Thundering Paws

Our foster program wish list

Over 90% of Thundering Paws cats are in foster homes. Almost every intake spends some time in foster on the road to his or her forever home. The items on our Foster Program Wish List will reduce expenses for our foster families by providing them with supplies for their Thundering Paws kitties that they would have to buy out of their own pockets.

Items from the Foster Program Wish List are delivered to our foster coordinator, Tanya Palmer, for distribution to our foster families.  This saves us valuable storage space at the sanctuary.

There is a separate Sanctuary Wish List to support our resident animals.

 

Kittens, kittens, kittens! Trinidad and his family

We have about 60 kittens in foster homes!  Here’s Trinidad:

Trinidad and his 5 sisters were born at Thundering Paws, about 7 weeks ago. They’re not ready for adoption yet.

Their mom is Newt, a black-and-white cat who came to Thundering Paws when she was pregnant, homeless, and living outdoors. Newt is getting medicine, which would not be good for the kittens. She’s wearing a bib to keep the kittens from nursing. They are eating on their own now, so they don’t need her milk anymore.

Here’s dear old dad. He would be a candidate for TNR, but we haven’t caught him yet:

Thundering Paws has about 60 kittens in foster homes.  They need additional routine vet work, costing about $135 per kitten.  That includes spay/neuter and a rabies shot, for $50-$70, and other  vaccines, $30 per kitten.  Please help us care for them by donating.  Your contributions make our work possible.  Thank you for your help!

Changes at Thundering Paws

New rescues, changes at the sanctuary, #GivingTuesdayNow, how to adopt now: learn what’s new in our most recent email newsletter.  Subscribe to our emails here.

At a conference this year, we learned to focus on fostering rather than sheltering. We agreed 100% and we’re fired up!

Thank goodness! Two weeks later, COVID-19 hit. We’re fostering out friendly cats to cut down on staff time at the sanctuary. Our few feral cats who didn’t tame as kittens, our old, and our hospice cats will stay here.

Skweeks the rescue cat.
Skweeks has a home because of your generosity.

Staff who worked adoption and outreach events are out of work. We’re still paying them.

You ask why our staff hasn’t filed for unemployment. We opted out of unemployment fees to save money. In the long run, this move will benefit us.

Most municipal shelters have stopped intake. Not us! Volunteers are jumping up and down to foster pregnant cats, mom cats with kittens, motherless kittens, bottle babies, and friendly adults! Many people want to shelter-in-place with a cat, so adoptions are going great. We’re showing cats on Zoom and FaceTime, and providing safe, non-contact deliveries.

We’re putting in supplies for new rescue kittens, even with higher prices.

Fewer resident cats = less staff time = less payroll, right? WRONG! Our staff can’t live without a job. We’ll return to normal, and we want THIS staff back, not a new staff. And not paying them is downright wrong. Thundering Paws is a community, without expendable members.

Fostering out four cats, adopting out two adults, and moving a cat or two around has opened up a room, which gives us the space to do much needed repairs. Now all we need is money.

Higher prices for supplies, more fosters with more moms and kittens, the beginning of kitten season, the space to repair the structure—we need donations, please!