Animal Welfare Professionals

Good morning,

We are in the early stages of starting a neonatal foster program. Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

#FosterPrograms

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Kaitlin Mashburn
Volunteer
Valley River Humane Society
NC
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Hi, Kaitlin:

I think all of these courses may be helpful to you/your fosters.:

• Kitten College: Transforming Tiny Lives Through Innovation
• Fostering 4 Rock Stars at Cat Adoption Team
• Taking the Fear out of Bottle Feeding and Basic Kitten Care

Thank you for helping these little ones!

Erika

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Erika Shaffer
Instructional Designer
Maddie's Fund
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Our organization focuses on neonatal kittens, and for us it was important to have a set of procedures created for how we expect fosters to care for them. We have standards of care for things like ringworm, feedings, etc. Each organization does things a little differently so you'll want to make sure fosters are following the standard of care your organization wants them to provide. 

Because this population can have a lower survival rate than adult cats, we stay in close contact with our Fosters, especially if they lose a kitten they were caring for. It's emotionally taxing (as all rescue work is!) so we make sure people take "time off" when needed and feel that they have adequate support from our board. We do a yearly anonymous foster satisfaction survey as well to collect feedback so we can try and retain as many of our fosters as possible! 

Best of luck to you!

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Danielle Chassen
Board Member, Development Lead
Newborn Kitten Rescue
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First of all, thank you for thinking of the vulnerable babies. I run a strictly neonatal kitten rescue (with the occasional exception of course) and just like someone else stated losses are terrible- but the wins outweigh the losses. I think it is very important to make sure that your fosters are set up for success with expectations and resources. We LOVE the incubators off of amazon that are plastic and collapsible (do NOT use the heat lamps!!) and use them for our most vulnerable of babies (newborns up to 3/4 weeks). Make sure that every single foster is trained on how to appropriately handle a crashing kitten, a kitten that won't eat, a kitten with diarrhea, etc. Little supply kits with formula, syringes, nipples, wipes, medications, and anything else the specific kitten may need are a very nice bonus as well. Feel free to reply with any questions you have- sharing knowledge is the BEST part of this community!!

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Kayleigh Stasiuk
Founder
June and Echo's Furry Friends Rescue
MD
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