Tag Archives: Foster

All Aboard the Shelter Skippers Foster Program!

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Do you know what time it is? It’s about quarter to kitten season and that means Tree House is ramping up our foster team efforts with a brand new program: Shelter Skippers.

Calling all potential Captains! Our goal is to get these kitties cruising from foster straight into forever without ever touching the shelter. Why would we want to do this?

  • It increases our capacity for care – if cats don’t come into the shelter, we have more available floor space to help more cats
  • It’s less stressful for the cats – having to switch homes one less time is going to be better for cats whose lives are already in flux
  • Some cats show better in homes – the shelter, despite our best efforts, can be stressful – Other animals, new smells, new people every day. Many cats show their personalities much better in a home setting, which will help them get adopted faster so they can start their new lives being loved as soon as possible.

So, what are the differences between our previous foster program and Shelter Skippers? In the Shelter Skippers program, we’re asking our fosters to become active advocates for the cats in their care. This will include:

  • Advertising the cats with a public social media presence. Fosters are asked to turn their foster charges into online superstars. Well, OK, we don’t expect them to become the next Grumpy Cat, but we do ask that they become a regular part of your social media postings. The more their faces get seen, the quicker they will be adopted. And think of all the cute nautical themes you can use!
  • Posting a lawn sign, wearing a button (Ask me about my Skipper!), or handing out info cards about your cat(s)
  • Serving as an adoption advocate for interested adopters. Tree House will handle initial inquiries and paperwork, and then potential adopters will visit the foster cat in the foster parents’ home. Captains of the Skipper Squads (e.g. foster parents) will conduct the showing and provide feedback to Tree House about how it went.
  • Be there for the pick up. Adopters will come directly to your home to pick up their new family member.

Interested in helping Tree House expand our life-saving capacities? Then come to a Shelter Skippers info session to find out more! We’ll be holding them Thursday, February 13th at 6 pm and Saturday, February 22nd at 11 am. Can’t make either? We’ll be hosting a call in conference line to make it easier to attend (email for details). Still can’t get there? Email us.

If you’re already a foster parent, you can choose to take part in the Shelter Skippers program or not, depending on your comfort level. In either case, you’re a major part of why we can do what we do and we appreciate you.

TOOT TOOT! ALL ABOARD THE SKIPPER SHIP! Let’s get these kitties adopted!

Love,

Tree House.

FeLV Fosters Needed – We’re Offering A Sweet Perk

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If you haven’t heard by now, Leonardo Pescatore, our two-year resident and carrier of FIV and FeLV, was finally adopted! We heard it might have been because of his #ChickenHatProtest when he wore a chicken hat (at his discretion, when he felt like it) to bring attention to his incredibly long length of stay. Such was the success of the chicken hat that Leonardo left instruction upon his departure to name a worthy successor in the hope that its magic will work once again. Who did he name? We’ll tell you at the end of the post, but first we need you to know something about FeLV+ cats.

Cats like Leonardo often don’t get a chance to find a home. Up until very recently, cats with FeLV were euthanized immediately upon entry to a shelter. The virus wasn’t well understood and the cats who carried it were feared.

Tree House is one of a few shelters in the world offering a safe place for cats with FeLV. You’ll notice we feature them in our Cat Cafe. Currently, we have roughly 9 spots in our shelter – they live separately in their own colonies, away from the general population to minimize any spread of the virus, which could happen for cats with underdeveloped or compromised immune systems. Each time one of these cats is adopted, a spot opens up in our cafe or adoption floor and we bring in a new FeLV+ kitty from other shelters and from foster homes.

Being the forward thinkers that we are, Tree House started wondering how we can help even more of these special kitties. We can’t increase space in our shelter, but we CAN increase space in our foster homes, and that’s where YOU come in! We need YOU to open your home to our FeLV+ waiting list.

We’ll bet you never looked at your spare bedroom or back office and thought “Man, this room is lifesaving.” Well, it is! It can absolutely save a life or two because you can fill it with an FeLV+ cat that we can pull from another shelter and take into the Tree House family. The cats can then be transferred onto our floor when space is available, OR they can be adopted right out of your home as part of our Home Base program. Either way, we all win.

And what’s the “Sweet Perk” mentioned above? Anyone who agrees to foster an FeLV cat gets free admission for life to our Cat Cafe and 10% off any drinks. That’s a pretty impressive club to be a card-carrying member of, we think.

Ready to save a life? Apply to foster.

And who shall carry on the #ChickenHatProtest in Leo’s stead? Watch and find out. The reveal is epic, we promise.

Love,

Tree House.

Click Here To Save A Life

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Ah. You’ve clicked. That means you want to save a life. That means we’re on the same page, you and Tree House. There’s one really easy way to do it. Ready?

Foster.

That’s it. Every cat you foster is a life saved, especially for kittens under six weeks of age. CACC can’t keep kittens under six weeks, so they have less than 24 hours to find a safe place. We can pull them, but we HAVE to have a place to put them, and because kittens’ immune systems are delicate and they’re too young to be vaccinated, they need a safe place to rest until they’re big enough and strong enough to become full-fledged cats and come into our shelter.

