Cats In Need of Foster Care

Thank you so much for fostering and saving a life!

Our cats and kittens most urgently in need of foster are listed below. Every time an animal leaves into foster care, it opens a space in our shelters to save another in need. You are truly changing lives: not just for these cats, but also for others whose lives depend on a spot at PAWS.

If you are new to fostering with us, please apply here to get started. If you’ve fostered with PAWS before, you can email foster@phillypaw.org for the link to schedule a foster meet & pick-up appointment if you don’t have the link already. When you arrive to meet or pick up potential fosters, please bring a carrier with you (if you do not have a carrier, let us know). We will provide you with a sample of what the cat has been eating here in the shelter, along with the cat’s paperwork and any meds they may be on.

For a refresher on PAWS’s foster policies and procedures, view our online orientation here.

Read on to find your next foster cat!

(updated November 10th, 2025)

Urgent Medical & Behavior Cats

These cats need to finish their medical recovery to become healthy enough for adoption. They will heal faster and be much happier in a home than in the shelter.

	Name: Bingo *URGENT, special placement needed* Location: Old City Adoption Center Date of Arrival: 5/04/2025 Bingo was the name-O! ….of a cat needing foster. This sweet guy is in need of a special foster home! Unfortunately, he has some odd snacking habits- fabric, shoelaces, human food, blankets, rugs, etc.. We suspect he may have Pica, but would love to see how he is doing in a foster home that can house him in a restricted space with limited fabric options for him to chew, with folks who are Type A about tidyness, and who are able to still give Bingo the mental and physical enrichment he needs. (MINIMALISTS! We need you!!) We are hoping by greatly removing his options to chew and instead subbing in playtime, enrichment, and attention, Bingo will feel less inclined to get “creative” about how to keep himself busy. His previous owner also said he is the biggest love bug! Bingo is a little under a year old, already neutered, and while he has previously lived with cats, we think -for now- it may be a better option to have him in a pet-free foster space, to rule out stress from other animals as a contributing factor for his past behavior. We have Bingo on a hypoallergenic diet (no treats, PAWS will provide the diet) to see if potential GI issues could contributing to his suspected Pica issue. The diet will be until further notice, and we’ve also recently started Bingo on new medication to try and help as well.
	Name: Rutabaga *SUPER URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 10/23/25 Poor Rutabaga was a friendly indoor/outdoor community kitty prior to arriving at our clinic. She is around 2ish years old and recently spayed, and she’s so terrified she will rarely leave her hidey hut! We’d like a socially savvy cat foster to take her home and start her world off VERY small, going at her pace for when she wants to interact. We’re hoping just getting her out of the shelter will help alleviate her stress levels, but she will also be taking Gabapentin in her food to help. Per her finder, Rutabaga would hang out in a couple different neighborhood homes in the area, spending time both indoors and outdoors. (Naturally we’d like her to stay indoors exclusively at this point.) She tends to take a couple days to warm up, and is skittish when it comes to loud, sudden noises or things like to vacuum cleaner running, but once she’s adjusted to a new space and human she will climb and explore and come say hello when she’s ready. She also always get excited about mealtimes! This poor gal is so overwhelmed at our shelter- there are just too many changing faces and loud, unfamiliar noises, and she is really out of her element here.
	Name: Guinevere *URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 4/22/2025 Sweet Guinevere, our senior muppet granny, needs a moderately medically savvy foster asap! She’s around 14 years old, already spayed, has but ONE remaining tooth (and she rocks it), and is getting through some itchies with her ears. She’s on ear drops for a week and an antiviral oral liquid medication for 4 weeks, plus a short course of a steroid, phew! We’ll recheck her at the halfpoint point of the antiviral’s course, so at the very end of October. Her current foster’s work schedule is changing, so they’re no longer able to keep up with Guin’s care, and we’re looking for new foster placement asap!
	Name: Cher *URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 4/22/2025 Calling all cat whisperers! Do you consider yourself a bit of a feline expert? Maybe even a black belt when it comes to giving medicine? Then Cher needs you! 99% of the time, this gentle 8 year old is a total sweetheart — affectionate, social, and endlessly friendly. Unfortunately, she suffers from severe skin allergies (hence her ouchie eye), and currently needs multiple medications to help calm things down. As you can guess, Cher is not a happy camper when it’s time to take those meds, but she really needs them in order to feel better! That’s why we’re looking for a cat-savvy foster home, ideally one with a second person who can team up for medication time and keep this loving diva feeling comfortable and cared for. Her meds are continuing as usual at the shelter, but this stressful environment is tough on her allergies, and we know she’ll have a much smoother recovery once she’s in a calm, cozy home. Allergies like Cher’s can take time to get under control, but if you can stick with her through the ups and downs, you’ll get to watch her blossom into her happiest, healthiest self — and you’ll have the joy of knowing you helped her get there! Cher is eagerly awaiting your head scritches, so please reach out at foster@phillypaws.org if you can help this sweet girl! You can check out Cher’s social media post here!








