Arrival and Quarantine

PROCEDURE
7-14 days Quarantine / Health Care for New Arrivals (Foster Cats or Kittens).

Used for: Treating incoming / new foster cats or kittens that have been collected from the pound, personally surrendered or for those being dropped off at foster carers’ houses, cats who have been OUTDOORS, have not been treated for fleas and worms within the past week, OR who are dirty and have a heavy flea burden.

Applies to: Foster carers.

Know on which DAY and at what TIME they will be brought to your house and prepare:

Make sure you have cat FLEA SHAMPOO FOR CAT (or Malaseb if the cats are arriving from a known ringworm source - only experienced carers), flea TABLETS (Capstar for immediate knock down of fleas) and appropriate SPOT ON flea/worming products at home already. (Revolution or Advocate is my preference, Frontline does not work well, unfortunately. Comfortis Plus controls fleas really well. Bravecto can be a good choice when the cat/kitten was an outdoor or street cat and might have ticks.) Make sure to give appropriate kitten or adult cat doses. Baby scales come in handy here, if you can get cheap ones on gumtree or eBay, or you can also use kitchen scales and a container if they won't sit still. Here’s more information about flea and worm products.
Decide which BATHROOM or LAUNDRY the kittens/cats will spend their first days in. Any room with hard floors will be preferred. Clean that room properly and have 2 clean BUCKETS ready for bathing your new arrivals. Most cats hate water, but allowing them to hold on to a bucket filled with lukewarm water makes them feel much safer than bathing them in a huge bathtub. Avoid running water, as the sound of it freaks them out, but prepare 2 buckets with warm water beforehand, one for washing, one for rinsing. Also have a large towel ready for each cat to wrap them up in after their bath.
When they arrive at your home, LEAVE the cats in their CARRIER and put them in your dedicated bathroom. (If you picked them up you will have to prepare water buckets after you arrive back home. So long as they are still in their carriers the sound of running water will be fine.) Note, if it is a hot SUMMER and your cats seem dehydrated or thirsty, the very first thing you want to do is put a DISH with fresh WATER 💦 into the cat carrier for them. Close the carrier back up.
Make sure to double check the WATER TEMPERATURE before putting your cat/kitten in. It needs to be lukewarm, but not too cold or too hot. Cats' body temperature is a little warmer than humans', so consider that. Putting your elbow in the water it should feel comfortably warm but not hot to you.
Leave shampoo in for a few minutes. (For experienced carers managing ringworm cats - Malaseb to be left in for 10min and apply towel to burrito wrap while waiting, avoid the head area with Malaseb.) You can hand pick FLEAS away if you like and see any. (Squeeze between your nails to kill them.) Often fleas will only be visible on lightcoloured kitties. Again, not to worry, as Capstar will sort the fleas later.
For RINSING, put kitty in your second bucket with clear water and rinse thoroughly. (For experienced carers of ringworm cats only - If Malaseb is applied it will need to be rinsed off thoroughly under a tap to ensure all malaseb is removed, as malaseb can be toxic to cats if ingested while grooming themselves if not removed thoroughly from the coat.)
Put kitty in your prepared TOWEL and gently rub dry. Most cats will try to run away at this point, but I like to burrito wrap them (in a new dry towel) to keep them warm. I like to put all kitties in the (dry) SHOWER cabin and close the screendoor, so they can keep warm and cannot escape. Also, so they don't cross contaminate themselves by walking back into their likely still flea infested carrier.
REPEAT steps 4 to 8 with each kitty, adjusting the water temperature before each new kitty's turn, if necessary. And depending on how dirty the water gets, and on how many kitties you have to bathe, change the water entirely when needed, especially the rinsing water, to keep it clean and fresh.
All your cats and kittens should now be cuddled up in their burrito towels in a confined space, like the shower. This is a good time to WASH and DISINFECT your CARRIER, and the FLOOR again, to avoid cross contamination.
If you haven't done so in the beginning, prepare a LITTER TRAY (the rule is one tray per cat plus one extra tray, if multiple cats are arriving), and a FOOD and a WATER BOWL to leave in the room with your cats/kittens.
I also like to put a WHITE BLANKET or TABLECLOTH on the floor,

(a) as it will show all dead fleas falling off over the coming day or days very nicely,
(b) as it is easy to remove and replace when kittens have accidents and might poop or smear food over the floor and
(c) so your kitties won't catch a cold whilst they are still wet on a cold tile floor.
I also put sufficient FLUFFY cat BASKETS or additional SOFT BLANKETS, for the kitties to cuddle up on, sleep on and stay warm, especially more layers of warmth in winter.

Now the fun part begins, to TABLET 💊 your kitties. Easiest - get your local vet nurse to show you how to use a pill tool; so much quicker and easier!

If you are going to pill your cat using your hands here's the important steps;

lift their top jaw straight up towards the sky as they lose most movement of the lower jaw in this position,
then drop the tablet down the hatch so to speak,
then closing the mouth shut and holding shut till they swallow.
rubbing of the throat is great and sometimes blowing on their face will encourage them to swallow. - - - DO NOT use finger to push a tablet down as you can sometimes push it in the wrong spot.
If a solo person is to do this it’s a great idea to burrito wrap tightly for this process also.

Being fast and prepared is the key!

Here’s a video showing how to give a cat a pill just using your hands.

🥫 FEED your kitties, and provide fresh WATER. 💦 Both dry and wet food is a good choice, unless cats have diarrhea, then dry only will be best for a while. With kittens it is important to check on their water multiple times a day, as they will often tip their water dish over or contaminate the water with food or even poop. Yes kittens can be messy.
OBSERVE whether and how many adult FLEAS are falling off onto your blanket. If there are very many, it is good to read administer another Capstar tablet after a day or two. BRUSHING your kitties will help get dead fleas out of their fur, especially with long haired cats. The longest I saw fleas falling off was 7 days, with needing to re-administer Capstar 3 times during that week. Usually they all fall off within just 24hours.
Once you are satisfied there are no more fleas on your cat/kittens, you can administer the flea and worm SPOT ON treatment high up between their shoulder blades, so they won't be able to lick it off. Make sure if you have more than 1 cat that they won't lick each other's necks.
Please note, if tapeworms are present, a separate worm tablet needs to be given. Eg Popantel Tapewormer. As spot ons don't cover tapeworms.

CONGRATULATIONS, your kitties have now reached the end of their 7-14 days quarantine time, and you may slowly allow them access to bigger areas in your house, if you choose to do so. 😊😍

MUM CATS with their LITTERS are best kept in a bathroom or another room with hard floors, until the kittens are toilet trained, to avoid disasters on your carpets. Mum cats are also very protective of their babies, so are best kept separate from your own cats to avoid fights.