Would fostering be a bad idea for us?

[SamMewl]

i have a muti-cat household and also occasionaly have foster cats in the spare room. without actual interaction my cats are a little miffed about the noises in the spare room but mainly pretend there is nothing there!

i would ask your local rescues what there fostering policy methods are. we foster out mums and kittens, pregnant cats, litters that have no mum and feral kittens singly for taming. if a fosterer is not coping with any cats we have given them then we move them onto another foster home.  you might be better of with a situation where you are just looking after kittens as your cats will have less problems with them if they do meet.  if you do try it and Jas reacts you will know fostering isn't going to work in your home and as Jas got along with Meg and stopped spraying before, she would probably again with the house catstranger free.

our fosters are essential for the work they do, we helped more kittens than ever last year. most were living stray so without fosterers they would have had a very difficult life, now they all have homes of their own. although you are very right Liz in that it can be a hugely upsetting experience aswell as rewarding. our last two pregnant cats both had very inbred kittens, out of the two litters there is only one surviour and she is struggling (fingers crossed for Petal).

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I can see you are being pushed and pulled here but am sure you will make the right decision for your cats 

I am surprised that your cats are all grown up LOL, Lupin is way way far from growing up 

[Tempest]

Thanks for all the replies  I think if I'm totally honest I'm feeling kitten broody at the moment and not really sure how to deal with that!! My girls are all grown up and quite independent and I really like the idea of having a little one to look after and nurture  I do have quite a lot of spare time on my hands when I'm not at work and I like the idea of having something to focus on if that makes sense?

I think I also know how stretched rescues are when kitten season is in full swing and I do really like the idea of being able to help out and to give kittens time and help to become well socialised and adjusted and ready to go off to new homes.

I do think I'd be quite good at being able to send them off and not wanting to keep them but I also see what everyone is saying about upsetting the balance with my two etc.

I think I also would like to become more of a multi pet household in the future but that may not be right for Jasmine so that makes things really difficult 

[Liz]

Fostering can be wonderful and rewarding it can also tear you in two if something goes wrong, as we know to our cost I fostered a feral Mum and her remaining four  kittens and for 6 weeks life was wonderful kittens purry, outgoing and loving then we lost 3 in 4 days to fading kitten syndrome, nearly lost Mum Baku and the remaining kitten The Boris onlythanks to vets intervention and using drugs not prescribed for such a young kitten do I still have Boris and Baku

Loosing Ivan, Egor and Georgia broke my heart in to so many pieces then we lost our own feral Amber to round off 4 losses in a week

I foster feral kittens as I can isolate them out of the 8 I did last year I still have 2 Ollie and Jasmine as both have dodgy hearts missed by the CP vet but found by ours they are now bouding around and are a joy but for how long nobody can say but they stayed as in my midset after loosing the 3 kittens was we can give themthe life they need as house kittens and will love them for all they are and probably cope better after time with their loss

Fostering isn't just about cute kittens/cats its the loss side that is glossed over but it breaks your heart and even homing them on takes part of your heart with them and then you worry will they be ok can the new folks look after them its a roller coaster ride of emotion with love, laughter and tears and for some its not the road to travel

Having said that we will be doing it again this year as I have a large heart and the room to do and accepting cats who never complain aat newbies or the ones who need a little Clan TLC to allow them to be all they can be so I can only wish you well but your own cats welfare must be paramount above you needs and wants

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I think you have to look inside yourself and your real mottiffs honestly.

Is it you want kittens without having them as cats?

You have had real problems due to strange cats and I think you will jeopardize the existing cats situation. sorry.

[emmmy_lou]

I don't want to sound harsh, but I think you need to think about what you really want.

I have never fostered, but think that and having another cat are two totally different things?

I would imagine fostering to be rewarding, but hard at the end of the day when hopefully the cat you have looked after finds its forever home.

Hopefully more advice for you to come 

[Tempest]

When we first had Meg and she was in the kitten room Jas definitely knew she was there and used to sit outside the room sniffing around the door but there was no spraying - that started about 8 months later which is why we weren't sure if it was due to Meg or not.

It's just really tricky - I think I probably don't know what to do for the best as I don't want to jepordise Meg and Jas' relationship but I would love to foster.

Maybe we should just adopt again and then we could integrate the newbie gradually and Jas would come around once she knew they were here to stay 

[emmmy_lou]

I am sure if you discussed your situation with whatever rescue you were hoping to help out they would advise.

It would maybe not hurt TOO much to give it a go and if it didn't work out for you they could hopefully find somewhere else for the cat/ kittens?

Good luck if you decide to pursue it! 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Hmmn, if she was so upset/stressed by having cats outside her home I think it may be even worse for her having them in her own home as even though they'll be in a spare room she'll still be able to smell them and hear them  How did she react when you first got Meg? What was she like at the stage when Meg was kept in a separate room? Was there any spraying/stressed beahviour then? I think if it was me that would influence my final decision. Like you say it would be fab to lend a hand to an overstretched rescue not to mention the massive added bonus of having kittens! 

[Liz]

Any foster cats you have  are required to be kept seperate from your own so there is no chance of any nasty thing being passed either way so you need a room that any potential fosters can be kept in and your cats can't access if you were fostering in the home

[Tempest]

We've got 2 kittlings (Jasmine and Meg) Meg is about 18 months and Jas is about 3 now  When we got Meg as a tiny kitten it took a good couple of months for Jasmine to accept her - initially we had all the hissing that you would expect and Jas gave her a wide birth but then she tried to mother and lick her to death but also would swipe her and hiss at her at every opportunity  :laugh:

We had some problems around last March/April time when Jas started spraying in the house and we thought it was due to Meg and got really worried  We ended up having Vicky Halls the behaviourist out and she figured out that Jas was actually spraying at external walls windows and she thought it was an external cat (rather than Meg) that was causing the issue and within a few days we spotted another cat out the front of the house spraying up our bushes and noted that whenever Jas saw this cat she sprayed (and she had a few fights with it!!!!!!!)

We implemented the things Vicky suggested and Jas and Meg get along brilliantly now - play together, eat together and are generally v. chilled out together with just the odd hiss from Jas now and again 

Anyways I really really like the idea of fostering a kitten or two once kitten season starts - we have a spare room we could keep them separate in and I love the idea of helping some little ones find homes (and of course playing with them and snuggling with them of course lol!)

The only thing stopping me doing it is upsetting Jas and sparking off her spraying again  I know she'll know we have intruders in the house and will stake out the spare room whilst the kittens are in there so I'm just wondering how bad an idea this is? I want to put Jas first but think it would be lovely if we could foster (and of course I'm feeling slightly kitten broody too but I don't think adopting and us going up to 3 cats permanently is the best idea)