A day in the life of fostering 12 cats!‏

Michelle B is one of our fearless and invaluable foster homes, as well as a Foster Home Liason Volunteer. We asked her to share a typical day with us:

600 Woken up by kittens chewing on my toes.

730 After hitting snooze button on alarm, get up to get daughter off to school and feed cats.
Soft food for mouse and 5 babies. 1 can. They are all in hiding. Mouse is still very timid but the kittens will peak out from their nest.
While downstairs I feed my dog Zoe and foster dog Sabre.

Upstairs to make daughter's lunch and feed everyone upstairs. This takes 1 large and 1 small can of soft food and 3 plates and one bowl (for my cat Princess as she won't eat with the others so she gets a bowl to herself on the counter)
I then head back downstairs to let dogs outside and peek in on Mouse's family. Yup all the food gone and still hiding!

Daughter's bus comes. As I am waving good bye 4 cats run outside so I chase after them.

830 clean up after everyone's breakfast then head outside to feed rabbits. They are named Cupcake and Gibby and they hop around their hutch excited for breakfast.

900 watch TLC " what not to wear" while folding laundry or some other chore.

1000ish Daughter Meadow gets up and we have breakfast and play with kittens and cats while watching cartoons. Besides Mouse's kittens downstairs we have Lucy and her remaining 3 kittens upstairs (who we received when the kittens were just a few days old and are now 8 weeks old and are being adopted out) and my newly adopted PFA kitten Angel.

Total cats free range in house: 12!
6 are my babies (ages ranging from 12 yrs to 2 mos )

1PM Go for walk with dogs while Meadow rides bike. Often go to park. Get home and check on kittens downstairs, play with them a bit and ensure everyone has fresh water and dry food available.

300 Meadow plays while I check emails and do PFA paperwork. I am a foster home coordinator and follow up on foster homes, arrange visits and do vaccinations etc. I often do 1 to 3 visits a week. While working I have to break up a few cat fights as they get into each other's space.

4PM Older daughter comes home. We may run a few errands (like buy pet food) etc before supper.

6ish Take girls to dance class on Mon Tue and Wed and eat early or usually eat at this time then outside for yard work, playing with dogs or visiting with neighbours.

8PM. Time for feeding again. Total of canned food 1 large and 2 small.
Feed cats upstairs
Feed cats in foster room and let dogs in to feed them. Often breaking up fights with those who don't like to share! Get children ready for bed.

9PM Yay girls are in bed. I head downstairs to do laundry, feed our fish and scoop out 7 litter boxes. I always end up in foster room and hang out with the occupant. Today that is Mouse and her babies. I talk to and pet Mouse (who is still hiding and growls at me at first but relaxes and enjoys the petting) and laugh at the babies wrestling and chasing each other around.

10 PM tidy up house and again play with kittens or any adult cat who likes to snuggle and watch tv.

11ish Off to bed which is already occupied by 3 cats and another 1 or 2 join me once I'm settled.

Total cats 18
Total dogs 2
Total bunnies 2
Total children 2
Total cans of soft cat food 6 and 1 large bag of dry food every 3 weeks
Total of 2 cans wet dog food for picky foster dog Sabre
2 boxes of litter a week
Amount of love in the house priceless!

PS this would be a typical day off for me. I also work full time shift work as a nurse.

Angel is doing awesome!

Another update from her foster mom, Cherilyn:
"Angel is doing wonderful ! She got her stitches out on Thursday. One was really bad to take out as it had grown into the skin a bit so she howled a little and cuddled right up to me. The vet tech was laughing as she said you're her protector, she cuddles right up to you so I can't get her. Since then she is just a kitten. Her and Grace got really close and play together and now that she is better her and Mitzy started playing together as Mitzy is a bit rougher. But nothing hurts her now - so now she attacks Mitzy. Quite the change . She has this little cloth ball which is her favorite so she carries it all over the place. Hope we do not lose that one! I do not know what we would do. That little tail of hers she has adjusted to really well. Once the stitches were out she forgot all about it, it sure needs to grow more hair on it and it will look cute, now it just looks like a cut off tail. Once the hair is back it will look so much better. Angel - our miracle girl, she is simply amazing this little one!"