	Name: Dink Dink Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 10/22/25 Dink Dink is such a cutie! He came to us afflicted by a condition called ‘entropion’- where the eyelid rolls inward just enough for the eyelashes to touch the eyeball. If you’ve ever had eyelashes stuck in your eye, you know it’s not fun! Dink Dink just had his entropion corrective surgery on 11/6, so he’ll be taking a couple nice pain meds and wearing a stylish e-collar for a couple weeks while he heals! He is also recently neutered, so once he’s feeling better and all healed up, he can start adoption promo. Dink is around 2ish years old.

Cats/Kittens in Need of Foster Transfer or Sitter

These kitties are already in foster, but need a new foster home or a foster sitter to avoid having to come back to the shelter!




(Note: these are not their real photos, we just have to protect their identities online)	Name: Wayne & Garth (sitters needed for the below listed dates!) Location: foster care- these pets are not at the shelter! Please email foster@phillypaws.org if you can help. Wayne’s and Garth’s foster parent is in need of a cat sitter to watch them from December 25th – 28th. Their foster lives in Center City, about a 10-minute walk from City Hall. The cats are super friendly and easy to care for, and a sitter would just need to stop in once (twice for the Dec-Jan dates) a day to help with food and litter. Per their foster: “The cats’ names are Wayne and Garth, and they’re the bestest and cutest. My normal sitter is out of town, so I’m hoping I can get some help here!”

Kitten Litters (Including Nursing Moms)

These young kittens need a foster home until all are ready for adoption. Some have come in with a nursing momma! Larger litters can be hard to place, and the most helpful option is to take an entire litter so that we open an entire kennel, only take up one foster home, allowing us to immediately save another litter. For kittens without a mom, we are open to separating litters of 4 or more, but we will not split up litters of 3 or less, and we will not pull out singles to send to foster care.



	Name: Yeti + 5 (Quill, Bandit, Fosse, Prius, Genie) *URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 11/09/25 Look at these adorable nuggets! What a charismatic litter! Momma Yeti is super nice and around 1-2 years old; her babies are 2.5-3 weeks old and still primarily nursing from her, but starting to get more curious and mobile. They’ll still need several weeks with mom before they’re ready to migrate to solids on their own and get their spay/neuter surgeries! We’d recommend a foster weigh the babies daily to make sure everyone is getting enough time at the ‘milk bar,’ but since this litter is slightly larger than average, a foster should be prepared to supplemental feed anyone who is lagging behind in the weight gain department. Presently we do not need to give anyone any extra feedings, though.




	Name: Ketchup & Hoisin Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 11/02/25 These two teen kittens came in covered in fleas, which resulted in anemia! The fleas are thankfully dead and gone, but the anemia will take a little more time to resolve. We’ve got both boys on a course of antibiotics until the end of November, and plan to recheck their anemia levels weekly in the meantime to confirm they’re resolving. Ketchup also has a mild-moderate heart murmur, which requires no treatment at present. We will recheck the heart murmur in the future as well, to see if it goes away with the anemia or if it’s persistent (and thus congenital, etc.). Once Ketchup and Hoisin are feeling better they can be neutered and start adoption promo. They are also REALLY great buddies and do really well together, so we’re planning to send them out into foster/adoption together.

Ringworm Cats and Kittens

These cats are recovering from a skin infection that’s easily treatable in an isolated home environment. Caring for these kitties is easy and just takes careful persistence and a separate space in your home. Read out our foster parent guide to ringworm to learn more!










