ARTHUR – Arthur Animal Rescue is urgently seeking new foster families for adult cats.
The volunteer rescue organization is in particular need of fosters for pregnant cats, moms with young kittens, feral and unsocialized cats, cats with special needs, and other adult cats.
Foster coordinator Caitlin Harrington told the Advertiser it’s harder to find foster homes for adult cats than kittens, as kittens are “cute and playful – everyone wants them.”
Though adult cats may take more time to come out of their shell, Harrington assures it’s still a very rewarding endeavour to foster an adult cat.
Flora is a foster cat at the Arthur Animal Rescue. Submitted photo
“It sometimes takes them a little bit longer to feel comfortable about people and build that trust,” she noted.
But with time, fosters can create “really special bonds” with the cats in their care, Harrington said.
“You really get to put meaning into these cats lives … by giving them a home and giving them love,” she said.
Harrington said people from all stages of life can offer great foster homes, including retired people who may be looking for some company, or young families who want to teach their children about safely caring for and bonding with animals.
It is fine to have other animals in the home, as long as they are fully vaccinated and there is space for the foster cat to stay in a separate area of the house for the first couple weeks.
Martha Stewart is a foster cat at Arthur Animal Rescue. Submitted photo
And foster families can live anywhere in Wellington County, Guelph, Kitchener, and the surrounding areas, as long as they are within about an hour’s drive of Guelph, where the cats’ vet is located.
Arthur Animal Rescue has seen an “influx of cats coming in within the last couple years,” Harrington said, which has led to periods during which they’ve needed to stop taking in cats because they don’t have enough space for them all.
“We need to build up foster availability to have homes for them to be able to come in,” she explained.
“There are definitely more cats right now than fosters,” she said, “so we have to limit who we take in … We hope we can take them all in, but that’s not always the case,” she said.
To apply to foster a cat from the Arthur Animal Rescue visit arthuranimalrescue.com/foster.
