Anyone in London fancy being a mother and kitten fosterer?

[thecatneuterer]

We (Celia Hammonds) have run out of foster homes again. We are bringing in mothers and kittens every day, and our problem book is full of more being born in sheds/gardens/factories ... that we need to bring in. But we're full - completely. It's been a particularly bad year. The lockdown boom in pet ownership has now resulted in an enormous amount of abandoned, unneutered cats, that are now giving birth all over the place. It's bad every year, but this year is off the scale.

To be a fosterer you need a spare room (if you don't have any other pets this might not be necessary), to live within reasonable distance of our centres in Canning Town and Lewisham, and enjoy playing with kittens:)

PM me for details.

Bumping xx

I would love to do this! Time to kick my kids out so I have a spare room!

I would! I have a spare room. Will DM you.

Bump!

I sent you a DM. Fingers crossed...

I don't think you can dm through the app.

Do you have an email address?

Do you need a cat flap or much previous experience? We're planning to adopt a cat in about a year, but fostering could be a good way for us to go for now to see if it would work for us.

(We're keen to be the most responsible cat owners we can be. We've sadly witnessed first hand the result of impulse lockdown pet ownership)

I live in N1 in a two bed flat (just me and my partner) but have a (gentle) cat already. Not sure if we’d be suitable? Might be a step up from a shed.

I'm not in the area, but wondering about doing it in the future in my own area. If you have time ould you answer my query?

Do you have a policy on whether fosters work outside the home? I'll be returning to the office soon (out 6:45 to 15:15) and wonder whether this would stop me fostering?

My own cat just sleeps all day when I'm in the office, but I wonder whether you (/charities in general) want the cats & kittens to have more supervision and human interaction?

@Twizbe Thanks for your interest. I have just sent you a private message. I have previously received and replied to pm's via the app, so I'm hoping this will work.

The general email is [email protected], but that may get lost in the hundreds of emails they receive everyday and I'm trying to co-ordinate this myself (for the Canning Town branch) and of course I don't want to publish my personal email on here. Anyway, see if you get the private message and we can take it from there.

@Twizbe And to answer your other questions: you definitely don't need a cat flap. Foster cats and kittens have to be kept securely inside, and that includes no open windows in the room they are in, unless they can be put on draught lock.

And you also don't need any experience. The kittens come with the mother (and we would only give tame, friendly mothers to inexperienced fosterers), so it's really the mother that does all the kitten raising. The fosterers job is really just to provide a safe environment and to interact with the kittens so that they grow up tame and socialised.

@TheCategoryIs Thanks for your reply. You sound very suitable indeed and I'd be happy to discuss further via pm.

@Lookwhoseinsideagain Well I can't speak for all charities but we certainly don't require people to be around all the time. As long as the kittens get some interaction each day that's fine. Obviously if there is no mum and the kittens have to be bottle fed that's a different thing - but that's a very specialist job anyway and is different to mother and kitten fostering.

[quote thecatneuterer]@Twizbe And to answer your other questions: you definitely don't need a cat flap. Foster cats and kittens have to be kept securely inside, and that includes no open windows in the room they are in, unless they can be put on draught lock.

And you also don't need any experience. The kittens come with the mother (and we would only give tame, friendly mothers to inexperienced fosterers), so it's really the mother that does all the kitten raising. The fosterers job is really just to provide a safe environment and to interact with the kittens so that they grow up tame and socialised.[/quote]
That's great thank you.

I actually just sent an email to the Lewisham branch as we are closer to there.

That's perfect. I was thinking of using our second reception room which is currently empty and the patio doors don't open lol.

OK that's great. I don't have any involvement with the Lewisham branch anyway so it's best to just email them direct. Thanks so much.

The DM function works because I've been in contact with the OP that way.

I’m fostering a mum and kittens just now. I agree that the mum does all the hard work. I do the feeding and the litter tray cleaning and the playing and cuddling. It’s a pretty good deal.

I actually volunteered to do this last year, but at that point CHAT didn't need more fosterers, and I then acquired a demanding feline of my own who would not approve.

Good luck to all the new fosterers and please post photos so we can be consumed with envy kept up to date.

I'm just bumping hopefully ...

I live in E1 and would really love to do this but I don't have a spare room. :-(

@HundredMilesAnHour Do you already have pets? A spare room may not be necessary if you don't.

Ive fostered Mum and kittens before, its so rewarding, I really hope your appeal pays off

[quote thecatneuterer]@HundredMilesAnHour Do you already have pets? A spare room may not be necessary if you don't.[/quote]
I have 3 elderly dwarf hamsters (sisters who all live together in one cage).

@HundredMilesAnHour Could the cage go in a room that the cat and kittens wouldn't have access to? A bedroom for example?

[quote thecatneuterer]@HundredMilesAnHour Could the cage go in a room that the cat and kittens wouldn't have access to? A bedroom for example?[/quote]
I'm trying to work out if there's anyway I can make it work. If I can find a way, I'll PM you.