Become A Foster Hero!
Interested in fostering cats or kittens? Fill out our volunteer foster form.
For questions about fostering, email [email protected]
Since CC4C does not have a shelter facility and foster volunteers are not always available, we ask community rescuers who contact us for assistance to self-foster their rescues until adopted. A CC4C member will sponsor the self-foster, coordinating medical care and assisting with the adoption process. However, we understand that some rescuers may not be able to foster, so we also rely on dedicated “foster volunteers.”
Foster Volunteers
Being a foster parent is a highly rewarding and satisfying experience without the responsibility of making a lifetime commitment! CC4C depends on fosters and could not rescue cats without them. Fosters are supported by a CC4C sponsor who provides guidance, medical coordination, and assistance with adoptions. CC4C covers the essential medical treatments and procedures.
Being a foster parent requires opening up your home, a room, or part of your home to give a needy cat(s) the space, safety, attention, care, and feeding necessary to rehabilitate it and prepare it for adoption.
Typical foster responsibilities include:
- Providing food and litter
- Daily feeding of your foster cat(s) or kittens
- Daily litter box cleaning
- Attention to the medical needs of the cat (if any)
- Time, lots of time to love, snuggle, play, and socialize with your foster(s)
- Taking your foster(s) to the adoption sites on the weekends and medical appointments
- A typical time commitment is until the cat or kitten is adopted. (For a shorter commitment, consider offering “vacation support” to foster families for a week or two during the summer months.)
Fostering is when you have one or more cats or kittens in your home, usually in a bathroom or a laundry room or a separate space in your home.
What kind of cats need foster care?
“Newborns” are kittens that are 1 to 28 days old. If they have their mama with them, then Mama will be with you to care for her babies. If these babies do not have their mama, you will be bottle-feeding them (see our Bottle Babies page for more information). Mamas and newborns do not go to adoptions. It is especially important with a Mama and babies that you have a calm, quiet, safe room. Mama cats are very protective of their litters and we want them all to know that they are safe.
“Toddlers” are the kittens between 4 and 8 weeks of age. These are the babies that can eat on their own and just need a place to get fat, strong, healthy and happy. Because they come in off the street from scary places, they need a lot of love and care. They may hiss, growl and resist your love, but with persistence and patience on your part, they can turn a corner overnight and become wonderful purring balls of fluff that live to snuggle with you.
“Kittens” (2 to 6 months) and “Kit-teens” (6 months to a year) perhaps need the most from you. Kittens go to adoptions as soon as they weigh 2 pound and are about 8 weeks old, have been tested and started their vaccinations. The longer a kitty has to survive outside, the longer it may take to teach it to trust you. For more information see our Taming Feral Kittens page.
What do I need?
You would need to supply the food, litter, bedding, toys, and food dishes. This is considered part of the donation that you are giving to Kitty and to our group.
Most importantly, you need to love, pet, snuggle, and play with Kitty to develop a well-socialized kitty ready for adoption.