Thanks for fostering!

Do you have a bathroom? Perfect. That’s all they need.

Do you have a spare room with a door to keep them separated from your resident animals? Great. You’re ready.

Do you live alone and have no other pets? Fantastic. You’re the perfect candidate.

It’s not hard, and once you do it, you’ll see why it’s one of the greatest experiences you, as a human, can have.

Every cat fostered is one life saved. That’s it.

Come to our kitten shower to learn more.

Love,

Tree House.

Kitten Conundrum: Where Do They Go Until They’re Ready?

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Hey you. Yeah, you there. I’ll bet you like kittens. It might be a little or you might already be wearing one on your t-shirt right now. If they’re not on your shirt, they might be on your socks. If they’re not on your socks, they’re probably on your mind. We know they’re definitely on OUR minds here at Tree House because it is just about to be kitten season. And what happens during kitten season? Kittens arrive. And then they need medical care. And food. And love. And they need to grow. Why? So we can spay and neuter them so they can go on to lead a long, fruitful life as someone’s best friend while not bearing any kitten-like fruit.

Now, let’s talk about the rub, for there is indeed a rub: Kittens aren’t generally spayed or neutered until they’re at least 2 lbs, which is around two months or later, depending on their health when they come in, and they can’t be admitted to our colonies until they’ve had their surgeries and vaccinations. So, where do the kittens go from the time we get them until they’re ready?

FOSTER.

This is from your writer’s private stash of foster photos. That’s Tot. I fostered her for Tree House in 2014 and I got to watch her grow up as I got updates from her adopter. They were too young to survive without their mom.

That word deserves its own paragraph because that’s how important it is. If you want to directly save a life, you foster. You see, if Tree House (or any rescue, for that matter) has open foster homes, we can pull more kittens from CACC because we know we have a safe place to keep them. If we have no place to keep them, we can’t pull as many. Every foster home equals AT LEAST one life saved. And if you take a whole litter of kittens? MORE lives saved!

Tree House needs two things right now: Long-term fosters and emergency fosters. If you are able to keep newborn kittens in a safe place for up to 72 hours, we need you. Those 72 hours are crucial and give us a place to stash these little critters while we find them the other thing we’re looking for: long-term fosters.

Our long term fosters will keep the kittens until they’re ready for the adoption floor. This is usually from 6 weeks to a few months.

Imagine it: you watch them grow, you love them, you scoop their boxes, play with them, enjoy them, and then, you set them free. Not back into the street, obviously, but into Tree House where they’ll find the homes of their dreams, all because of you.

We need you. THEY need you.

Are you ready to save a life? Click here to start.

Love,

Tree House.

PS If you want a little experience before you accept your first foster friend, come to our Kitten Shower & Foster Recruitment Event this coming May 5, from 11 am to 1 pm. We’ll play some games, provide some foster information, have some snacks, and we MAY have a visit from some kittens. It’s $10 per person, RSVP required.

Can’t make it? Send our little ones a gift. Kittens have wishes, too! Click here to view our Kitten Wishlist on Amazon.

#ThanksToMaddie, We Can Save More Kittens!

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Last Sunday, many of us from Tree House (staff, fosters, volunteers) gathered in our community room together with ten other rescue organizations to take a class from the National Kitten Coalition (NKC) that delivered important information about saving more kittens. Presented by Rosemarie Crawford, the class covered topics ranging from providing urgent care to kittens upon intake to dealing with infectious diseases and how to offer supportive care for illnesses like panleukopenia. Everyone walked away with a comprehensive handbook and much more confidence to go forward caring for little ones.

Tree House’s Dr. Emily and Rosemarie Crawford addressing our full house. (Photo provided by Rosemarie.)

Tree House was also able to host the NKC for an afternoon session aimed at helping shelters/rescues start or improve and expand their foster programs, a particularly important initiative during kitten season, when it seems like the little guys are falling out of the sky. This was all thanks to a grant from Maddie’s Fund to the NKC so that they are able to offer this lifesaving program to organizations who need it. Topics included information on how to find fosters, the benefits of fostering (For this writer, it has always been the joy of seeing kittens in my bathtub), how to fund your programs, and how to set your fosters up for success throughout the program. Thanks to Maddie, Tree House and all the organizations who joined us are now ready to improve our foster programs for this season and in the coming years.

A big thank you to both the NKC and Maddie’s Fund for making this day happen. We were so proud to host you and all of the wonderful organizations who joined us for the day so that, as a community, we can do more to help further our unified cause of saving lives.

Love,

Tree House.

P.S. For our readers who are curious about fostering, send us an email at fosterATtreehouseanimals.org to learn more. Olga and Kate, our fabulous foster team, will answer all of your questions with no pressure to go forward if you decide it’s not right for you. We’ll even be having a foster recruitment Kitten Shower this year on May 5, from 11 am to 1 pm (details to come) if you want more hands-on demonstrations. Fostering is a direct way to save a life (or many tiny lives) so if you’re even a little, kitten-sized bit interested in bottle feeding, snuggling, cuddling, and helping to raise a furry little friend who will always hold you forever dear as their very first loving human, send us a note. All you need is a spare room and a big heart.