Software for cat rescues: getting through kitten season
Updated · 6 min read · By the Second Tail team
A foster-based cat rescue needs software that gives every kitten its own record even when a litter shares one home, tracks weights and vaccine series with reminders, gets updates from fosters without chasing, and is priced per foster home instead of per animal. Per-animal pricing is the trap: in kitten season the same number of homes can cost several times as much.
What makes cat rescue different
- Litters. One foster home might have five kittens and their mom. Each needs its own record, but the coordinating is one home.
- Kitten season. Intake spikes for months. Your software and your bill should handle the spike without a renegotiation.
- Weights matter. For young kittens, weight is the early warning and often decides when a procedure or adoption can happen.
- Vaccine series. Boosters a few weeks apart for every kitten, staggered across litters that arrived on different days. See our guide on tracking vaccines and medications.
- Bottle babies. Round-the-clock fosters need fast answers and a clear emergency plan, written on a care sheet.
What to look for
- A record per kitten, a view per home. You should be able to see the litter together and each kitten on its own.
- Weight tracking fosters can do from their phone, with a chart per kitten.
- Health schedules with repeats and reminders to the foster, not just a field for the date.
- Pricing by foster home, or a flat price, so a litter of six doesn't cost six times as much.
- Adoption profiles per kitten, written with the foster's photos, because kittens get adopted one or two at a time.
Where Second Tail fits
Second Tail is priced on active foster homes, not animals. A home with one cat and a home with a litter of six count the same, and when a home's kittens are all adopted it stops counting that day. Starter is $39 a month (up to 25 foster homes at a time) and Growth is $89 a month (up to 100 foster homes at a time), with a 30 day free trial. Fosters never pay.
Every kitten has its own profile with full history, a health schedule for vaccines and monthly preventives with reminders to the foster, and weight charts from the foster's updates. Fosters post updates with photos from a free app on their phone and message the rescue in one place. Each kitten can go on the rescue's free adoption page with its foster's photos and story, and a single animal can have its own fundraiser for medical costs.
It is built for foster-based rescues, so it doesn't cover facility operations like kennels or intake queues. If you are comparing options, start with our honest guide to foster management software.
Common questions
What is the best software for a cat rescue?
For a foster-based cat rescue, the best fit is software that fosters will actually use on their phone, that gives every kitten its own record even when a whole litter is in one home, tracks weights and vaccine series, and is priced per foster home rather than per animal so kitten season doesn't multiply the bill.
How do cat rescues track kittens in foster homes?
Each kitten gets its own record, even within a litter, with its weight over time, vaccines and dewormings with next due dates, and notes from the foster. The foster sends regular weights and photos, and the rescue watches for kittens that stop gaining.
Why does per-animal pricing hurt cat rescues?
Cat rescues often place whole litters in one home. Per-animal pricing charges for every kitten, so the bill can jump several times over in kitten season even though the rescue is coordinating the same number of foster homes.
Do kitten fosters need an app?
They need an easy way to send weights, photos and worries, often several times a week for young kittens. A group chat works for a few litters; past that, messages about different litters blur together and weights end up in screenshots.