Foster Kritters Feral Cat Rescue - Society

07/22/2024

Violet is available for adoption.
This gorgeous little 7-8 month old creature is Violet. She came to us a month ago and was emaciated due to surviving on her own as a young juvenile. She had a rough start and clearly spent some time on the streets fending for herself, but she’s been working hard to gain weight and is feeling a million times better now.
Violet is playful and silly and loves interactive play but she’s also content to entertain herself and just lounge around. She can be a little fussy about other cats, likely from being picked on by street cats, but would do well with a confident, mellow, and tolerant cat for a buddy. We generally do not adopt our cats and kittens to homes where they will be the only pet. We might consider it for Violet if it’s the perfect situation for her and she isn’t regularly left home alone for long hours. Violet would be okay with an older mellow kid but would not be happy in a multiple child home. She is a bit uncomfortable with my small dog but could be okay over time with a very mellow dog who has zero interest in chasing or harassing a cat.
PLEASE EMAIL ONLY for inquiries or an application.
[email protected]

07/22/2024

I’ve had a few people ask recently about the different ways to help support our cause. So here’s a list:

-You can use our number every time you get gas at any Peninnsula Co op gas location. That includes all three Co op gas locations in Duncan and all locations south of Duncan. The number is 142853. If you forget the number you can just tell them it goes on the Foster Kritters account.

-You can purchase tickets for our prize raffles and 50/50 raffles. Only four days left in our current prize raffle so get your tickets fast!

https://www.rafflebox.ca/raffle/fosterkritters3

-Join our Patreon page. We have it set at $10 (US) per month but you can set it at any dollar amount you want. The content on our Patreon page will not be posted anywhere else.

patreon.com/FosterKrittersFeralCatRescue

-You can save your refundables for our monthly bottle drives. Watch our page for times and dates.

-You can send gifts to the cats from our Amazon wish list,

https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/2BP1NHRMWSJPC?ref_=wl_share

-You can save your Country Grocer receipts from any CG location for us. We get a percentage back in gift certificates that we use for cat food and cleaning supplies. Receipts can be dropped off at Kinsol vet clinic, Hair at 60 Queens, Puppycats Pet Emporium, and any of our bottle drives.

-Canadian Naturals cat kibble can be purchased in store or over the phone at Buckerfields in Duncan or Puppycats Pet Emporium in Chemainus. They will call us for pickup.

Buckerfields 250 748 8171

Puppycats 250 324 2220

-E transfer donations can be sent at any time to [email protected]

Cheering us on and sharing posts goes a long way too!

THANK YOU

It's all about the cats!

07/22/2024

Mama June and baby Bluebell are settling into being rescued quite nicely. June is just so grateful to not have to constantly worry about dangers to her baby and scrounging for food. June is enjoying lots of naps sprawled out and relaxed because she feels safe now. They both still have upset bellies but they are improving and feeling better every day. They will have a visit to the vet this week to make sure we’re on the right track, but for now they’re getting the right food and supplements to help them feel better. It can take a while to heal from malnutrition. You can see that June is shedding out her burnt red starvation coat and growing in a nice shiny black coat.
We are extremely grateful to all our fabulous supporters who help make it possible for us to keep helping cats like June and her babies. We might be doing the field work but we literally could not do what we do without all of your support. Donations, buying raffle tickets, saving your empties for us, busting your butts at our bottle drives, making and donating items for our raffles, sending gifts from our Amazon wish list, counting grocery receipts, driving cats to and from the vet, putting your change in our donation boxes, using our Co op gas number, joining our Patreon, and so much more. June looks this happy because of all of you 😊

07/20/2024

Phew, we pulled it off and nobody expired from heatstroke 🥵
We are extremely grateful to our regular volunteers, and to the new ones who braved the heat and saved our butts today!!
We were down to four volunteers (we usually have 8-10) sorting and counting at 11:30 and had a huge mountain of empties to go through and thought we would have to start turning people away. Then some fabulous folks showed up and helped us to raise just over $3000 for the cats.
Thank you so much to old and new volunteers, and to our fabulous supporters who are passionate about helping us to help the cats!

