Cats Protection is the UK’s leading feline welfare charity and our vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs.
Cats are at the centre of everything we do and our objectives are: homing, neutering and educating people about cats and their care.
We help thousands of cats across the UK each year thanks to our network of dedicated volunteers, staff and supporters.
A bit about this role
Across the UK, many cats are cared for by volunteer fosterers who provide a stable, safe and loving environment in their homes or in purpose-built pens in their gardens. They provide vital hands-on care and accommodation to stray or abandoned cats or cats whose owners could sadly no longer keep them, and are part of a dedicated team of volunteers committed to finding new homes for cats in need. Our fosterers carry out this role with support from their local branch or centre.
Most of our fosterers care for one or two cats at a time and enjoy providing lots of TLC to those cats, who have been pre-loved or have had a difficult start in life. Some of our fosterers look after new mums and kittens and provide round-the-clock care to newborns to give them the best start in life.
What can you expect to be doing?
- Meeting the needs of the cats and kittens in your care
- Cleaning and looking after the cats’ environment and equipment
- Feeding, grooming and administering medication
- Spending time enriching the cats’ experience in care including; play, exercise and stroking
- Maintaining high standards of animal welfare
A bit more information about this role and the team
If you have a spare unfurnished room, such as a spare room with no soft furnishings inside, then this space is ideal, and will allow you full access to fostering any case - including kittens. This is because this foster environment can be fully disinfected and cleaned, allowing infectious diseases to be controlled. We do not know the health background of most of our cats, and young kittens often come in with a touch of flu.
If you have a furnished room (such as a living room or spare bedroom with soft furnishings), or want to use your whole house/an area of your house, you can still foster for us! Cats that have been in our care, have become healthy (or we've had the time to verify they were already healthy) and are vaccinated and 'fit to home' can be transferred to fosterers with furnished foster space. This allows us to free up our spaces which are able to take in more cats/kittens, and provides a more normal, home-like experience for cats. This is so valuable for cats that have been in our care a while, and could do with a good spoiling in a more home like environment! or those that found their time in our outdoor foster pens stressful. Please note our foster cats cannot have contact with any existing pets in the home, and are not to have outdoor access - so to use an area of your house (multiple rooms), any other animals in the home should not be able to access this room/area. To use your whole home, fostering a cat as if they were your own, you must have no other pets. This is a great option for those who love cats, but for whatever reason cannot commit to having your own long term!
Within our branch, we make fostering as simple and enjoyable as we can! Our fosterers receive all expenses, equipment, training and support. Fosterers do not have to receive members of the public into their homes, as we do not accommodate physical visits from adopters - we instead use photos, videos and (only if you are comfortable) live video calls to meet the cat/s. If you drive your own vehicle, you will receive mileage if you need to take the cat to a vet. If you do not drive, we arrange for transport assistance to and from the vet! If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch!
What are the benefits to you and the cats?
You will develop new skills, expand your knowledge and make a significant contribution to improving the lives of cats and kittens in need by caring for them before they find new, loving homes. You will also meet new people, make new friends and be part of a dedicated team of volunteers.
We’re looking for someone with
- A dedicated suitable spare room in your house or space in your garden for a purpose-built pen – you can read more about this here
- Basic knowledge of cats, cat care and understanding their needs
- An appreciation of cat welfare and hygiene standards
- Good interpersonal skills
- Patience, commitment and empathy
- Willingness to be part of a team
Time expectation
Our volunteer fosterers usually spend one and a half hours per day on average (around 10 to 13 hours per week) in this role, but this might vary depending on the number of cats or kittens in care. In order to help you feel confident in your fosterer role we ask that prior to looking after your first foster cat you complete some online cat welfare learning modules.
Support, guidance and keeping you safe
At Cats Protection we believe our volunteers should be happy and confident in their roles. We provide support and guidance from our National Cat Centre and through our regional and local volunteer groups and teams. We offer engaging online and face-to-face training, expenses and have policies and processes to help volunteers get the most out of their time with us.
The wellbeing of our people is important and at Cats Protection we are committed to safeguarding children, adults at risk and all those that we come into contact with as part of our activities.
