Fostering Kittens
There is nothing more adorable than kittens playing and cuddling. Have you ever thought about fostering kittens from the shelter? You can help give them love, comfort and security to make them ready for adoption. Shelters are overrun with kittens, and fostering kittens is the only way they will survive. Listen to Kathleen Roscher, a seasoned Kitten Fosterer to learn what you need to do to understand if kitten fostering is right for you. Bringing these little fluffy balls of love and life into your home can be one of the most rewarding things you can do – if you are ready for tiny, furry love.
Listen to Episode #46 Now:
BIO:
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Announcer: Welcome to The Human-Animal Connection Show, where we believe we can communicate with all animals.
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Announcer: Join us as we explore the 33 principles and healing methods of The Human-Animal Connection.
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Announcer: As animal lovers, we know that you share our commitment to making the world a kinder place for all creatures.
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Announcer: Together, let's embrace the transformative healing power of The Human-Animal Connection.
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Genie Joseph: Hi, everyone.
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Genie Joseph: Thanks for joining The Human-Animal Connection podcast.
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Genie Joseph: I'm really delighted to speak to a very seasoned kitten fosterer.
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Genie Joseph: And she's going to tell us all the details, in case you ever wondered, if you were the sort of person that would have a wonderful time fostering kittens.
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Genie Joseph: So we'll learn everything that you need to know to get yourself started.
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Genie Joseph: And of course, working with your local shelter, they may have some particular rules that you'll follow, but this is just a general, how do I jump in becoming a foster kitten mama or papa, whoever you are.
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Genie Joseph: So if you were thinking about fostering kittens in your home, what are some of the things, Kathleen, you'd need to think about?
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Genie Joseph: Okay.
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Kathleen Roscher: Well, thank you, Genie.
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Kathleen Roscher: I really appreciate the opportunity to be here.
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Kathleen Roscher: Fostering kittens can be one of the most rewarding things you can do with your time.
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Kathleen Roscher: And if you're not prepared, maybe some of the most frustrating things you can do.
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Kathleen Roscher: So it's really just a matter of thinking about safety and security for the animal.
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Kathleen Roscher: Kittens need a safe, secure place that's away from any hazards or toxic substances.
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Kathleen Roscher: You just think of when you have a human baby, when you have a child who's not an infant anymore, but now a toddler, right?
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Kathleen Roscher: What can you keep them away from?
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Kathleen Roscher: So you want to give them a safe space.
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Kathleen Roscher: This can be a spare bedroom in your home that you can set up for them a spare bathroom.
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Kathleen Roscher: Or even with very young kittens, you can set up a playpen, a pop-up playpen.
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Kathleen Roscher: They always need access to clean water, fresh clean water daily, and food.
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Kathleen Roscher: So any kind of an environment where you can say they're safe and secure is the best way to set them up.
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Genie Joseph: Right.
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Genie Joseph: And it's so important, these early experiences, to set them up so that they are going to do well in an adoption situation.
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Genie Joseph: So let's talk a little bit about, in addition to cleaning the litter box daily, fresh food, fresh water, what are some of the things that as a human we can do to create a sense of security in these kittens?
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Kathleen Roscher: This is a great question because sometimes people would think, well, all I have to do is feed them and clean up after them, and just make sure that they're getting fed.
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Kathleen Roscher: Absolutely not.
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Kathleen Roscher: One of the most important things that a foster parent can do for a kitten is to give them some enrichment.
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Kathleen Roscher: You have to play with them.
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Kathleen Roscher: You have to stimulate them mentally as well as physically.
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Kathleen Roscher: because our job as a foster parent is to get them used to humans, get the kittens to trust humans, and to make them the best pet that they can be.
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Kathleen Roscher: If they don't get any socialization, then they're not going to be adoptable animals.
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Kathleen Roscher: And the best period of time for us to do that is when a kitten is between two and seven weeks old.
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Kathleen Roscher: And that's an ideal time.
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Kathleen Roscher: Very, very young, right?
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Kathleen Roscher: because anytime after that, then they start to develop habits that would not be considered desirable habits for a parent to actually, for someone to actually adopt them.
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Kathleen Roscher: So it's very crucial.
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Kathleen Roscher: We want you to play with them.
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Kathleen Roscher: And you don't need a lot of expensive toys.
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Kathleen Roscher: You can do your own toys.
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Kathleen Roscher: Little pipe cleaners.
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Kathleen Roscher: Kittens are fascinated with pipe cleaners.
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Kathleen Roscher: Corks from a wine bottle.
