Monthly Archives: April 2021

I started my foster experience up north, in Pennsylvania.  The local S.P.C.A. reached out to me one day while I was visiting.  I recently lost my own cat of 20 years, so I was just there looking around.  I had never heard of kitten fostering, but the employee on duty explained the details of their program.  I considered it for a bit and went back to them and got started! 

I will never forget my first bottle baby, named Baby, of course.  No tail, maybe 6oz., single, sick and a purr bucket!  When Baby got to be big enough, I went to the shelter and took home two more kittens to help teach her how to be a kitten.  

Having bottle babies or a single bottle baby, it changes everything.  Your life is scheduled around the next feeding and catering to the needs of the kittens.  Our kitchen area is the bottle baby area with a tent and heating pad and of course the feeding station. Our office becomes the “Kitty Cave” when they are old enough.  It is by far the most rewarding hobby / job I have ever had!  I love it and we will continue to foster as long as we can.  We keep a log of the kitten names, and to date we have taken care of 106 bottle babies. 

It is very hard to give the babies back to the shelter at 2 lbs, but very rewarding to know that the shelter is able to find them forever homes because we helped them.  When we moved to Florida in 2014,  I was told about Cat Depot almost right away.  I went and signed up right away.  There are so many wonderful people in this organization and the Facebook Foster Page (available to registered foster volunteers) has been extremely helpful in many ways as far as having a support system to help each other through the process!

Our Foster Failure was #51, Norman.  We adopted him up north, although he was not a baby, he was 5.  He loves Florida and has gotten used to the Fosters that we bring in.  Norman is an ” only ” cat kind of guy, so when we bring in the babies, he doesn’t care until they start running around.  They have taught him how to play and it has been fun watching Norman learn from the babies as well! We don’t think he has ever seen another cat/kitten until he met the foster kittens.  I guess we would say that Norman, our Foster failure is our most memorable since we ended up adopting him.

Renee McFadden
Foster Volunteer

Bo and Titan’s story began November 25, 2020, when they were transferred to Cat Depot from another shelter. Not much is known about them prior to coming to Cat Depot, other than they were found wandering together. We can guess that they had lived with someone as they were both microchipped, but unfortunately their chips were never registered so they could not be reunified with their owner. Despite appearing different, with Bo being a brown tabby with white markings and Titan being a classic grey tabby, when you look close, you realize that their body shape and size is very similar to each other, making us guess that they are brothers, approximately five years old.

When they first arrived at Cat Depot, Bo and Titan were scared, which is a normal reaction for any cat coming into a shelter setting, however, as time went by, we realized that they simply were not adjusting to their new environment. We never saw Bo and Titan during the day as they were always hiding underneath blankets, sometimes together, and sometimes apart. After hours, when the shelter was quiet, Bo and Titan would quietly come out, eat, do their business, and then return to the safety of their blankets before staff arrived the next day.

In an effort to reduce their fear, Adoptions Manager Lisa Voigt took Bo and Titan to her home, giving them first one room, and then several rooms, to roam and be happier cats. Almost immediately, Bo and Titan started coming out of their shells, greeting Lisa when she fed them their meals and letting her pet them while they ate. Bo and Titan slowly began to realize that there was more house to see as well as other cats to meet, and embarked upon a mission to explore the entire home. At first the excursions were short lived, with Lisa rounding up Bo and Titan and herding them back to their part of the home, but as time went by, and as all the cats in the home grew used to each other, Bo and Titan’s visits grew longer.

With the increased freedom came individual personalities. Titan would spend hours on the front porch, watching the world go by. Bo would wander the home, seeking a friend to play with – usually the kitten in the home – and trying to secure a spot on the couch next to Lisa.

Lisa would allow Bo and Titan longer visits, eventually allowing a few overnight slumber parties. Bo and Titan proved to be great guests, with Titan lounging at the foot of the bed, and Bo slowing moving from the bottom of the bed, to the middle, to curling up next to Lisa and sleeping with her all night. Unfortunately, Lisa’s cats were a bit perturbed with the sleeping arrangements, so Bo and Titan now spend their nights in their private quarters.

Despite their ease with Lisa, Bo and Titan remain nervous around other people and become invisible cats when someone is visiting. Lisa will attest that Bo and Titan are great guests – always using their litter box with no accidents. They LOVE their food – they are both a bit chubby and are on a diet right now.

While Bo and Titan have advocated to become full time residents at Lisa’s house, kitten foster season is coming and they desperately need to find a home of their own, where they can blossom and be loved. Preferably a quiet home, and one where they won’t have to share their human with a bunch of other pets. Lisa believes both Bo and Titan will always be a bit shy but will warm up to their human roommate, will snuggle all night long, and be quiet, gentle company for years to come.

If you are interested in learning more about Bo and Titan, please call Cat Depot at 941-366-2404 and ask to speak with Lisa or any of the Adoption Counselors.

Lisa Voigt
Adoptions Manager / Foster Mom to Bo & Titan