Guest Blogger: Mr Mom

I currently own a 1 year old male orange tabby named Garfield. He is the biggest cat in my house. Garfield is the most loving cat who loves to play and snuggle. Garfield can get a little rough with other cats in my house. When I found two 5 week old kittens in the dumpster just under a week ago I was concerned about bringing them home with Garfield. Garfield when getting a chance to play with other cats often gets rough. My worry was this would happen to the babies. To my surprise there was not even a hiss! All of the other cats were hissing and striking at them but not Garfield. He was curious, following them around where ever they may go. By Sunday he was Dad. He grabs them and cleans them, he plays with them and he is oh so gentle. He has even protected them from the other cats in the house that are still not happy with their presence. After watching this I was just amazed. I have heard of females taking on this role but never a male. So it was decided that Garfield's nickname is Mr. Mom.

-Shelly

(Shelly is currently fostering the two dumpster kittens that we wrote about earlier here: http://pfasask.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-case-of-dumpster-kittens.html)

We are growing so much, that we need even more volunteers!

We have had an exciting growth spurt lately and have reached an unprecedented number of foster homes! Yay! What we need now is a group of people who would be willing to work with our foster homes, as we have way too many for one person to continue managing alone.


We are looking for about 5 or 6 volunteers, who will each be responsible for 5 – 10 foster homes. We will have one person to manage and oversee all foster home work, (Sarah). What we would like to have our 5 – 6 foster home coordinators do is listed below.


Tasks:
Each volunteer will be responsible for a number of foster homes, (maximum of 10). We will try to arrange them geographically so that when you make visits, you can hopefully stay in one area of the city;

Ensure that foster homes have all the necessary paperwork, (adoption forms/packages, foster homes contracts filled out);
Ensure that foster homes have supplies if needed, (donations can be obtained from Sarah);
Take photos of new intake animals and send them to Sarah for posting;
Take history/behavioural notes on new foster animals and send them to Sarah for ads;
Vaccinate as needed;
Work with Alanna and Brittany, (adoption screeners), to ensure that good communication happens about potential adoptions;
Be the contact person for the foster home if they have any issues or concerns and questions;
Check in with the foster homes regularly to ensure that they are managing well - do visits as needed, perhaps once a week but less frequently if not needed.


As the foster home manager, Sarah will continue to: determine where new rescues go, authorize vet visits, store donated supplies, maintain adoption and vaccination lists and of course be a resource person for you if you have questions or concerns at any time. We will also provide all the training you will need, (ie – to administer vaccinations, etc.)


We are very excited about the growth we have seen in the past months and we hope it continues! We can’t keep making differences in animals’ lives without your help. Please consider becoming a foster home coordinator, and contact me at jodyfrancais@hotmail.com if you can help.

Guest Blogger: A friend of the downtown cats

I used to live at the corner of 15Th ave and Scarth St downtown, I was in a cat colony of 32 friends. There was all sort of cats and kittens. I am only 4 months old. In our area where I was born there was a restaurant when open, people would feed us through the fence or if the food dropped the owners would leave it for us to sneak in and run away with the leftovers. The other four houses that people lived in was our playground, a storage shed our shelter.



After the restaurant closed and people moved from the houses, some humans would come everyday. They would feed us cat food, water and most of all played with us 10 kittens. We had a great time! That spider with bells I would catch it and try to take in my cubby hole but it always got away. When the leaves started dropping it was fun chasing those around. Trying to catch birds in a pack didn't always work. Some us little guys were just learning. One day a feather got stuck to my friends mouth no matter which way he turned or moved that darn feather would follow. Caught it with my paw it stuck there too. I tried to remove it with my mouth but again it got stuck. Dumb feather. All my friends laughed at me.



The first sign of snow in October, that was a rude awakening for us little people. Never saw that stuff before. The wind was howling, the rain so cold. We tried to hide in our shed but it wasn't heated and the holes up top didn't keep that wet stuff off us. Slowly my friends started disappearing to people what had these traps that caught us. They were sneaky, put food in the back, good food mind you, tuna, sardines, salmon, anything that got our attention. When caught they would be taken to a better place. I heard four of my friends stayed together and wee given a warm bed, good food and some loving to tame them. The new humans played with them.


In the end it was just me and some adult cats left. I just wanted to be stubborn. I wasn't going if I could help it. My mom was still around. I would hear my name, it got kind of confusing cause one day I would be "blue eyes", Houdini, Who's That!, I heard other names but little people can't say that. I hid pretty good because another person called me "Wiley".