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Kathleen Roscher: The paper rolls on a toilet paper or paper towel roll.
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Kathleen Roscher: These are things that they can play with, so they don't have to be expensive toys.
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Kathleen Roscher: And spend time with your kitten.
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Kathleen Roscher: Obviously, many people are working.
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Kathleen Roscher: They don't have all day.
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Kathleen Roscher: But if you go in periodically during the day or into the evening or whenever you can, that's the best time to be with your kitten.
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Genie Joseph: Right.
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Genie Joseph: And what about the litter box?
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Genie Joseph: Is it true that kittens know what to do?
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Genie Joseph: Or how do you get to set them up for success?
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Kathleen Roscher: Well, I don't want to show favorites, but I will tell you, in my experience, kittens are a whole lot easier to train than puppies.
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Kathleen Roscher: Starting at about the time when a kitten is weaning from mother's milk or bottle formula, and they start to get into wet food, which can be between three and four weeks old, we can really introduce the litter box, and it doesn't take very long.
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Kathleen Roscher: Kittens get stimulated.
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Kathleen Roscher: We stimulate them with a little gauze pad or a little cotton ball to make them urinate or go to the bathroom.
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Kathleen Roscher: And then if you do this, and then start just putting them in the litter box, it does not take too long for them to figure out what that litter box is for.
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Kathleen Roscher: Stimulate the kitten after eating, put them in a litter box.
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Kathleen Roscher: It doesn't take very long.
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Kathleen Roscher: So it's really pretty easy.
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Genie Joseph: Right.
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Genie Joseph: That's excellent.
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Genie Joseph: And does the litter box need to be low enough so they can get in easily?
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Genie Joseph: Do you need to think about that too?
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Kathleen Roscher: Absolutely.
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Kathleen Roscher: Many folks are used to the litter boxes that have what I would say about a four or five inch lip to them, right?
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Kathleen Roscher: When we have young, small kittens, you want to make sure that they can step into the box.
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Kathleen Roscher: And what we typically use is a cardboard box from even cans of food.
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Kathleen Roscher: Any cardboard box that has about a one or two inch lip to it, so it's high enough to keep the litter in the box, but not so that the kitten can't get in and out.
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Kathleen Roscher: But you don't have to, again, spend a lot of money.
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Kathleen Roscher: I don't want people to think it's expensive to do this.
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Kathleen Roscher: You can just get the top or the bottom of a cardboard box and cut it so that it's about this much, an inch and a half, perhaps, no more than two inches so that that kittens can step in and out.
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Kathleen Roscher: Yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Great.
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Genie Joseph: Good.
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Genie Joseph: And what about exposing kittens to children, other people, other animals?
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Genie Joseph: What are some of the do's and don'ts on that?
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Kathleen Roscher: Okay.
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Kathleen Roscher: Great question.
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Kathleen Roscher: First of all, when you bring your kitten home, that's a totally new environment for them.
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Kathleen Roscher: And for many reasons, you're going to want to quarantine that kitten or kittens from the rest of your household.
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Kathleen Roscher: We recommend a minimum of two weeks.
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Kathleen Roscher: There's a couple of reasons for that.
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Kathleen Roscher: When kittens come into a shelter environment or if they're found on the street, you don't know what that kitten has been exposed to.
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Kathleen Roscher: You don't know if they're sick, if there's something that hasn't shown up, they will have been triaged at a shelter if you're going to be fostering with another organization.
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Kathleen Roscher: But we really don't know whether or not they're completely healthy.
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Kathleen Roscher: We don't want you to bring a kitten into your home or litter of kittens and expose your other resident animals.
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Kathleen Roscher: If you have a dog or you have other cats, you want to make sure that everything's just okay.
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Kathleen Roscher: So you want to quarantine them for two weeks or so.
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Kathleen Roscher: After that, it's good idea to very carefully, with supervision, introduce your kittens to the other animals in your family.
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Kathleen Roscher: If someone is coming over and they are visiting you, absolutely let them come in, introduce them to the kittens, let the kittens play with them.
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Kathleen Roscher: And young children, you have to just be a little careful, always under supervision.
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Kathleen Roscher: A child that's 10 years up and above, teenagers, young adults, that's not really a problem.
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Kathleen Roscher: But with young children, you have to be careful.
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Kathleen Roscher: They're so excited.
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Kathleen Roscher: And it's a wonderful experience for both.
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Kathleen Roscher: But again, always under supervision.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, yeah.
