Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Rescue & Rehoming => The Rescue Room => Topic started by: ChesterCatCare on July 22, 2010, 22:37:55 PM
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Hello,
I'm Anna and I run Chester Cat Care. It's a pretty new rescue (just 3 years) and i've only just learned of this site this week and really glad i joined already! (i can almost feel my sanity flowing back...)
Like a lot of the smaller rescue, all cats taken in are placed in foster homes as we have no centre (and probably won't for a number of years!) but we really struggle to find them. I know a lot of rescues have the same problem, but we actually have just five foster carers in Cheter itself, with all the rest being further afield which can make life difficult. I've been going all out for the past few months in efforts to "recruit" more foster carers, but nothing I am trying seem to be working whatsoever. I must have thirty posters in corner shops, pet shops and village noticeboards, yet have had no response to any of them. An advertorial in the local paper resulted in two potential fosters, one of which was sadly allergic to cats in the end and the other was a complete lunatic! Facebook appeals have been semi-successful, but the offers of help are about an hour or more's drive away, which of course would be difficult to manage.
I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice or has had particular success with anything in particular. I'm sure that there MUST be more local people who'd be willing to foster, but I just can't seem to find them! And meanwhile, there are more and more calls every day from people looking to sign cats over. It seems the more I advertise for foster carers needed, the more people see the ads and think "i'll get THEM to take my cat!". It's driving me round the twist!
If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I'd be extremely grateful ;D
Thanks
Anna
Chester Cat Care
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Hi Anna and :welcome: to Purrs,
Can't really offer any advice on how to drum up fosterers I'm afraid but I'm sure others will be alone soon who can offer practical advice or even offer help ;)
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Can't really offer any advice as we are low on our numbers as well.
We have found people outside the area don't last as they feel too isolated.
Also you must let people chase you up. People you need to chase up will not last very long or will not be bothered about silly things like paperwork and finances.
Considering how rewarding it can be, I am always surprised by the lack of people who want to give it a go.
So if anyone does have any bright ideas, I've pen and paper ready too!
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Hello Anna and :welcome: to Purrs
I hope that you get the help you need :hug:
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Hiya
I hope you can find some more people, we always struggled to find fosterers, and some of the ones we did find didn't last. Have you got any up in your local vets?
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I wonder if you could chat to the receptionists/nurses in your local vets - they tend to know which people are more likely to be swayed by a cute kitty than not. Everytime I go to the vets I have to avoid one particular nurse because she always has at least one cat looking for a new home and she knows I collect cats faster than Noah with his Ark! :rofl: Maybe if you have a chat with the nurses and receptionist they might be able to spread the word a bit to suitable candidates. Also, I tend not to look at the posters at the vets because 1. they tend to break my heart when it's lost pets or animals needing new homes and 2. I'm always more preoccupied with calming and fussing over whichever cat has needed a vet visit. The only time I probably would look at anything would be at the counter on my way out when I'm paying and know that my puss is going to be okay :Luv: Maybe little business cards left on the counter would result in some new foster carers?
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If you can help them with food, litter and vet bills (in particular) there are a number of people out there who would love a cat but can't afford it. Or people who can only take a cat for a short while. You would need to know that they would hand over the cat to its new ownerwhen the time comes but remember, the more fosterers you have the more cats you can help but with more cats comes bigger food, litter and vet bils!
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Hello,
Thank you all for all the suggestions- i think the trouble is that there just aren't enough people out there who are wiling to do it!
I have posters in my own vet and they all know how desperate we are for foster carers (i'm in there at least once a day!). Unfortunatley though, the majority of vets in the area won't put up posters, "against company policy" it seems for a lot of them, which is just ridiculous if you ask me...
We already offer to pay for all food/litter, provide all equipment and pay all vet bills - i think that a lot of these people who can't afford a cat just get one anyway and don't look after it rather than do the sensible thing and foster >:(
I'll keep trying though of course :) There just HAVE to be more people willing to foster in the area!
I'll keep you updated and let you all know if I find some great answers!
Anna
Chester Cat Care
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have you tried to interest your local paper in running an article about the problems you are facing?
I have never worked in rescue, but I would have thought there are a fair number of older folk who would welcome the company of an older cat, but who worry about the cost and what would happen to it if they could no longer look after it
they might be open to being tempted into fostering - perhaps a notice in day centres, libraries etc
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What a coincidence - I am just abou to try that next week :wow:
I have done this in the past, approx 1 year ago and only got a couple of prospective foster carers - one was allergic to cats :'( and the other was on about 2litres of vodka a day... needless to say neither of them were actually in a position to foster! But I am hoping that this was just bad luck and that this time might work out better :)
Fingers crossed as just had to take on another emergency today - a 4 week old kitten with chylmidia covered in lice who has filled my "emergency" foster home - with no signs of any new foster carers on the horizon and with no cats due to go into new homes this week, we'll have to tell the next heart-wreching emergency that there is nothing we can do, sorry :scared: a terrifying thought.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Thanks
Anna
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thinking about it a bit more, Anna, I wonder if you would do better with the older generation if you targeted them very deliberately
a lot of older folk,in my experience, don't see themselves as being of much use any more, but an awful lot of them have had animals in their lives before, and the companionship of a cat, or dog, can make all the difference to a lonely life - and it makes them feel useful again, and needed
I found an elderly cat abandoned by the side of the road outside my house, and my mother took him on, for the remaining two years of his life, at the age of 83 - and when he died she almost immediately decided she must have a cat again, so that was another cat taken out of rescue
when my mother died the rescue took the cat back into their care, as was the agreement - even after I tried unsuccessfully to integrate her with mine for nearly two years
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Hi
have you tried to interest your local paper in running an article about the problems you are facing?