	Name: Hobgoblin *SUPER Urgent, ringworm* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 10/12/25 Adorable goober Hobgoblin is being treated for suspected ringworm- he lit up like a disco ball under our Woods Lamp (which checks for a ringwormy green glow in fur). We’ve started treatment but a still-pending diagnostic culture would confirm our suspicions. Hobgoblin otherwise doesn’t seen to think there’s anything ‘off’ about him – he loves attention and playtime with people! Since he’s also otherwise in good shape, he could start pre-adopt promotion asap, to try and get him into an adoptive home before ringworm clearance occurs. Hobgoblin is around 3 months old and not yet neutered.
	Name: Zip *SUPER Urgent, ringworm* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 9/18/25 Zip is a lovely little lady around 3.5 months old, and she’s recently begun treatment for ringworm! She’s already spayed, so has started adoption promo and can be adopted normally despite her ringworm treatment- we can follow up with an adopter for free post-adoption. This love bug is super lovely and friendly and would love to bust out of our treatment trailer to finish her treatment in a foster home!

Shy, Stressed, and Safety Net Program Cats

These cats are very sensitive to the stress caused by the loud shelter environment and need a loving home setting to relax and let their personalities emerge. Learn more about our Safety Net Foster Program here.

Old City Adoption Center

These cats are waiting for foster care from our Old City location!

	Name: Fran Drescher URGENT Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 11/3/25 A face for Vogue and a voice out of Queens! This sweet calico senior is thirteen years old and was recently returned after living in the same home for her entire life. Fran has gotten along well with children in the past, but is reportedly not a fan of small dogs. She loves to play with ball toys and is a nice balance of independent and affectionate! Since Fran is a senior, we’re running our standard senior bloodwork panel to ensure everything is looking good. She is not currently on any medications or special diets, just in need of a cozy home!
	Name: Mocha Location: Old City Adoption Center Date of Arrival: 10/2/25 We’ve known Mocha her whole life! She was adopted from PAWS as kitten in 2022, and was recently returned due to house soiling issues. Her previous home had some stressors that may have contributed to these behaviors. We’re hoping to give Mocha a chance to reset in a quieter environment. We’re hoping to find a foster who can help us better understand how she does in a new space. She’s pretty shut down at our clinic, so she’s taking a low dose of gabapentin mixed in her food twice a day.
	Name: Eugenia Location: Old City Adoption Center Date of Arrival: 9/25/25 Meet Eugenia! She’s a cutie around 4ish years old, give or take, and she’s already spayed. She’s a little conflicted about attention at our clinic- she likes it, but gets nervous/startled and retreats, then comes back out, rinse and repeat so we think she’d have a nicer time in foster care. She previously tested FeLV+ at her prior shelter, but recently tested negative on one of our basic Snap Combo tests that check for FIV and FeLV viruses in cats. We tested her again via PCR and she was negative, suggesting a regressive form of FeLV — ask PAWS staff for more info! For now she should be the only kitty in her space. She’s also a smidge on the chunky side so could use some basic diet and exercise!
	Name: Vanya Location: Old City Adoption Center Date of Arrival: 9/28/25 Vanya is more potato lump than sassy grump, but has just enough attitude when needed. She has been at our adoption center for over a month, which is also the same day she was transferred in from ACCT, so a change of scenery would do her well to see how she is in a home. Due to her lower tolerance for shenanigans she should be the only pet in a home without kids (she isn’t shy about redirecting when mishandled or when he things are moved around on her). Once she gets some time to adjust she gets very chatty and affectionate, so she’ll be an easy going houseguest.
	Name: Nala Location: Old City Adoption Center Date of Arrival: 10/31/25 Poor Nala returned to PAWS when a family member moved in that had severe cat allergies. She’s around 8 years old and is understandably a little nervous in the shelter. Her prior family said she spent time with another female cat and a big dog, though she wasn’t the biggest fan of the dog. She’d love to land in peaceful home where she can decompress, regain her confidence.

Social Cats (including FAST Candidates)

These sociable cats need a foster home! NOTE: If you are taking a foster cat that’s a FAST program candidate, it can be dropped off at our PetSmart or Old City locations for adoption within 2-3 weeks when they’re healthy, since we need to keep those locations filled with adoptable kitties!


Please check back later!