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Genie Joseph: Well, I know I've told you, we work with one of the shelters here, we take kittens to the VA.
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Genie Joseph: And it's really, really fun to, and we tell people, yeah, put the kitten next to your heart so the kitten could feel the heartbeat.
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Genie Joseph: And they, it's just beautiful to see these big tough guys, big tough women, just like, just become this little cuddled monster with this little kitten.
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Genie Joseph: It's just a lovely thing to see.
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Genie Joseph: I mean, kittens have such a joy, and they bring so much life into your life.
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Genie Joseph: You know, they just, they're so happy to be here in a body in the world, and they just want to play and cuddle.
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Genie Joseph: I mean, I don't want to paint it that it's always perfect, because I know it isn't, but it really does bring something magical into your life, you know?
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Kathleen Roscher: Kittens have an incredible way of melting people's hearts.
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Kathleen Roscher: I've seen it over and over again, as you mentioned, big, tough, you know, or folks that are perhaps a little bit gruff around the edges, and they just completely melt like a puddle when a kitten is put in their arm.
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Kathleen Roscher: So I agree with you, they just have that magical quality.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, and do you recommend sleeping with the kittens, or they should sleep in their own area?
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Kathleen Roscher: When they're that young and you're fostering them, although it's a huge, huge temptation, we recommend that you let them sleep in the area that you set up for them.
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Kathleen Roscher: If you have more than one kitten, and typically you will have at least two, and there's reasons for that, a young kitten by themselves is going to be unhappy.
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Kathleen Roscher: They're used to having their siblings around, if not their mom, and they don't do well on their own.
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Kathleen Roscher: So if you have two kittens or three or more, some people take a whole litter, you're going to want them to be able to socialize with each other and also sleep with each other.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's the safest way.
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Genie Joseph: Okay, good.
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Genie Joseph: And generally speaking, is it, let's say, the difference between having two and having five, is it a lot more work?
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Genie Joseph: Not much more?
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Genie Joseph: How much difference is it to take the whole litter?
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Kathleen Roscher: Well, it sounds a lot like it would be a lot of extra work, and it's really not that hard.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's more difficult to take care of a single kitten than it is to have two or three or four.
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Kathleen Roscher: Typically, unless someone wants to keep a litter together with the organization that I work with, we would say two or three.
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Kathleen Roscher: If it's five and someone has experienced, they've done a lot of fostering, we'll say, okay, you've got the room, you've got the ability, take the whole litter.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's just a matter of making sure everybody gets food.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, okay.
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Genie Joseph: Now, is that a challenge with little kittens, making sure that each one gets the food?
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Kathleen Roscher: Sometimes we have what I call food bullies.
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Kathleen Roscher: One or two kittens might be maybe a little bit bigger than the other ones.
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Kathleen Roscher: There's always one that is not quite getting their share, so to speak.
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Kathleen Roscher: So sometimes you have to supervise that feeding, or you have to feed separately.
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Kathleen Roscher: You might feed three kittens, if we're talking about five, for example.
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Kathleen Roscher: You would feed three kittens in one area, and if one or two of them is not getting the nutrition that they need, or is always fighting to get more, or before they finish their bowl, the brother or sister is over helping them finish, we always feed them separately, so that they get a chance to get full nutrition.
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Genie Joseph: That's important.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, that's interesting.
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Genie Joseph: There are kitten bullies, too.
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Genie Joseph: That's just, not just human bully kids, right?
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, right.
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Genie Joseph: Okay, so what are some of the common concerns that people should be aware of, or if they see something, they should worry?
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Genie Joseph: What are some of the concerns?
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Kathleen Roscher: Well, most of the time, healthy kittens come to your house, but it is not uncommon for a kitten at this age, who is, we're gonna talk two, three weeks old, four weeks old.
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Kathleen Roscher: Now, most of our kittens that go out at that age are going to very experienced foster parents because a two week or three week old kitten is still considered what we call a bottle baby.
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Kathleen Roscher: They are not on wet food yet.
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Kathleen Roscher: But when they transition to wet food and they start to learn how to get, you know, that type of nutrition in their body, it is not uncommon for what we call poop problems.
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Kathleen Roscher: Diarrhea is very, very common.
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Kathleen Roscher: Their little systems have not yet adjusted from mother's milk or formula substitute to actually eating wet food.
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Kathleen Roscher: So it's something that people get concerned about, but we usually give probiotics and there's medication that can be given.
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Kathleen Roscher: And if one kitten is showing diarrhea, loose stool, you want to treat the entire group of kittens that you have, whether it's two, three, four.
