A DESPERATE plea for cat fosterers to come to the aid of an Evesham centre where kitten season is picking up pace has been launched.
A ‘perfect storm’ has seen the number of volunteer fosterers at Cats Protection’s Evesham Adoption Centre on Pitchers Hill in Wickhamford drop from a bank of seven to just one, leaving staff trying to plug the gap by fostering cats themselves.
Fosterers care for cats in their own home until a new owner can be found. No special equipment is needed but cat fosterers do need to have a spare room where their foster cat can enjoy living safely in a home-from-home.
The centre has homed 129 cats already this year and helped many more. It takes in cats from all backgrounds and at all ages, meaning fosterers might be looking after a ‘senior kitizen’ first and then a mother with her new-born litter of kittens next.
Volunteer Team Leader Clara Youden said: “We’ve already had more than 30 kittens in care this year and kitten season is far from over. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem but unfortunately we had a perfect storm which saw a group of our fosterers retire at the same time as others’ circumstances changed so we have been unexpectedly left with just one fosterer to help us care for both kittens and adult cats who might not be suited to life at the centre.
“It means staff have resorted to setting themselves up as fosterers in emergency situations such as when kittens need round-the-clock care.
“Cats need to be in foster care for a variety of reasons, they might be very young, abandoned kittens; they might be long-stay cats who need to spend some time in the normality of a home or they might be cats who have needed some medical care and need time to recuperate away from the centre.
“There are so many reasons why a cat needs the care and affection of a fosterer and we desperately need more people to come forward.”
Clara adds: “Fostering is one of the most amazing volunteer roles that we have available. It allows cat-lovers to enjoy giving hands-on care to cats without the long-term responsibility of pet ownership. We provide everything our fosterers need to create the cats’ temporary home – from food, toys and litter to vet care.
“It’s a wonderful way to have a cat or number of cats in your life for a comparatively short time.
“Many of our fosterers will take care of cats until they’re homed and then take a break before taking in another cat or kittens.”
Among the cats currently in foster care with one of the centre’s staff members are seven-week-old kittens BonBon, Chewit, Sherbet, Marshmallow, Jellytot and Gumdrop. The unwanted litter arrived at the centre along with their year-old mother Poppet who was unneutered and became pregnant, making seven cats too much for her owners to care for.
Other than a love of cats, no additional skills are needed and full training will be given.
A behind-the-scenes glimpse at being a fosterer can be found at http://bit.ly/BeingAFosterer
E-mail Clara on [email protected] or call 01386 833 343 or visit www.cats.org.uk/evesham for more.
