Are you interested in helping out Paws and Claws Fort Frances, either by becoming a cat foster or giving your time in other ways? Here’s what organizer Gord McCabe wants you to know.
Anyone interested in becoming a foster for a rescue cat is really only asked to do three things, McCabe said.
“Basically, they need to provide food, shelter and love,” he explained.
“We will provide food and litter, but to be honest with you, all of our fosters thus far have said ‘we’ll do that ourselves as a donation’ so we’ve been pretty lucky in that regard.”
While the rescue is able to help out in some regards to the essentials, two other big factors play into the success of a foster. The first, McCabe explained, is making sure you have the space to comfortably take in an animal, especially if there are already other pets in the house.
Prospective fosters need to have a room that can be made into a sort of isolation chamber for the foster cat, a place for them to get comfortable with their new reality away from other animals to ensure they can start the process of opening up. If a foster animal is brought to a home without a space of its own, at least short term, there’s the chance it will be much harder and take longer to get that cat used to its environment and people.
The second thing fosters should have is time and attention to give to the foster cat, especially if it’s a young kitten from a feral litter.
“If a kitten is born feral, if you don’t get it within the first eight weeks, it’s almost impossible to socialize it,” McCabe said.
“Some cats we just haven’t been able to get, but we’ve got a couple right on the edge of that and we’ve managed to get them into care and placed. Cats aren’t like dogs, some of them can be pretty interesting to handle, let’s say.”
Even if you don’t have the time or ability to take in a foster, there are still ways to help the rescue. To coincide with Valentine’s Day this year, Paws and Claws is running a donation drive of sorts, and McCabe said there are a few things the organization is looking for.
“We can always use donations of food and litter,” he explained.
“Honestly, we’ve had so many donations of blankets we could open up our own bedding store. Bedding is not something you really need with a cat because you’re bringing them indoors, whereas a lot of dogs you might be leaving them outside in the cold, which I don’t recommend. It’s basically food and litter.”
The biggest item for the rescue, though, is having enough money to make sure each of the cats they take in can get the medical attention it needs in order to live a healthy life, or even just to make sure the colony they come from can’t continue to grow unchecked.
“Whenever we bring these cats in, we have to make sure they are parasite and disease free, so we have to buy medication for that, which is not cheap,” he said.
“Then we want to get them to the vets as soon as possible to be vaccinated. The Nor-West Animal Cinic has been wonderful with us, they really try to help us out, but it still costs money, so money is really our biggest need. We’ve gotten donations of food, the biggest thing we’re really looking for, the biggest things that we’re really lacking, is monetary donations and fosters. We can also use a couple of people who want to volunteer and can’t foster to transport cats, to just do some running around.”
Additionally, McCabe noted a cat can cost anywhere from $250 to $400 to have spayed and neutered depending on the gender and level of health.