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Kathleen Roscher: You want to make sure that everybody gets the same medication.
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Kathleen Roscher: So diarrhea is concerned.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's very, very easy to clear up, however.
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Kathleen Roscher: Another concern can be an upper respiratory infection, a kitty cold.
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Kathleen Roscher: Just like we get human colds, kittens sometimes get colds.
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Kathleen Roscher: And what you will see then is perhaps a weepy eye, either a clear discharge or a yellow or green discharge from their nose or their eye.
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Kathleen Roscher: They might have some sneezing.
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Kathleen Roscher: They might be a little out of sorts, perhaps a little lethargic.
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Kathleen Roscher: And then you want to make sure that if you're working with an organization, you're going to contact them to make sure they get in to see a vet.
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Kathleen Roscher: If you're doing this on your own, you're going to want to make sure that the animal is seen by a vet.
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Kathleen Roscher: Beyond that, another thing that could show up is ringworm.
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Kathleen Roscher: And ringworm sounds very scary.
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Kathleen Roscher: It has nothing to do with worms.
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Kathleen Roscher: It is a fungal infection.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's much like athlete's foot that humans can get.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's a fungal infection.
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Kathleen Roscher: It's 100% curable.
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Kathleen Roscher: We at the organization that I work with, we do a lot of that work.
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Kathleen Roscher: We have an isolation area, and it's a period of time that you would have to treat the animal with oral medications and also with a medicated bath, but it can be done.
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Kathleen Roscher: Now, if you see scaly skin, in other words, loss of fur on the animal and what looks like a scab, that might be a reason to take the animal in to make sure that they don't have ringworm.
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Kathleen Roscher: And if they do, there's medication that can be given.
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Genie Joseph: Yeah, great.
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Genie Joseph: Well, this is fascinating.
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Genie Joseph: We're going to take a short little break, but when we come back, I want you to tell us some of your most fun, heartwarming kitty stories.
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Kathleen Roscher: Okay, great.
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Genie Joseph: We'll be back in just a moment.
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Announcer: Hey friends, if you like what you're hearing and want to learn more, check out Dr.
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Announcer: Joseph's book, The Human-Animal Connection, Deepening Relationships with Animals and Ourselves.
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Announcer: Or visit the website, thehumananimalconnection.org to book an online consultation.
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Announcer: Thank you for loving animals.
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Announcer: Now back to the show.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets on petliferadio.com.
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Genie Joseph: Welcome back to The Human-Animal Connection podcast, and we're speaking with Kathleen Roscher, and she's a seasoned kitten fosterer.
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Genie Joseph: She's telling us all about how much fun it is, as well as all the practical things we need to know to have kittens come to our home.
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Genie Joseph: So I know there's a term called foster fail, and it seems like not the best term, but everybody makes a joke about it.
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Genie Joseph: Tell us about foster failures.
00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:30.400
Kathleen Roscher: Well, I can give you some personal experience in that area, and it is kind of strange, because when you say fail, it brings up a negative connotation, right?
00:15:30.400 --> 00:15:31.880
Kathleen Roscher: A foster fail.
00:15:31.880 --> 00:15:51.920
Kathleen Roscher: You're fostering with the understanding that at the end of the fostering period, you're going to return these kittens that you've been caring for, that you've been socializing, that you've been making sure are the best possible pets they can be over to your organization if you're working with one, or to someone who's going to adopt the kitten.
00:15:52.780 --> 00:15:57.520
Kathleen Roscher: If you can't do that, that's considered a foster fail.
00:15:57.520 --> 00:16:00.860
Kathleen Roscher: But in reality, it's really a success story.
00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:04.100
Kathleen Roscher: And I can share my personal story.
00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:09.420
Genie Joseph: Now, just to be clear, people, if you're fostering, you do have the option, first option to get them, right?
00:16:09.420 --> 00:16:12.720
Genie Joseph: So first organizations will say, yeah, you're first in line.
00:16:12.740 --> 00:16:19.720
Genie Joseph: If you fall in love with somebody, you just can't let them go, or maybe a whole pack of somebody's and you just can't let them go.
00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:20.820
Genie Joseph: That is always an option.
00:16:21.020 --> 00:16:26.160
Genie Joseph: But we have a little joke amongst ourselves of calling them foster fail because we can't take them back.
00:16:26.580 --> 00:16:29.140
Kathleen Roscher: Yes, we can't give them back, right.
