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11:16am

How I manage to foster in an apartment

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Pooka

It is kitten season and shelters are bursting with cats. People who extend foster care help but there never seem to be enough people. I suspect that a lot more people would do it but don't think that they can because they already have pets and don't know where they would keep the foster. I had that problem until I had one of my little ideas (I don't know how/why they pop into my head. They just do. Some times they hurt.)
I have a small second bedroom that I use for the computer and storage. I could put a cat in there but the flow of heat/air conditioning is not even. I would also worry about keeping the poor thing boxed up by itself. I needed a way to keep the foster in the room and in the flow of things. I needed an old fashioned screen door.
I called a couple of those big box hardware outlets and found that my local store had them in stock. The doors are very light in weight so I was able to carry it home by myself. I was going to mount it against the outside of the door frame so I didn't need a fancy knob or hinges. I just need 2 or 3 small flat hinges and a couple of those little hook locks. I left the regular interior door in place and mounted the screen door on the frame in front of it (opening out into the hall). A casted off child gate was easy to attach to the lower part of the screen to make the door strong enough to with stand the first tense meetings (The regular door could be closed if they got too tense). the entire project cost me less then $25 (the gate was free).
If you want to try and foster and/or have pets that are having problems getting adjusted to each other think about trying this. It gives them a way of seeing/sniffing each other without placing them at risk. If you leave a little room under the door they can start to play. It will also allow you to take kittens out of the room to give mom a break and still let her know that they are okay.