That is a great idea.
Also have you contacted your local council - they may have a voluntary sector unit where they advertise volunteering opportunities. They may also publish details on Do-it.org.uk for you.
Good luck
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Agreed with targetting retired folks. Are there any colleges or schools locally that would allow you to do a presentation to a class about caring for and neutering pets, plus fostering and adopting rescue animals? I was initially thinking of vet nurse or animal care students, but it could work in schools for personal development or citizenship or whatever it is they do these days! If kids can pressure parents to buy the latest toy and using the recycling bin, I am sure one or two could be pestered to help out with fostering? ;) Of course that assumes you actually have free time to put a presentation together.
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We had so many "Failed Fosterers" LOL (foster carers who decided to Adopt their Foster Kitty), that we at KumfyKatz Rescue are running a "Try before you Adopt" scheme.
We supply everything to start off a Potential Fosterer including a 24/7 support helpline, thanks to Sponsorship from a couple of local (to us) Companies, and help from the RMP's at Aldershot. We cover all costs (vets bills, food, litter, beds, scratchers, litter trays & scoops, cleaning materials, toys etc). We haven't excluded anyone who would like to Foster a cat for us: Service families, single people, the retired -- anyone can foster short or long term, once homechecked, vet checked and LA checked..
The scheme has been running now for just over two months, and I have to say that apart from a few teething problems at the beginning, it's proving to be relatively successful. 9 cats have found permanent forever homes this way, and 6 more in Foster. Of the 9 homed, 8 were fostered for up to a fortnight, then the Foster Carers decided they had "fallen in love with Darling..." and wanted to adopt. 3 of those Foster Carers have also offered to Foster again.
We also have (Thanks in the main to Rushmoor Voluntary Services) a couple of entries of the doit.org website, where potential volunteers go to look for voluntary work in their areas. We've only done the entry in the last week, and had two potential Fosterers call already.
We put a little poster for our "TRY BEFORE YOU ADOPT" scheme everywhere we could think of where people sit or stand and wait for something (Doctors, Library, Schools, Day Care Centres, Services Welfare Offices waiting rooms, vets, local Cafes, Pubs, and Bus Stops etc. Even got some of local Cabbies (Bless them all) to put a small postcard-sized notice in the back of their cabs, and local Snack Wagons have one too. Also did a leaflet drop at a couple of local car boot sales and fetes.
We have at this very moment 84 pending Pre-Fostering Homechecks to do in this area (and if anyone would like to help (must have experience, car and phone)......) So potentially, we have spaces for 84+ cats! Yikes!
Maybe you could try something similar in your area?
Best to get some sort of sponsorship first, talk to local businesses (bigger ones), work up a good relationship with them, talk to your local RVS centres, talk to your vets, and other vets in your area.
Prepare for the influx! (We didn't, fully, that's why we had teething problems from the start).
Best of luck!
Gil xxx
Volunteer Manager
KumfyKatz Rescue
07590 495086
www.kumfykatzrescue.co.uk
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:wow: So glad the idea has worked and all those potential homes and fosterers for the cats must have made the teething problems worthwhile :)
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This sounds like a great idea ;D
Do you have a website?
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Yes Gill,
www.kumfykatzrescue.co.uk
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Thank you ;D
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I agree advertsing for older/ retired people.
Many older people when their cat dies do not get another one because they are worried about (to put it bluntley) dying before the cat does. They are worried about not knowing what will happpen to it after thyey die especially if they live on their own. So they have no cat in their lives even though they would love one. :(
I have always tell my older customers that they could always take on an older cat when they say they are not having another cat as they are older but in view of this posting I start suggesting that they could also become foster homes.
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I decided to become a Foster carer after seeing a poster in my local vets, we lost our two previous cats both aged 20 the most recent a few months previously and had been 'umming and ahhing' about getting another cat, Me and the lads were determined we needed a cat in our lives, and OH was resisting on the grounds that 20 years is one hell of a commitment (true) - Fostering was the perfect compromise.
It is taking all my will power not to cave in and keep Socks, I am determined not to fail on my first assignment - though I may live to regret it! :sick:
Anyway, back to the point (sorry) yes, posters in the vets surgery do work! :rofl:
I also agree that targeting the older generation is a good idea, my mum would love Socks if only she were more mobile, she is due to have a hip replacement in May, as she is she couldn't manage to bend to see to a litter tray :(
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What a great idea Gil and so pleased it's taken off so well :wow:
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Sounds a great thing to do :)