society isn't knowingly giving out sick kittens, you just never know. You probably want to let mom and kittens get used to the area for a little while. Maybe you set up a card table with towels underneath as a place they'll feel safe in.

You feed the mom kitten chow -- she needs all those nutrients, and you clean her box. Of course, after mom scopes out the scene you can go in and play with them -- otherwise, what fun would it be? Then when they're eight weeks old you call them and let them know it's time to bring the kittens back. That's all there is to it!

Use this link to get to the Frederick County Humane Society, in Frederick MD.

[ Back Home ]

Hit Counter hits since April 12, 2002

Last updated May 18, 1997.
Send suggestions or comments to lking@pobox.com.