Originally Posted by
Europhyllia
I don't. We adopted the kittens. So my foster career is over. lol
Exactly, you can't let them go either! lololololololol
I used to Foster for the ADL and it was easier than for private rescues as far as returning them goes.
In bigger organizations like the Animal Defense League the kittens and puppies are usually in very good shape when they go into foster care. They have good marketing, vet care, etc. so when you return them they are guaranteed being adopted and having a good place to stay while they wait.
In private rescue groups vet care is often covered by the foster parent (it's not expected but who can refuse when it's needed? You could just try home remedies, etc.). You're more aware of the struggles the rescue has in placing the animals, etc. The animals that would stay under vet care in bigger organizations depend on volunteer care in smaller rescue places. All that combined makes it much harder to bring them back to the shelter.
The rescue group Bella came from, caught Bella UTD on shots, treated for heartworms, provided us with heart worm preventative (6 months) and flea preventative, a month of doggy health care, a months supply of Blue brand food (I prefer Natural Balance but whatever) and plenty (see too much!) advice.
I just assumed that everything was paid for by donations but I could see that, if everydog is getting this treatment, costs can rise pretty quickly.
I picked up 3 kittens and 1 died within the first 2 hours. Both were about half the weight they should have been and barely moving. One started taking a bottle after a couple of days but the other one needed to be syringe fed for a whole week before being able to drink from a bottle. Honestly I am surprised they made it.
They were 2 weeks old but couldn't open they're eyes because they had really bad eye infections. My little boy asked if we fed them too much because he thought the yellow goop oozing from their eyes was from us feeding them too much milk. Went out and got ophthalmic ointment for them, etc. later took them to the vet for ringworm treatment. By the time they were old enough to return to the shelter the shelter was full with emergency take-ins and we had struggled so hard to keep these two alive, we decided to keep them.
They turned out super though. Very loving and SO TOLERANT. Even the 1 year old can carry them around and they just purr.
Sorry to hear that one died. Two live on, in his/her honor.
If you are considering adoption or are very strong in saying 'no' then fostering for a private rescue would be a great thing.
If you really want to limit it to Fostering then a big organization like ADL might be a better fit.
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