00:16:29.140 --> 00:16:31.780
Kathleen Roscher: And you give each one of them love.
00:16:32.260 --> 00:16:35.000
Kathleen Roscher: I will share one little story.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:44.640
Kathleen Roscher: I've been fostering for four years now, and I started, if we start going back on our calendar in 2020, the middle of the pandemic.
00:16:44.900 --> 00:16:45.460
Genie Joseph: Yes.
00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:50.440
Kathleen Roscher: I had just retired from a very busy job with the government.
00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:58.740
Kathleen Roscher: And all of a sudden, you're not going anywhere, you're not seeing folks, you're really much isolated, and many of us were ourselves.
00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:04.680
Kathleen Roscher: And I had planned to volunteer with my organization in-house, and that was set aside.
00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:06.900
Kathleen Roscher: No one was coming into the facility.
00:17:06.900 --> 00:17:11.480
Kathleen Roscher: But I got a phone call where they said, would you like to foster kittens?
00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:13.440
Kathleen Roscher: And I jumped at the chance.
00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:21.300
Kathleen Roscher: I will tell you that for me, it was so rewarding and so fulfilling, and it was, well, who rescued who?
00:17:21.300 --> 00:17:22.860
Kathleen Roscher: Yeah.
00:17:22.860 --> 00:17:27.280
Kathleen Roscher: Was I rescuing the animals and helping to take care of them, or were they rescuing me?
00:17:27.280 --> 00:17:28.080
Genie Joseph: Yes.
00:17:28.080 --> 00:17:40.160
Kathleen Roscher: When the time came to bring those first two kittens back, the brother and sister, I brought them back to the organization, and I sat in the parking lot and cried for a good 10 minutes.
00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:40.360
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:51.720
Kathleen Roscher: I couldn't see well enough to actually drive the car home, and it was such a difficult thing because I had given them so much love and care.
00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:56.780
Kathleen Roscher: And then I pretty much after a few days went right back and got another group of kittens.
00:17:56.780 --> 00:18:10.320
Kathleen Roscher: And what I've realized now that the purpose of all of this is to ensure that you take care of them, you give them all this love, you prepare them, and then you give them back so you can make room for another kitten that you're going to help.
00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:11.580
Kathleen Roscher: Take care of.
00:18:11.580 --> 00:18:19.500
Kathleen Roscher: And in September of 2021, I was bringing three kittens home and two little girls and a little boy.
00:18:19.500 --> 00:18:22.860
Kathleen Roscher: And they were about six or seven weeks old.
00:18:22.860 --> 00:18:24.800
Kathleen Roscher: So they weren't tiny babies.
00:18:24.800 --> 00:18:33.120
Kathleen Roscher: And I just, for some reason, really, really fell in love with the little boy.
00:18:33.120 --> 00:18:35.580
Kathleen Roscher: He was what we call a flame point Siamese.
00:18:35.580 --> 00:18:43.000
Kathleen Roscher: So he was strikingly beautiful, white kitten with a red muzzle and red ears and red rings around his tail.
00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:49.640
Kathleen Roscher: And when the time came to give him back, I just couldn't bear to leave him.
00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:51.780
Kathleen Roscher: With his sisters, I had to keep him.
00:18:51.780 --> 00:18:55.780
Kathleen Roscher: One of the reasons why is that I had recently lost a senior cat.
00:18:55.780 --> 00:19:02.540
Kathleen Roscher: And I was feeling a lot of emptiness, as well as my other resident cat, she was grieving.
00:19:02.540 --> 00:19:06.480
Kathleen Roscher: But this situation was such that I just, I couldn't let him go.
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:08.620
Kathleen Roscher: Well, he's been a crazy nut.
00:19:11.500 --> 00:19:14.120
Kathleen Roscher: He's my big baby Huey.
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:18.720
Kathleen Roscher: He's grown into a beautiful cat, but he's a scaredy cat.
00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:19.840
Kathleen Roscher: Everything scares him.
00:19:19.840 --> 00:19:23.440
Kathleen Roscher: And so I find a lot of pleasure in him investigating.
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:24.740
Kathleen Roscher: He's so curious.
00:19:24.740 --> 00:19:28.100
Kathleen Roscher: But that heart string just couldn't let it go.
00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:37.380
Kathleen Roscher: And I think I can tell you that every other foster parent that I know has had at least one of these foster successes where they just couldn't let the kitten go.
00:19:37.560 --> 00:19:39.100
Kathleen Roscher: And it's been very rewarding.
00:19:39.100 --> 00:19:41.340
Kathleen Roscher: He's a real member of my family.
