Fostering and Caring for a Family of Cats

Why did I originally decide to foster a litter of kittens and their mom? It’s because I wanted to adopt cats of my own. 

Why do I continue to foster cats? I love helping cats find their forever homes while connecting with other people who love animals as much as I do!

My name is Elysse, and I’ve always been an animal lover. I really wanted to get kittens of my own (a fun fact: kittens do better in pairs!). My fiance on the other hand wasn’t sure if he was “a cat person.” I had an interest in fostering because of my love for animals and thought it would be a perfect trial run. If we decided cats weren’t for us, then we would still be helping them find their forever home and would get to take care of cute kittens for awhile.

I found out about Silicon Valley Pet Project through Facebook, and when I saw a picture of Lulu and her three kittens, Snap, Crackle, and Pop, who needed a foster home, I reached out to SVPP and filled out a foster application.

Our first fosters (if you look closely there are three kittens in this picture!)

You might be wondering what it takes to be a foster cat parent. Overall it’s pretty simple – socialize and provide them with a safe and loving home until they find their forever home.

SVPP gives you food, toys and all the info you need to foster. You are also responsible for taking them to medical appointments and adoption events. The last part of fostering is helping select their forever homes.

We realized right away that my fiance and I wanted to adopt two of the kittens. A friend of ours came over to our apartment when he found out we were fostering cats and fell in love with Crackle. I still get to see Crackle (now named Shelby) and it’s awesome to see how she is as an adult cat. Lulu also got adopted from a family when she was at The Dancing Cat.

(top) Shelby the day she went to her forever family   (bottom) Me visiting Shelby all grown up in her home!

Since our first fosters we have fostered another litter of five kittens as well an adult cat for a short time. I still keep in contact with most of my past foster cat families. For me it’s so rewarding seeing animals thriving in their forever homes and knowing that I helped give them their start to a happy life.

Silicon Valley Pet Project is always in need of fosters, especially with kitten season around the corner. If you are interested in fostering or have more questions about what it takes to be a foster parent please reach out to info@svpetproject.org.