“Oh, I’d want to keep them all.”
This tenderhearted response is the most common one I get when I tell people that I foster kittens for the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
I just smile, saying that my husband and I call ourselves The Mackenzie Finishing School for Felines. We enroll a new class, help them grow in all the ways, they graduate and go on to their new forever lives, and then we get some more! I’ve been known to bring kittens back and take new ones home the same day, earning me the title of ‘The Kitten Flipper.’
My experience with fostering has been with the SCCAS, so everything I write about here is in connection with the foster care program at the Shelter. (Other feline rescue groups that offer foster opportunities may follow a different model.)
Fostering kittens is my favorite thing. In 15 years the Mackenzie Finishing School has hosted over 370 furry feline babies. These are underage kittens who need a little time to grow bigger and learn what it’s like to live in a house with humans. They become acquainted with the sound of a dishwasher and footsteps coming down the stairs. They definitely learn the pop of a can of cat food being opened. They experience the fascination of a broom in action. They have toys to bat around and room to run. They learn the benefits of warm laps, pets, and scritches, that humans are kind and caring. They have someone looking out for their health and ready to report issues if needed.
Every litter and every kitten is different, based on a combination of their natural personalities and previous life experiences. Kittens who have been around people may be quite friendly and socialized, or a little shy until they become accustomed to their new surroundings. Kittens born to a homeless mom may be frightened and hissy, displaying hilarious flattened ears and tiny paws ready to slap. There’s a window of opportunity in a kitten’s life to help them become socialized. Opinions vary as to the length of this window, but it’s fairly safe to say that if they are very young, they can learn to relax and enjoy the company of people, letting go of these defensive postures to become future house cats. That’s part of the foster family’s role in their lives, and kittens are amazingly adaptable. I always say that Kindness and Time are the magic words.
It’s true that some kittens may have health issues that are not apparent before going into foster. Not every kitten is going to be that turn-key, healthy happy kitty that we picture. That’s also part of fostering; we must deal with the possibility of a sad outcome. In my experience these have been exceedingly rare compared to the great number of joyful success stories and heartwarming experiences.
The kittens that we take weigh at least a pound and are eating on their own. Other foster families specialize in ‘bottle babies,’ tiny kittens who still need formula. Once kittens reach two pounds and 8 weeks of age and are in good health, they can be put up for adoption. The Shelter has a Foster Care Coordinator who is the contact and point person for keeping foster animals moving smoothly through to adoptable status. When fostering for the SCCAS, help is always available.
Many people who begin fostering want to keep some or all of their first batch. This is a natural instinct, sometimes called a ‘foster fail.’ In all our years of fostering, we have kept exactly one, a big floofy long-haired tuxedo cat named Maxwell Smart. That was 12 years ago, and we had a vacancy. I think of this as a ‘foster success.’ Headmaster Max helps school the kittens, teaching them the proper way to relax for a bath. Over the years other kittens have tugged at our heartstrings, but we just remind ourselves that they are going to make someone else so happy, and if we kept them all then we wouldn’t be able to foster any more. Someday we’ll keep another one… when we have a vacancy.
If you’re interested in fostering any type of animal for the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, go to scanimalshelter.org/foster-program to get started. New foster families receive an initial orientation and lots of help and guidance. In the spring (typically ‘kitten season’) there are classes offered by experienced fosters on raising kittens to be excellent adoption candidates.
Kay Mackenzie is a long-time volunteer with the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter and an ardent kitten foster caregiver.
