By Cats Protection volunteer, Charlotte Hart
I have been looking through the pictures tonight of cats that I have fostered throughout the past few years. I can’t quite express how fantastic it’s been to know you make a difference to kitties that have been abandoned or need your help. It is so important for charities to have fosterers to help take in the PHENOMENAL amount of animals needing new homes.
Anyway the point of this is hopefully to show you:
1) some of my furbabies I’ve fostered and loved to pieces
2) maybe help others decide if they can/should foster
3) show why it is so important to help rehome CHARITY cats and not people making money from breeding their furbabies at home who haven’t neutered their pets.
CLEO: I had Cleo for a rather long time, not that I minded, she ended up with a skin condition and could not be homed until it was fully under control. I bonded with her massively and she was such a character!!! She ate the tortie handbook and spat it out on a daily basis but had the most amount of character you have ever met! She is now very happy living with 1 other cat, which she prefers, and a lovely couple who love her dearly. I adore getting an update from her owners telling me her latest antics.
This is the mummy I fostered that gave birth to Thunder and Nugget who I still have! Fostering a mum and kittens can be a little hectic but is utterly rewarding! She was a very special little girl who was a fantastic cat mummy even when the kittens were driving her crazy. It goes to show what a lovely temperament she had to only ever tap them gently even when her foot was being dragged off in one direction whilst her tail was being used for hunting practice.
There are few fosterers able to take in mum and kittens due to space but I really recommend it. I got these guys when the kittens had only just opened their little eyes! 
All kittens and mum are homed securely to loving homes and I was kept informed all the way through.
BILLY! Young and full of beans! My first long haired foster kitty who got snapped up to a caring home straight away, with a owner who not only chose him but another Cats Protection cat they had viewed that day and couldn’t leave them both… so ended up with two cats instead He’s getting on brilliantly too and enjoys roaming round his new garden.
Sophie only got to stay for a little while as she was transferred to a single cat fosterer so that Sophie was happier. A stunning little madam with lots of love to give. I have been in touch with the other fosterer who has said that Sophie is being spoilt to death, which is so lovely to hear.
All these cats were not homed to make money; they are from a small, volunteer-run charity, having to raise most of its own funds to meet ever-increasing vets bills and cat care costs. It is so, so important to get cats neutered as this is one of the reasons why these charities spend 24 hours a day helping rehome so many cats from streets, homes etc. where they don’t sometimes even have a shelter. Please consider getting a cat or kitten from a local charity like Cats Protection. If you have space and time, please fill out a homing form. And if you have a spare room to offer a foster cat, then please get in touch, too.
I can’t think of anything worse than paying into someone’s pocket that are breeding their cat for money, when these little furbabies have been left needing homes through no fault of their own.
You gain memories, experience, love and a whole group of caring, cat-loving friends.
There is a vast range of things you do to help, including fostering, but there is so much more, from admin to fundraising, and everything inbetween. To find out more, please visit:
http://farnhamcats.co.uk/help-wanted/
