Could you be a hospice foster?

Castaway Critters has a number of cats in foster care who aren't adoptable for medical reasons. Lovely cats, but they will be with us until they pass. Sometimes that will be a few months from now, all the way to years. We're looking for fosters who can provide a hospice kitty with a loving home and Castaway will pay for all their medical care and any prescriptions or prescription foods they may require. (It's a great way to have a cat without much expense!)

If you have a big heart and want to give one of our hospice kitties a loving home until it is time for them to cross the Rainbow Bridge, please apply to be a hospice foster with us. Fill out a foster application here and mention that you're interested in being a hospice foster.

If you're nervous about helping a cat with medical issues, we have lots of expertise, and will make sure you have all the training and help you need! Questions? Email us at [email protected]

Beans, pictured above, is one of our cats needing a hospice foster. She is FELV+, which means she can't be around other cats who don't have FELV. Otherwise, she has been very healthy for a long time, but will decline someday. She needs a home with no other cats. Right now, this very sweet cat has been stuck in a room alone for the last three years (with visits from foster mom, of course!) Do you have a cat-free home for this sweet girl to enjoy?

We told you about Costello last month, a senior cat who was declawed and roaming outside. He weighed only 6 pounds, and was basically bones with some fur on top. Well, Costello has made huge strides.

He is nearly 12 pounds now and looking so much better! We discovered he was severely hyper-thyroid, and that is under much better control. We are still battling ongoing diarrhea with him despite all kinds of blood work, parasite treatments, and special foods, but we'll figure it out eventually.

Costello is clearly thrilled to have been rescued, and thanks his foster mom with coos and meows and kitty kisses every day. He's loving all the attention he gets, especially pets while sitting on laps! He still has a ways to go, but he's making great progress thanks to your donations that help us provide all the medical and other care he needs.

Lilly is a little kitten we took in back in September, and she will be tiny forever. We'd never encountered this before but she was born with flat chested kitten syndrome. Her chest was as flat as a pancake instead of being rounded like a normal kitten, leaving no room for organs to grow.

She was born inside, thankfully, and her caretaker recognized that something was wrong early on. We had her take Lilly to see a veterinary rehab specialist who diagnosed her and recommended a corset made out of a toilet paper roll covered in vet wrap! The corset forces the ribs and chest to curve, and Lily had to wear her corset for two months. You can read more about flat chested kitten syndrome and see a kitten corset, here.

She's been with us since mid- September when she weighed only half a pound, while her siblings were already over a pound. At almost three months she now weighs a pound; her siblings are over 3 lbs, Still, she's healthy and happy - just tiny. It will be quite a while until she's up to 3 lbs and can be spayed but she's enjoying life in her foster home for now.