In the end I was caught by these people. They came into my shed, set up this play maze or so I thought, put some food in the trap, it was so good, I hadn't eaten for a few days and in I went. OH NO Tricked again!



So now I'm in a foster home too. My life is so much better, I get a warm bed, blankets, all the food I want and a warm body to cuddle against. I don't know if I would've made it through the winter. It took along time to catch me but to the people who caught us and to the people that look after me I THANK YOU. Please come see me again.


Special thanks go out to Wilfred, Ken and Leanne, Diana and Mauri these are the people who worked thru warmth, cold, rain and snow to help these poor cats.
-Lillian

Guest Blogger: Foster Home

I decided to become a foster family for animals recently. I looked at the People for Animals website and applied. Within a short time a momma cat and a kitten had been rescued from an abandoned house and needed foster care. I picked them up from the vet's where the vet gave me a lecture on how wild they were and to be careful.

I got them home and set them up in a room in the basement. I left them in the carrier for a bit then opened the door. I laid on the floor beside them and talked with them for an hour. They just sat and stared with wide eyes. I then left the room. When I returned the momma cat was out of the carrier. Within a few hours both cats decided to come out and check out their new home. My girls and I named the momma cat Izzy and the kitten Sam. Within a week momma cat Izzy would come to greet us and purr and with a little coaxing we could pick up Sam too. 2 weeks with us we decided to let them roam the basement and meet our 4 cats. A lot of hissing and growling but no fighting. I was happy.

Then came the day that little Sam began to purr. I was so excited. This scared little kitten began to trust us and play and purr. Sarah from PFA informed me of Izzy's other 3 kittens, rescued a day prior to Izzy and Sam who were in another foster home. The 3 little kittens were not doing so well and stopped eating. The decision was made to bring them to my house to be with their mom and hopefully they would come around like Sam had. The 3 little kittens came over and were identical to their mom and brother. Same wide eyed look that Izzy and Sam had when they first arrived. I was optimistic that they too would come around.

The next morning when I went to check on them, I found one of the new kittens laying limp on the floor barely breathing. I was so worried. I rushed the little guy to the vet where they determined it was most likely to be Distemper. The little kitten then died shortly afterwards. The 2 other kittens were then taken to the vet where the heart breaking decision was made to put them down. Sad and worried, I came home to tell my 2 girls, ages 9 and 3, that the new kittens were sick and had passed on.

Then came the task of cleaning the room. The only thing to kill the virus of Distemper is Bleach. The whole room had to be cleaned from top to bottom with bleach, then aired out then Izzy and Sam returned to their room. At this time Izzy and Sam showed no signs of the virus. A few days later I decided to let them upstairs in our home. Izzy made herself at home, perching on top of the couch and watching everyone. Sam played around, feeling at home. I still kept them in their room at night.

On that Friday I went to check on the cats, armed with soft food for their breakfast. I opened the door to find little Sam laying limp on the floor barely breathing. I scooped him up and rushed him to the vet. I received the same bad news. Distemper. While the vet was on the phone with PFA I laid my head in my arms, gently petting Sam on the examination table. I spoke quietly and loving to Sam as he struggled to breath. He was in rough shape. I told him that if he was in so much pain it was ok to pass on and I promised to take good care of his momma. Sam took his last breath. I cried and pet his limp little body.

I returned home, saddened to tell Izzy little Sam was gone. Then I had to begin the task of cleaning the entire house with Bleach. During the morning of Sam's death I received many comforting phone calls from the People for Animals. When asked what I needed, I asked for help bleaching out the house. Help came. I was so relieved. I also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from People for Animals board with comforting words.

A week has passed and momma cat Izzy has still showed no signs of this horrible virus. She is still confined to the basement room. She is eating fine and purrs whenever I come in to visit. It's so sad to see her trying to get out of the room to look for Sam. Breaks my heart. Hopefully Izzy is strong and healthy enough to not have any signs of distemper. We carefully watch her everyday and hopefully soon she can come back out of the room and join our family upstairs and be a normal cat.

Rest in Peace Sammy, We miss and love you! Loving remembered byMichelle, Tianna and Meadow Bieber and momma cat Izzy.

*Editor's note: Distemper is a horrible virus that is common on the streets of Regina. It is almost always fatal to kittens. Please vaccinate your animals.*