Foster
Fostering is an amazing and initially daunting experience that can bring tremendous satisfaction. Whether it’s a cat, kittens, a mama with her litter or an injured cat, it all requires varying amounts of energy, commitment, and patience. Fostering cats and kittens is the way many of us at Crystal Creek Rescue help animals in need. Introducing a new, unknown animal into our lives and homes can be daunting and sometimes stressful, and some of us are definitely “accidental fosters” – we hadn’t planned on welcoming a cat, kitten, or litter into our homes, and some adjustments were certainly needed!
You will be doing more than just feeding and cleaning a litter box: you will be socializing these companion animals with trust to be at ease with the daily life in your home. You will need to play with, cuddle, pet, and talk to your foster kittens or cat, and eventually integrate them with the other pets you may have, once the acclimation period is over and your foster cat(s) is over an isolation issue, if it has one.
Some people want to foster first to see if they would like to adopt. Some people foster out of compassion, but don’t want the long-term responsibility of committing to an animal that could live 20 years.
No matter your reasons, fostering has many benefits for all involved, such as:
- Providing the fostered animal with a stable, loving, food-secure environment where it can grow and thrive.
- Enabling and training cats and kittens to live with other kinds of pets, thus increasing their chances to be adopted by families who have dogs or other animals.
- Giving your own family the experience of helping an animal in need and seeing the difference willing humans can make in the life of a cat or kitten who would otherwise face daunting prospects.
- Imbuing both children and adults with a sense of service through volunteering and engagement with worthy causes.
How to Foster
Fostering is fairly straightforward. Whether you find a cat that you have determined is a stray and you want to foster or you are approved as a foster home through us, the goal is to get the cat adopted into a home. If you want to foster one of the cats we have available, please complete the application below.
We have a well-crafted road map for the adoption process, making it much easier for you to successfully get your foster cat or kitten adopted. The specifics of your situation will be taken into account and you will get customized advice to suit your needs. We are here to help you every step of the way and if you are new to fostering, once you’ve adopted out your first, you will be a pro by cat two, three. and four.