00:19:41.340 --> 00:19:42.280
Genie Joseph: That's wonderful.
00:19:42.280 --> 00:19:46.100
Genie Joseph: Yeah, I know one man who has 13 foster fails.
00:19:46.100 --> 00:19:46.960
Kathleen Roscher: Oh my.
00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:52.560
Genie Joseph: He was someone who was willing to take medically cats with challenges.
00:19:52.560 --> 00:19:53.860
Genie Joseph: So he's got blind cats.
00:19:53.860 --> 00:19:55.420
Genie Joseph: He's got three-legged cats.
00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:58.440
Genie Joseph: He's got everything that you could think of.
00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:03.000
Genie Joseph: And these were animals that were not likely to get adopted.
00:20:03.340 --> 00:20:06.020
Genie Joseph: Not everybody has the readiness for that.
00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:13.140
Genie Joseph: So yeah, it's a wonderful thing in a way to foster and maybe to foster 10 kittens.
00:20:13.140 --> 00:20:15.980
Genie Joseph: And there's one that you just have a soul connection with.
00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:19.620
Genie Joseph: You just can't send that one back to the shelter.
00:20:21.300 --> 00:20:24.840
Genie Joseph: We have to come up with a better name than Foster Fail for these experiences.
00:20:24.840 --> 00:20:25.940
Kathleen Roscher: Absolutely.
00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:28.360
Genie Joseph: because it's just really, really beautiful.
00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:31.920
Kathleen Roscher: There's no failure involved.
00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:35.340
Kathleen Roscher: There is a success story at the end of each one of these stories.
00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:42.420
Kathleen Roscher: This is an animal that meant so much to you and or your family that you wanted to make them part of your own family.
00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:43.940
Kathleen Roscher: So it's a success story.
00:20:43.940 --> 00:20:44.440
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:45.260
Genie Joseph: Wonderful.
00:20:45.260 --> 00:20:47.420
Genie Joseph: Well, one thing we didn't talk about was bottle feeding.
00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:50.080
Genie Joseph: Can you do bottle feeding kittens?
00:20:50.080 --> 00:20:50.780
Kathleen Roscher: Yes.
00:20:50.780 --> 00:20:51.940
Kathleen Roscher: Yes, I have.
00:20:51.940 --> 00:20:54.500
Genie Joseph: And what age should they be separated from their mother?
00:20:54.500 --> 00:20:58.320
Genie Joseph: I mean, hopefully they're not separated this early, but tell us about that.
00:20:58.320 --> 00:21:00.740
Kathleen Roscher: Well, it depends upon the circumstances.
00:21:00.740 --> 00:21:07.420
Kathleen Roscher: You know, we have a lot of what I will call good Samaritans in the community sometimes, Jeannie.
00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:09.860
Kathleen Roscher: We actually do have a kitten season.
00:21:09.860 --> 00:21:11.500
Kathleen Roscher: We are in the middle of kitten season.
00:21:11.500 --> 00:21:17.440
Kathleen Roscher: It starts sometimes late March, early April, and goes all the way through sometimes to November, December.
00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:25.180
Kathleen Roscher: But sometimes folks will see kittens that are young and they're on their own, and maybe won't look around for if the mother is around.
00:21:25.180 --> 00:21:32.220
Kathleen Roscher: So sometimes kittens are scooped up, if you will, when they shouldn't be taken away from their mother and brought into a shelter or a facility.
00:21:33.400 --> 00:21:35.340
Kathleen Roscher: The last year, I actually...
00:21:35.340 --> 00:21:37.160
Genie Joseph: The mother may be out looking for food, right?
00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:37.960
Kathleen Roscher: Absolutely.
00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:44.020
Kathleen Roscher: She might be looking for food, and she might be trying to make sure she's got enough nutrition so she can feed those babies.
00:21:44.020 --> 00:21:50.620
Kathleen Roscher: And so that's a, we always caution people, please, please don't just go out and scoop up kittens.
00:21:50.940 --> 00:22:09.180
Kathleen Roscher: Many times we will take a nursing queen and her kittens into the shelter, and that's always a great situation because we can give her a safe place in a foster home to nurse her kittens, get ready, and then we will spay her, put her up for adoption, and when her kittens are ready, we do the same thing, spay and neuter them.
00:22:09.180 --> 00:22:11.640
Kathleen Roscher: So that's a great situation for everyone.
00:22:11.640 --> 00:22:15.300
Kathleen Roscher: But oftentimes very, very young kittens come in.
