Thank you for your interest and your application to join our foster care program! Foster carers are an essential part of our feline welfare program. With your help, we are able to maximise the number of cats and kittens we help each year. As a foster carer, you will be provided with all the necessary equipment and support to take care of your foster cats. All successful applicants must provide a house inspection via a recorded video and complete online training modules before taking home foster kittens.
Cat Protection’s foster care program mainly involves fostering young kittens between the ages of 4-10 weeks of age, but can also include mother cats with their babies. At Cat Protection, all of the cats and kittens who are adopted are desexed. Our vets can desex kittens once they reach 1kg, or roughly when they are 10 weeks old. Your role as a foster carer is to assist us to care for these kittens until they reach 1kg and are ready to come back to us for desexing and then adoption. There may be times when the kittens will need to stay longer if there is a need for further socialisation or health issues which may require them to stay in foster care until they are a little older.
Very rarely, the need to foster an adult cat may arise. This is usually as a result of the cat needing to recuperate from surgery or a chronic illness. As it is very stressful for an adult to move between different families and back to the shelter, we don’t typically place adults into care for socialisation purposes.
Your application information will help us to assess the level of care you are able to provide in your home and to match you with suitable fosters.
What we provide
- Equipment such as bowls, litter trays, carry baskets and collapsible crates as required
- Food – appropriate for the age of your kitten(s)
- Litter
- Limited bedding (please add extra towels and blankets)
- Limited toys (please provide safe extra toys with no loose parts or string)
- Veterinary care at our approved referral vet clinics
- Support – including a 24 hour number for after-hours emergencies and a comprehensive Foster Caring Manual
- Information session prior to engagement
What you provide
- Love and socialisation
- A safe place to grow up and develop in. It is crucial that any areas that kittens will have access to are secure (eg fly screens on windows/doors) and safe (eg any household items that could cause harm are removed or made safe)
- Routine feeding schedule (based on kittens’ age)
- Record-keeping
- Cleaning and changing of litter trays and bedding
- Giving of medication (including flea and worm treatment) as needed
- Kitchen scales for weighing kittens
- Extra bedding and toys
What you need to know
Before you become a foster carer, we need to conduct a house inspection to ensure that the room you are planning to keep the kittens in is kitten-proof. Due to COVID restrictions we will be asking applicants to send us a video or do a Skype call for us to see the room in which you plan to keen the kittens. We will discuss the requirements for this once we receive your application.
You will also be required to complete two types of online training. 2 short videos with a quiz each that is run by cattery staff and vets that will ensure that you are well-informed about cat and kitten health before you begin fostering, and a short course from Fear Free shelters regarding stress-free cat care and handling. You will have 14 days to complete the training and quiz.
We must approve the space you wish to keep the kittens as well as the training
session before you can take home your first fosters.
It is crucial that you are flexible and easily contactable. Young kittens are still developing and are vulnerable to illness. Cat Protection endeavours to get young kittens into foster care as quickly as possible so requires carers to be able to pick them up from our shelter in Newtown within 24 hours of contact with a carer. You will also be required to take kittens to the vet if they become ill, which can often be a matter of urgency.
Pick-up times for our foster kittens are as follows:
- Monday-Wednesday 8am-4pm
- Thursday 8am-6:30pm
- Friday 8am-5pm
Drop-off times for our foster kittens are as follows:
- Monday-Wednesday 8am-4pm
- Thursday 8am-11am
- Friday Not available
We do not offer weekend pick-ups or drop-offs as staff numbers are limited and these are our busiest adoption days.
Due to the fluctuating nature of adoptions and space in our shelter as well as the tendency of cats to breed during the warmer months of the year, we are unable to estimate how soon you will receive your first fosters once you have completed the training.
If you are confident that you can meet the above requirements for this special role, please complete the below application form.
Please note: If you are hoping to adopt your foster kitten(s) in future, your adoption will be subject to all standard Cat Protection policies and protocols. These procedures apply to all Cat Protection staff, members, volunteers and board members. For example, you must be an Australian resident and have permission to have cat(s) in your home if you are renting. You will need to pay the standard adoption fees ($150 for one cat, $250 for two cats) as well as council registration fees (subject to change) once your kitten(s) have been desexed and have completed their recovery time following their surgery.