~See you at our next bottle drive on August 24th~

07/20/2024

Bottle Drive Reminder

Tomorrow is bottle drive day!
We’ve got two big surgeries coming up soon that we need to raise funds for, on top of all the regular spays and neuters being done every month.
It’s going to be hot tomorrow so please come early so we can get finished before the worst heat of the afternoon. All you have to do is drop off your empties and we’ll do all the sorting for you!

Date: Saturday July 20

Time: 8:30 - 1

Location: The Return It Depot Parking Lot at 6476 Norcross Road in Duncan

PLEASE SHARE

07/19/2024

The count down is on for our raffle with only one week left to purchase tickets!
You could win some really fabulous prizes. We have two dental surgeries coming up soon so we really need to raise some funds!

First prize is a highly collectible, original framed oil painting by beloved, Irish-Canadian folk musician, Will Millar of the Irish Rovers. $2000+ value

Second prize is a highly collectible, vintage silver cuff bracelet with a raven design by Kwakwaka’wakw master carver, Lloyd Wadham Senior. $800+ value.

Third prize is a gift certificate for Country Grocer. $180 value.

Check the comments for pictures of the painting and bracelet.

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.

07/19/2024

You can sure see who the boss is in this mother daughter relationship, little bed hog. June is probably less than a year old. She did a fantastic job raising her babies in such awful conditions. The babies were all a wee bit slim but surprisingly healthy under the circumstances. June gave them everything she had. She’s pretty thin and worn out for such a young cat. The saddest thing is that we see this all the time. We’re just able to show a lot about June because she’s so tame. Most of the other cats are more feral and not interested in photo shoots. We’re catching skinny malnourished cats all the time. It would be every day if we had the room, the funds, and the resources to catch all the cats that we know about who need our help. If you’ve ever thought about volunteering, please come meet us at a bottle drive and let us know. It’s far from glamorous. The main things we need help with involve litter boxes and dirty laundry. But it’s so rewarding to know that you’re helping cats like June to have the happy and healthy lives that they deserve.

07/18/2024

I’m just so happy to have these guys safe finally so you’re going to get lots of pictures. They’re settling in and enjoying the fresh food and comfy beds. You can see in the pictures that June’s inner eyelids are showing. This is often an indication of a heavy parasite load. Her belly is quite bloated and noisy and she’s clearly uncomfortable so we’re feeding carefully and we’ve started them both on a parasite management plan. I’ve also added FortiFlora to their food to help settle their guts. It’s very common to see this in cats that have been scrounging for food. We call it garbage guts. They’ll eat pretty much whatever it takes to survive. Especially with June raising babies. She would have been constantly hungry and eating slugs, bugs, food wrappers, compost, etc. The kind of stuff that would wreak havoc on her digestive system. They just need a couple days to pass what’s in their systems and let the good food and meds do their magic.

07/18/2024

And mom is finally safe now too ❤️
Welcome to the good life mama June!
(I’ll get better pictures ASAP)

07/18/2024

Woohoo, this baby is finally safe! I won’t tell you how many hours between two people that went into catching this baby because you would think we were both insane. But boy oh boy am I glad to finally have this kitten safe. We caught all the siblings more than three weeks ago and we’ve made friends with mom cat but we kept getting the timing wrong to catch this one, or the feeder would feed at the wrong time by mistake, or we just had plain old bad luck. But baby finally went into the trap very early this morning so now we can finally bring mom cat into care too. She’s just a baby having babies but her life is about to change for the better.