00:22:15.300 --> 00:22:19.500
Kathleen Roscher: Last year, I was given two bottle babies, a little brother and a sister.
00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:26.520
Kathleen Roscher: They were only, it was the day after they were born, their little umbilical cord was still attached.
00:22:26.520 --> 00:22:29.680
Kathleen Roscher: And of course, of course they were, their eyes weren't open yet.
00:22:29.760 --> 00:22:32.140
Kathleen Roscher: Their eyes didn't open up for another week to 10 days.
00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:33.980
Kathleen Roscher: So they were extremely young.
00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:39.460
Kathleen Roscher: And kittens this young are very, very delicate.
00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:43.760
Kathleen Roscher: You have to watch them constantly, and they need to be fed every two to three hours.
00:22:43.760 --> 00:22:51.880
Kathleen Roscher: So anyone who remembers what it's like if you happen to be a mom, and you were nursing your own son or daughter, it's much like that.
00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:58.080
Kathleen Roscher: You have to give these kittens bottle feeding that often, typically six to seven times in a day.
00:22:59.100 --> 00:23:06.700
Kathleen Roscher: So that can be a little bit challenging in the beginning, but it's also a fact of making sure that you weigh them.
00:23:06.700 --> 00:23:11.840
Kathleen Roscher: They need to be gaining about a quarter of a pound a week.
00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:17.340
Kathleen Roscher: And if they're not, then you really want to make sure that you're getting them the medical attention they need.
00:23:17.340 --> 00:23:19.160
Kathleen Roscher: But that is extremely rewarding.
00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:27.740
Kathleen Roscher: And I'm happy to say that from that litter, with a little boy and girl, I named them Gia and Giorgio.
00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:37.780
Kathleen Roscher: And I happened to have the opportunity to still be in touch with Giorgio's adopter, a young man who lives not far from me.
00:23:37.780 --> 00:23:39.760
Kathleen Roscher: And I still get photos.
00:23:39.760 --> 00:23:46.380
Kathleen Roscher: He sent me photos and videos from Giorgio's first birthday party.
00:23:46.380 --> 00:23:55.140
Kathleen Roscher: And that is wonderful because I usually share a goody bag of toys and treats and a letter from me when I bring my kittens in for adoption.
00:23:55.140 --> 00:24:00.900
Kathleen Roscher: And oftentimes, it doesn't happen all the time, and there's absolutely no requirement to.
00:24:00.900 --> 00:24:07.280
Kathleen Roscher: Oftentimes, the adoptive family will at least let me know, hi, we're so happy, and here's a few photos.
00:24:07.280 --> 00:24:09.300
Kathleen Roscher: But sometimes it lasts even longer than that.
00:24:09.300 --> 00:24:11.800
Kathleen Roscher: So those are one of the wonderful stories about that.
00:24:11.800 --> 00:24:21.420
Kathleen Roscher: So little Giorgio is totally spoiled, and he's doing very well from this little tiny little baby that he came into my house and my life that last year.
00:24:22.300 --> 00:24:29.020
Genie Joseph: Aw, well, I can see it's brought so much joy into your life, and just expanded your heart in so many ways.
00:24:29.020 --> 00:24:30.540
Genie Joseph: It's just delightful.
00:24:30.540 --> 00:24:34.080
Genie Joseph: Now, I know that you're in training as an animal communicator.
00:24:34.080 --> 00:24:39.540
Genie Joseph: Do you find that it's easy to talk to kittens, or are they just a little too young to talk?
00:24:39.540 --> 00:24:49.480
Kathleen Roscher: Thank you for that, because the more that I do learn about communicating with animals, the more I'm realizing that I don't think it really depends upon the age of the animal.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:56.360
Kathleen Roscher: It's whether or not you make that intuitive connection, that psychic connection with the animal.
00:24:56.360 --> 00:25:00.000
Kathleen Roscher: I will tell you that I had an opportunity to do that last year.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:09.460
Kathleen Roscher: Last year, I was fostering a litter of four little brothers, and we didn't get them into the shelter until they were about seven, eight weeks old.
00:25:09.460 --> 00:25:12.260
Kathleen Roscher: Now, that gets to be a really precarious time.
00:25:12.260 --> 00:25:19.040
Kathleen Roscher: Remember, I mentioned earlier that two to seven weeks is an ideal time to socialize kittens.
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:28.160
Kathleen Roscher: When they start to get a little older than that, and these were feral kittens, they were brought in from the outside, they start to really get distrustful.
