The joys of kitten fostering
By Sarah Cochrane
Hamish just hurled himself from the
scratching post onto a pillow two feet
away. My camera case is fast disappearing
under a chair, as Harold and Hilary
have decided the strap isn’t going to
bite. Hamish is already back up on the
scratching post, about to jump again!
It has been less than three weeks since
they arrived from West Hatch, but the
kittens have changed dramatically, and
it has been a privilege to watch them
develop their individual personalities.
My partner and I decided to foster Harriet
and her kittens as another branch trustee
and I had recently set up a pilot fostering
scheme with the Animal Centre and we
thought we should have the experience
ourselves. The fostering scheme was set
up to help provide care and socialisation
for mums and kittens that come into
West Hatch before they could find a new
home. Fostering offered them a chance to
experience living in a house with a family,
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thus reducing stress when they leave
the Animal Centre. Fosterers could help
the kittens enjoy being handled and by
getting to know each kitten’s personality
they could help ensure kittens were then
matched to the right homes. And the quiet
space fosterers provided would enable
the mums to feel safe and to continue
the process started at the Animal Centre
of beginning to trust their relationships
with people.
Even before the appeal went out on
Facebook we had enquiries from potential
fosterers. After talking them through what
fostering entails and doing all our checks,
it wasn’t long before we took boxes of
equipment, toys, food and litter from
West Hatch, as well as items generously
donated by Brent Knoll and Little Valley