07/18/2024

This handsome boy came into our care about three weeks ago. He’s from a large project that we’ve been working on of 200+ cats.
Comet had an upper respiratory infection and wasn’t feeling well enough to be neutered right away so we got him settled in at our intake barn and started him on meds for his infection. He seemed to be feeling a lot better until the last few days where he started coughing and sneezing again. So he went back for a recheck today which was done under sedation so they could do a thorough exam. It turns out that he has a cleft palate. We don’t know if it’s something that he was born with or if it was caused by some kind of accident, but he also has fractured teeth that were likely caused by some kind of blunt force trauma. Either way, this boy has had a rough life and has survived some pretty serious issues. We’re not sure of his age but 5+ is considered senior in feral years so he’s likely a young senior. We started him on a new course of meds today, including for lungworm because his lungs also look and sound awful, and once he’s feeling well enough he will go for a cleft palate repair and dental surgery. We have an estimate of just over $2100, which includes his neuter too. He likely won’t have the surgery until August but we will be fundraising before then. We have some very cool items to add to our garage sale page, including a nearly new Dyson Supersonic hair dryer with storage bag, so check it out and help us to keep helping the cats of the Cowichan Valley.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090250811288&mibextid=LQQJ4d

07/16/2024

Unfortunately ticket sales are still slow for our raffle. As a registered non profit who relies entirely on donations, these fundraisers are vital to keep our work going. Please help us to help Cowichan Valley cats by sharing and spreading the word.
Plus, you have an opportunity to win some really fabulous prizes.

We can’t do this without you!

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.

07/15/2024

We still have some really nice kittens available for adoption. PLEASE EMAIL ONLY for inquiries or an application.
All four kittens pictured are family friendly, good with other cats, and have some experience with dogs. They are all spayed and neutered, will be double vaccinated by the time of adoption, and up to date on parasite control. We prefer to adopt our kittens in pairs, or for the home to already have another cat or friendly dog buddy.

Sprout and Solstice would make a really great pair. Nugget and Pipsqueak are very bonded and would like to be adopted together.

[email protected]

07/14/2024

**Bottle Drive Reminder**

We’re having a bottle drive!
We are a registered non profit feral cat rescue working all over the Cowichan Valley. We are entirely volunteer run and rely on fundraising to pay for monthly vet bills.
With these extreme temperatures we’re hoping to finish early before the hottest part of the day so please come early.
All you need to do is drop off your empties and we will do all the sorting.
We hope to see you there!

Date: Saturday July 20th

Time: 8:30- 2 (please come early!)

Location: The Return It Depot Parking Lot at 6476 Norcross Road in Duncan

PLEASE SHARE

07/13/2024

**THANK YOU, WE NOW HAVE AN UMBRELLA**
Does anyone have a free standing umbrella that you’re not using and would like to donate to a good cause? Our feral cat intake room has a nice window for fresh air but the afternoon sun hits it directly and makes it pretty warm in there. We don’t want to block their view and fresh air intake so an umbrella would be a great solution. It doesn’t need to be pretty, just solid, functional, and somewhat heavy duty.

07/13/2024

If I thought that today couldn’t get any better, I would have been wrong.
The icing on this gourmet cake of a day was in the form of a grant cheque.
We are extremely grateful to our new friends at Khowutzun Forest Services for their very generous grant cheque for $2500. With our June vet bills climbing over $10,000, this could not have come at a better time.
Thank you KFS!!

07/13/2024

Holy moly, what a fabulous day today!
Donations are really down right now for all the rescues so it’s been quite a struggle to keep the food cupboards full. When we put out a plea for help with food this week we had no idea we would get this kind of response. I picked up from Puppycats and Buckerfields today and I stopped counting at 20 bags! Not only that, you guys bought out all the Canadian Naturals kibble at Puppycats so they had to order more and still have at least 6 more bags already prepaid to add to our pile.
But wait, there’s more. Then I got home and found a small mountain of boxes from our Amazon wish list. I’m assuming it’s mostly senior food for George but I haven’t had a chance to open all the boxes yet, other than the one that I delivered to George.
Did you think I was done? There’s still even more! Then I went to the intake barn and found another small mountain of food for our feral fosters.
The amount of stress and worry that this takes off our shoulders is immeasurable.
Thank you so much to everyone!! It’s such a relief to not have to worry about cat food for a while now.
We really truly cannot do this without you. Together we’re helping a lot of Cowichan Valley cats! 😻