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.720
Kathleen Roscher: And I had a really difficult time with these four.
00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:34.600
Kathleen Roscher: I mean, this one particular little one just hid all the time.
00:25:34.600 --> 00:25:35.940
Kathleen Roscher: I could never really work with them.
00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:41.360
Kathleen Roscher: So when I brought them back to our organization, to our shelter, two of them went up for adoption right away.
00:25:41.360 --> 00:25:46.700
Kathleen Roscher: Two of them had to go to our kitten nursery, where we work on behavior modification.
00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:58.900
Kathleen Roscher: And this was the last little boy now, he was black, and we do find sometimes it's just an amazing thing, but our little black kittens or mostly black kittens sometimes linger a little longer.
00:25:58.900 --> 00:25:59.460
Kathleen Roscher: Yeah.
00:25:59.460 --> 00:26:01.960
Kathleen Roscher: And he simply just wasn't going anywhere.
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:07.640
Kathleen Roscher: And it was really breaking my heart because I also work in cat adoptions, and I would come in and see him.
00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:16.160
Kathleen Roscher: So I actually made a connection with him, and I asked him what could be done to help him, how was he feeling?
00:26:16.340 --> 00:26:21.740
Kathleen Roscher: And the answer I got was he didn't like the name that I had given him.
00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:23.500
Kathleen Roscher: I said, okay.
00:26:23.500 --> 00:26:28.340
Kathleen Roscher: So we've talked a little bit about that, and I actually chose a different name.
00:26:28.340 --> 00:26:33.020
Kathleen Roscher: As the foster parent, you have the option if you'd like to have naming your kittens.
00:26:33.020 --> 00:26:38.280
Kathleen Roscher: Of course, when the kitten is adopted, adopted family can change that name.
00:26:38.280 --> 00:26:46.440
Kathleen Roscher: I actually changed his name and wrote up a whole new pet portfolio form with a new name, and he was adopted four or five days later.
00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:46.900
Genie Joseph: Wonderful.
00:26:46.900 --> 00:26:48.440
Genie Joseph: What was the new name?
00:26:49.740 --> 00:26:50.800
Kathleen Roscher: I called him Mr.
00:26:50.800 --> 00:26:51.880
Kathleen Roscher: Ribbons.
00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:52.240
Genie Joseph: Mr.
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:52.740
Genie Joseph: Ribbons.
00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:53.400
Genie Joseph: Okay.
00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:58.020
Genie Joseph: I've seen that so often that dogs cast in the shelter with the wrong name.
00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:04.540
Genie Joseph: What is really does not express their spirit, takes longer to get adopted, and you get the right name.
00:27:04.580 --> 00:27:05.360
Genie Joseph: It's amazing.
00:27:05.360 --> 00:27:05.840
Genie Joseph: It's amazing.
00:27:05.840 --> 00:27:07.000
Kathleen Roscher: It's amazing.
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:07.240
Genie Joseph: Yeah.
00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:20.460
Genie Joseph: So I really encourage people, if you don't feel you or yourself are an animal communicator to work with a really good and trusted animal communicator, to make sure you have the right name, because it's a name you're going to use every day, multiple times a day.
00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:25.940
Genie Joseph: And the more you have a name that expresses their essence, the better life will be for both of you.
00:27:25.940 --> 00:27:27.680
Kathleen Roscher: Absolutely.
00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:29.740
Genie Joseph: Well, Kathleen, it's been delightful to talk with you.
00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:35.320
Genie Joseph: I hope we've inspired some people to maybe consider kitten fostering if that's the right choice for them.
00:27:35.320 --> 00:27:40.580
Genie Joseph: It isn't the right choice for everyone, but if it is the right choice for you, it will open your life in beautiful ways.
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.580
Kathleen Roscher: I really encourage folks as well.
00:27:43.580 --> 00:27:45.380
Kathleen Roscher: Thank you for your time, Jeannie.
00:27:45.380 --> 00:27:53.840
Kathleen Roscher: It is something we do from the heart, but what you get back is you can't even believe how much love you get back from these animals.
00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:55.040
Kathleen Roscher: It's very rewarding.
00:27:55.040 --> 00:27:56.440
Kathleen Roscher: Thank you so much.
00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:57.480
Genie Joseph: Thank you.
00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:00.140
Genie Joseph: We'll see you again as The Human-Animal Connection.
00:28:00.560 --> 00:28:01.040
Genie Joseph: Bye for now.
00:28:05.840 --> 00:28:09.060
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