You have been a HANDFUL this last one year and 10 months. I used to foster kitty's before. Did you know this? I know you love cats but I needed to get you under control before I could resume fostering again.
I always want to remember these little guys, and what better way to keep them than with you?
First was the gorgeous
Mystique and her litter of baby kittens. Mystique was a name I chose for her. She was quick, thin, soft and shimmery. I love when you get to foster them early enough to change their names or pick one for them, it's like a piece of you goes with them. Sure, they might change their name eventually, but I like to think they'd at least remember I helped them feel better, and readied them for their forever home. And she was adopted into a new home soon after she was done at mine!
This story ends in tragedy for her little kitties however. She was too young, disinterested in being a mom, and kittens too small to even see just can't survive without her. They went from wriggling, mewling, cuddly balls of fur, to no more, in under a day. I tried to rush one back, the last living one, to be saved by the humane society. They did what they could, but it wasn't enough.
I cried and cried. Is THIS what fostering is? I want none of it! This was too hard. How can people handle it?
But my circumstance was rare, especially for a first timer. A hard dive into hardening your heart from attachment, and maybe it helped me later on to be a better foster.
They Humane Society later called me,
"The perfect foster parent," even though I hadn't even fostered many. They said most people who come in and try, end up adopting them, and losing a foster is hard for a place like that, because where will the sick or small go to be healed up enough to withstand the germs and busyness of a shelter? Sure adopting is great, but you can only adopt so many to where you can't foster anymore.
Onto a happier tail...
Next came
Akuma and
Sora. Akuma was wild, playful and fun. I named her
monkey in Japanese. Sora, with her soft blue eyes and gentle nature, was calm and stoic, but sweet. She earned the Japanese word for
sky. These were one of the most fun fosters I've had yet!
Next comes
Anakin (Formerly known as PigglyWiggly, wtf kind of name is that?!). He was the softest most loving kitten ever! He just wanted to be held and pet. He showed curiosity about things, but wouldn't knock stuff over or be crazy about it, would just sniff, and move on. I loved him. I grew very attached. I would have kept him if not for the drooling.
You heard me, if you pet him for long enough to make him purr (more than 5 seconds), drool would begin to run out of his grateful mouth, and all down whatever part of your body he was leaning on. It. Was. Disgusting. But how can you NOT pet that face? LOOK AT IT!
This was not a foster, he was a stray. I caught him, and catching site of a dog, he escaped my grasp. I felt terrible. I twas obvious his fur was singed off on parts from a car, and he smelled so bad of exhaust and gasoline that the scent lingered on my arms after he was gone.
I stood on my balcony, irritated, looking on the neighborhood behind me, and there he was! I grabbed my bike, running haphazardly down the stairs, hopped on, and bolted after the stray. I cornered him, and rode home with him, riding my bike one handed. I'm sure people that saw me wondering why the hell I was riding my bike with a cat.
I cleaned him with dawn, and got the oil out of his fur, and made sure the burns didn't go to his skin. "You're
Singe, from your singed fur," I named him. He held to my arm, gently trying to pull away from the bath water he was submerged in, but never hurt me. He took that bath like a champ! I gave him out to be adopted, and this bi-eyed door greeter of cats took a little longer than the younger ones I'd had to be adopted, but his good-natured greetings to anyone who walked into kitty city soon won over a helpless human, and he found his home.