07/12/2024

**JUPITER UPDATE**
Hold onto your hats for this one. This little boy is beating some serious odds!
Jupiter had recheck number 3 today and his corneas are officially declared healed! This doesn’t mean that he has vision yet. But it does mean that he is about as close to a miracle as it gets. He started off with us having extremely infected ulcerated corneas and one ruptured eyeball, with the second eyeball rupturing too within the first week. The damage done from the infection was so bad that any cat older than him would have just gone straight to the operating room for a double enucleation. But Jupiter’s fabulous fancy eye doctor just had a strong feeling that we should give him a chance to see what the power of youth (and some fancy medicine) could do and are we ever glad that she did.
He will still be getting some eye drops for a little while but nowhere near as often as he was. We mostly just have to give him time now for the scar tissue and blood vessels to heal and gradually reveal how much sight he will or won’t have. To put it simply, his eyeballs are now considered stable (after having both ruptured) and he is showing a reaction to light, although it’s not fully consistent. It’s been next to impossible for the doctor to see the internal structure of his eyes due to the severity of his corneal disease, and there is a possibility of congenital abnormalities, but he still has that power of youth on his side and all the supporters that are rooting for him and sending him all the positive energy. Jupiter will most likely always have some degree of scarring on his eyes but I think he will end up with a good amount of vision eventually.

You can continue helping us to help cats like Jupiter by purchasing tickets to our raffle, saving your empties for our bottle drives, donating to and purchasing items from our yard sale fundraiser, sharing posts and helping to spread the word!

07/12/2024

We got a shout out from The Irish Rovers themselves! 😄

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.

07/11/2024

Food Crises Update

There have been at least six cases of senior food ordered for George now so he’s covered for a while.
We still have not had any bags of Canadian Naturals kibble donated so that’s what we’re desperate for still.
You can call in an order or purchase in store and they will contact us for pickup.

Puppycats 250 324 2220

Buckerfields 250 748 8171

07/11/2024

We’re still experiencing a food crisis and could really use your help!
We’re now completely out of canned food for our feral fosters, including senior canned food for George. I’ve added George’s food to our Amazon wish list. We will use ANY canned food for the other fosters. They just like something to break up the monotony of kibble.

We’re also using at least 30 lbs of kibble every week, and that doesn’t include any of the food we feed to colony cats. If you’re in a position to help you can purchase Canadian Naturals kibble for the cats at Buckerfields in Duncan or Puppycats Pet Emporium in Chemainus in store or over the phone and they will contact us for pickup.

Thank you!

Buckerfields 250 748 8171

Puppycats 250 324 2220

Amazon wish list,
https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/2BP1NHRMWSJPC?ref_=wl_share

07/10/2024

*Show Cowichan Valley Feral Cats Some Love!*
We really need your help to get the momentum going on our raffle ticket sales. It would be a shame to not raise much money with the incredible prizes that are available.
Please tell your friends, family, coworkers, and even strangers that they can help us to help feral and at risk cats of the Cowichan Valley by buying tickets and sharing this info.

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.

07/09/2024

Look who can see a little bit now! (The bell is on the wand so it’s not helping him find the string) His internal eye structure has been functional all along. He just couldn’t see through all the infected ulcer tissue. With less and less extra tissue on the surface of his eyes now, he’s starting to have more vision. It still startles him sometimes but he’s getting more used to it. I’ve been expanding his play area so that he can be more adventurous and more self reliant.

07/09/2024

Chutney Update
If you don’t remember Chutney, he’s the boy who was abandoned more than three years ago and spent those years in Crofton going from house to house looking for food and shelter. Some people watched out for him but for the most part he was considered a nuisance, especially since he was an intact male. Nobody stepped up to really help him though and it wasn’t his fault that he was failed by humans. Chutney is now neutered and safe and waiting for his turn to go stay with our friends at a cat sanctuary. But in the meantime, he’s learning that not all humans are so bad, especially the ones that bring yummy treats. This is a really big deal for him to be eating from my hand! He’s not quite ready to let me touch him yet but he’s getting closer to it every day.
Spicy feral cats deserve our love too!! Give them a bit of a chance and they just might surprise you with how sweet they can be ❤️

07/08/2024

*Yard Sale Fundraiser Reminder*

In case you haven’t heard yet, we’re having a yard Sale Fundraiser. We seem to be off to a bit of a slow start collecting items for the sale so please help spread the word. If you have items for the sale or need to arrange drop off at our storage location, or if you need to know the items that we can and cannot accept, please EMAIL our volunteers at [email protected]
We are a registered non profit and are entirely volunteer run. 100% of funds raised goes directly to helping local feral and at risk cats in the Cowichan Valley.

