How Fostering Works With Us
Urban Feline Australia is a tiny cat rescue and rehoming service, run by one passionate individual with the help of friends and amazing volunteer foster carers. We're not part of a big government organization, we don't have a large facility with a lot of staff, we don't have a lot of resources, and we don't receive government grants Because we are a tiny one-man operation we have decided to focus on surrenders, which are cats that have lived with people before, but for one reason or another their owners are no longer able to care for them. We do not accept the more difficult cases such as, stray cats, feral cats, sick cats, pregnant cats or kittens, and we only accept cats that are desexed, vaccinated microchipped and otherwise healthy. So 99% of the time, our foster cats are friendly, affectionate social and low maintenance and do not need a vet visit while in our care. We do this keep things as simple as we possibly can and make sure that our amazing volunteer foster carers have a smooth and pleasant experience as possible. Occasionally we will take on shelter cats or stray cats but only if we have the right people available to assist. Our primary focus is helping surrenders. And sadly there are plenty of those.
The waiting list and surrender preparation.
Sadly we get 3-4 messages every day from owners who are looking for assistance rehoming their cat. These people will go onto a waiting list until we have space available with a foster carer. At which point we contact them and arrange to have the cat surrendered into our care. We do not have the foster cats here in a facility where you can come and meet them. We will reach out to you with the cats details, once we have a foster cat available who may be a good fit for your home. We have a Facebook group for our foster carers and inside that group is a pinned message, with the cats details and photos, which we use as a waiting list. Foster carers are welcome to join this group and check out the waiting list if they like. We do not assign cats at random. The cat will only be surrendered into our care once the carer has agreed to foster. Before this cat can be surrendered we will get copies of all the cats relevant documentation such a desexing certificate, vaccination certificate, clinical summary showing the cats patient history, a signed surrender agreement, we get the owners to provide a biography and will get them to fill in a template that highlights their cats needs and routine. We will also sit down for a video call with the owner so that we can meet, ask questions, and get a better understanding of the cats history, story and needs. We record this conversation so that we have a refence to come back to if we need to check somthing but also so that the foster carer can then review the conversation and learn everything they need to know about their foster cat first hand. We will send them a link so they can watch the video, and if they're happy to go ahead, we then arrange to have the cat surrendered into our care.
The surrendering process.
Once the carer has agreed to foster, we will send the owner their contact details so that they can contact the foster carer directly and arrange to have the cat dropped directly to their home. So your foster cat will generally arrive at your doorstep. We also ask the cats owners to bring all of the cats accessories with them, so foster carers generally do not need to go out and purchase any accessories. Most cats will come with a litter box, litter, food, bowls, beds, blankets, scratchers and towers ect. Occasionally a cat will come into our care with nothing, in which case the foster carer just needs to go to Kmart or Target and pick up and cheap litter box and whatever else they need. We also instruct the owners to print out all of the cats medical records and put them in a folder to be given to the foster family.
What do you provide?
As a tiny one-man operation with very limited resources we unfortunately cannot provide food for all our foster families, so foster carers cover the cost of this out of their own pocket. But we do our best to support them. When cats arrive they will generally come with food and from time to time we do get donations, which are all forwarded on to foster carers. If we have food or accessories donated we will send out an email to all of our foster carers letting them know they're welcome to collect supplies if they're interested. All we ask is that foster carers provide the best quality cat food that they can afford. We don't expect you to spend a small fortune on your foster cat, if a budget brand like Whiskas is all you can afford that's completely fine. As long as the cat has food in their belly and a warm place to sleep we're happy. We can however provide you with as much free cat litter as you can handle. We were recently sponsored by an amazing litter company and they provide all our foster carers with free litter. You simply need to log into the website and you'll have free liter shipped to your door. We can also provide you with calming supplements to help your new foster cat settle into their new foster home.