If you like animals, please adopt and/or foster! PAWS is a great place to start if you live in Philly and aren’t sure how to help. Volunteering is a big help, but fostering is even better since it greatly expands PAWS’s capacity and reach. Here are some things I learned when I started fostering:

• Get a play-pen: Tiny kittens really can get into tiny nooks and crannies. E.g. this one. Have lots of spare towels to pad the floor.
• Learn the treat-socialization technique: Unsurprisingly, cats trust people who feed them, and if you sit very still with a treat you can take advantage of their trust by kidnapping and snuggling them.
• Learn the toy-socialization technique:Similar to above, but with a cat toy to distract them from the fact that they are about to be stolen and snuggled.
• Learn the cat-burrito technique: Sometimes you need to “encourage” shy kittens to be around humans by wrapping them up in a towel and holding them for a while.
• Don’t be weirded out by them suckling on…everything: Sometimes kittens miss their mommies and appropriate soft things like blankets as mothers.
• Know cures for common diseases: E.g. dewormers come in syringes and can be injected orally without professional help.
• Know where the emergency room is: Sometimes kittens get really sick, and sometimes you just need to rush them to the doctor.
• Wet food smells terrible: Unavoidable (kittens can’t eat dry food), but true.

Previous fosters

Myra

A photo posted by scostrell (@scostrell) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:05pm PST

Marlon (RIP)

A photo posted by scostrell (@scostrell) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:44am PST