Date: Saturday September 7

Time: 8:30am until 2pm

Location: the location in Duncan will be announced closer to the day of the sale. Directions will be clear and easy to follow like last year.

Thank You

PLEASE SHARE

07/05/2024

*Raffle Reminder*

We’re really excited about the prizes we have to offer some very lucky supporters. There will be three winners this time!
We’re off to a slow start so please help us out by sharing and spreading the word. These are some pretty special prizes.

First prize is an original, signed and framed oil painting by beloved Irish-Canadian folk music star, Will Millar of the Irish Rovers. Will even took the time to personalize the painting for the winner and also added a signed copy of his favourite CD. This painting would sell for at least $2000 in a gallery but is truly priceless for a folk music/folk art fan.

Second prize is a beautiful silver cuff bracelet with a raven design. This is a highly collectible vintage piece from the 80’s by Kwakwaka’wakw Master Carver, Lloyd Wadham Sr. You will likely only find a piece like this in an auction or private collection nowadays. You may find similar pieces with a price tag on them but owning an iconic piece of local history is priceless.

Third prize is something that everyone would be happy to win. A $180 gift card to Country Grocer. This can be used at any CG location.

(We will ship the prizes anywhere at the winners expense. Shipping insurance will be mandatory)

Please help us raise some funds for local cats and win yourself a fabulous prize too!

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.

07/04/2024

*JUPITER UPDATE *

Jupiter had his second recheck today with Island Veterinary Eye Specialist and it’s still positive news!
Dr Osinchuk is away this week so her locum, Dr Marnie Ford, did the exam and assured us that we’re still on the right track and still have reason to hope for the best. Especially since we’re still managing Jupiter’s pain level and keeping him happy and comfortable. There are still no guarantees but Dr Ford said that she has seen eyes in much worse condition that ended up healed so she thinks Jupiter has a great chance too for saving at least one of his eyes. The bonus for today was that Dr Ford added another medication to the arsenal in the battle against this nasty infection. This tiny bottle of fancy eye drops has a price tag of $250 but she happened to have a few bottles tucked away for a special case. Well I guess Jupiter must have really won her over because she donated a bottle to him! I honestly don’t even remember exactly what it is but it will boost his chances of recovery significantly. We’re very grateful for this very generous gift. Jupiter is now more than double the size he was when he first came to us. He’s cheeky and smart and playful and affectionate. His personality (and good looks) make everyone fall in love with him. He’s dealing with the whole situation like an absolute rock star!

(Look how good his right eye looks now!)

07/03/2024

If house panthers are your thing, Lyle just might be the boy for you. He is super tame and affectionate and ready for a best friend forever. Lyle is 8-10 months old, neutered, vaccinated, and up to date on parasite control. Lyle gets along great with other cats and would likely adapt to living with a dog. He does insist on having a faux fur blanket of his own in his forever home.
Please EMAIL ONLY for inquiries or an application, [email protected]

07/02/2024

Congratulations to the winner!!
We’re very grateful to Puppycats Pet Emporium for their ongoing support 😊

Send a message to learn more

07/02/2024

In case you haven’t heard yet, we have a prize raffle happening right now to raise some much needed funds for our ongoing vet bills. The rare opportunity to own an original signed, framed, and personalized, Will Millar (the Irish Rovers) painting, or a Lloyd Wadham Sr bracelet for just the cost of a raffle ticket should not be missed!
Thank you for helping us to help the cats!

Please Share

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.