	Name: Bingo *URGENT, special placement needed* Location: Old City Adoption Center Date of Arrival: 5/04/2025 Bingo was the name-O! ….of a cat needing foster. This sweet guy is in need of a special foster home! Unfortunately, he has some odd snacking habits- fabric, shoelaces, human food, blankets, rugs, etc.. We suspect he may have Pica, but would love to see how he is doing in a foster home that can house him in a restricted space with limited fabric options for him to chew, with folks who are Type A about tidyness, and who are able to still give Bingo the mental and physical enrichment he needs. (MINIMALISTS! We need you!!) We are hoping by greatly removing his options to chew and instead subbing in playtime, enrichment, and attention, Bingo will feel less inclined to get “creative” about how to keep himself busy. His previous owner also said he is the biggest love bug! Bingo is a little under a year old, already neutered, and while he has previously lived with cats, we think -for now- it may be a better option to have him in a pet-free foster space, to rule out stress from other animals as a contributing factor for his past behavior. We have Bingo on a hypoallergenic diet (no treats, PAWS will provide the diet) to see if potential GI issues could contributing to his suspected Pica issue. The diet will be until further notice, and we’ve also recently started Bingo on new medication to try and help as well.
	Name: Rutabaga *SUPER URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 10/23/25 Poor Rutabaga was a friendly indoor/outdoor community kitty prior to arriving at our clinic. She is around 2ish years old and recently spayed, and she’s so terrified she will rarely leave her hidey hut! We’d like a socially savvy cat foster to take her home and start her world off VERY small, going at her pace for when she wants to interact. We’re hoping just getting her out of the shelter will help alleviate her stress levels, but she will also be taking Gabapentin in her food to help. Per her finder, Rutabaga would hang out in a couple different neighborhood homes in the area, spending time both indoors and outdoors. (Naturally we’d like her to stay indoors exclusively at this point.) She tends to take a couple days to warm up, and is skittish when it comes to loud, sudden noises or things like to vacuum cleaner running, but once she’s adjusted to a new space and human she will climb and explore and come say hello when she’s ready. She also always get excited about mealtimes! This poor gal is so overwhelmed at our shelter- there are just too many changing faces and loud, unfamiliar noises, and she is really out of her element here.
	Name: Guinevere *URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 4/22/2025 Sweet Guinevere, our senior muppet granny, needs a moderately medically savvy foster asap! She’s around 14 years old, already spayed, has but ONE remaining tooth (and she rocks it), and is getting through some itchies with her ears. She’s on ear drops for a week and an antiviral oral liquid medication for 4 weeks, plus a short course of a steroid, phew! We’ll recheck her at the halfpoint point of the antiviral’s course, so at the very end of October. Her current foster’s work schedule is changing, so they’re no longer able to keep up with Guin’s care, and we’re looking for new foster placement asap!
	Name: Cher *URGENT* Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 4/22/2025 Calling all cat whisperers! Do you consider yourself a bit of a feline expert? Maybe even a black belt when it comes to giving medicine? Then Cher needs you! 99% of the time, this gentle 8 year old is a total sweetheart — affectionate, social, and endlessly friendly. Unfortunately, she suffers from severe skin allergies (hence her ouchie eye), and currently needs multiple medications to help calm things down. As you can guess, Cher is not a happy camper when it’s time to take those meds, but she really needs them in order to feel better! That’s why we’re looking for a cat-savvy foster home, ideally one with a second person who can team up for medication time and keep this loving diva feeling comfortable and cared for. Her meds are continuing as usual at the shelter, but this stressful environment is tough on her allergies, and we know she’ll have a much smoother recovery once she’s in a calm, cozy home. Allergies like Cher’s can take time to get under control, but if you can stick with her through the ups and downs, you’ll get to watch her blossom into her happiest, healthiest self — and you’ll have the joy of knowing you helped her get there! Cher is eagerly awaiting your head scritches, so please reach out at foster@phillypaws.org if you can help this sweet girl! You can check out Cher’s social media post here!








	Name: Dink Dink Location: Grays Ferry Clinic Date of Arrival: 10/22/25 Dink Dink is such a cutie! He came to us afflicted by a condition called ‘entropion’- where the eyelid rolls inward just enough for the eyelashes to touch the eyeball. If you’ve ever had eyelashes stuck in your eye, you know it’s not fun! Dink Dink just had his entropion corrective surgery on 11/6, so he’ll be taking a couple nice pain meds and wearing a stylish e-collar for a couple weeks while he heals! He is also recently neutered, so once he’s feeling better and all healed up, he can start adoption promo. Dink is around 2ish years old.