Support Foster Paws Rescue's Lifesaving Mission

Foster Paws Rescue is a foster based cat rescue in the Greenville, SC area. We are a 100% volunteer-run rescue dedicated to helping homeless cats in the area find forever homes. While we do partner with several area pet stores to do adoption events and for temporary housing of some of our available cats, the vast majority of cats in our care are in the homes of our foster volunteers. This allows us to learn the personalities of our kitties and see how they do in a home environment, often with other cats, children, and other animals. It gives adopters a much better idea of what sort of addition they will be making to their homes and helps us to make a perfect match between cat and adopter.

2024 has been an especially difficult year for animal rescues across the country, and we are no exception. We are inundated with requests for help daily from people in the community who have found homeless cats. We take in as many as we can, but we cannot create space that doesn't exist, and our funds are limited to grants and donations from the public. All cats adopted out through our rescue are spayed or neutered, up to date on vaccines, microchipped, dewormed, and flea treated. Any medical issues that we come across in the treatment of the cat are addressed. This can often include dental cleanings and diagnostic tests, which are very expensive. We try to keep our adoption fees affordable, and they often do not cover our costs for the individual cat.

In the last few months, a number of large expenses have drained our resources. Five kitties had to be rushed to emergency hospitals due to medical emergencies that occurred when regular vets were closed. Three were in respiratory distress, one had severe skin infections, and one had an injury that occurred in her foster home. Emergency veterinary care is extremely expensive, and these visits incurred several thousand dollars in bills. In addition several adult and senior cats we have taken in this summer have required dental work. While we work with a vet who is very reasonable with pricing, each dental cleaning with extractions costs around $500.

Most recently, we have had three kittens diagnosed with Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), which is a very serious disease in cats. Up until about five years ago, this diagnosis was considered a death sentence for a cat. In the last few years, an effective treatment for this horrible disease has been discovered, but access to treatment was very limited due to it not being FDA approved. Finally, this year, a legal treatment for FIP has become widely available in the United States, and cat enthusiasts across the nation are very relieved at this news. The treatment is unfortunately still very expensive, and cats must undergo a minimum of 84 days of treatment followed by another 84 days of observation before they might be declared "cured."

The three kittens who were just diagnosed with FIP will be with us for approximately six months before they can be made available for adoption again, but we believe their lives are worth the time, effort, and expense of undergoing this treatment. The cover photo shows two of these kittens, Arlo and Waffles. Arlo and Lestat, who were diagnosed first are doing very well and acting and playing like normal kittens again. Waffles has just begun treatment and is not doing well. You see Arlo in the photo trying to comfort Waffles. This photo was taken a few hours before Waffles was rushed to emergency care for respiratory distress. At the time of this writing he is still at the emergency hospital in critical condition.

We will share pictures and stories for many of the cats in our care through the duration of this fundraiser. Please help us to continue our mission by donating to our cause, or adopting a cat from our rescue.