A+A = EMERGENCY 2

I'm not sure if I've mentioned on here previously about my other bit of volunteering with the rescue outside of fostering. It involves me spending Sunday afternoons at one of our local Petsmarts, taking care of the rescue kitties that reside there (when there are no more foster homes available). Currently there are 11 kitties in house, 3 adults and the rest are kittens ranging in age.

The centre has had a nasty URI come through despite our best and relentless efforts to keep it at bay. As a result, last weekend saw most of the cats/kittens affected - some more severely than others. The adults can fight it alot better than the babies can, and by Sunday night after I had put the kids to bed at the close of my shift, I had become increasingly worried about "Antonio", a twelve week old black/white kitten found in a feral colony with his sister "Antoinette".

By yesterday, they were both quite sick and long story short, in order to give them the best fighting chance to recover from it, I found myself offering up my spare room for them to convalesce in. And so here we are..............in the full throes of force feeds, drool wiping, eye mucus wiping, and medicine administering.

Antoinette is the tougher, more feral of the two and just two weekends ago drew blood (on both hands) from another volunteer at the store who was trying to help me put her to bed. As a rule she is hissy, feisty, dodgy, and very vicious with those razor like baby teeth, kitten! But right now, she feels awful, and is barely fighting (which is kind of sad to see).

Just so we're clear, this is NOT a long term foster. This is only an emergency house to get them well, back to being plump little kids, and once they are tearing around the spare room, creating complete havoc - back to the store they will go for adoption.

But for right now, they are melting hubby's heart and keeping me on my toes trying to care for them and keep the "adults" here happy.

UP FRONT

Pica is still with us. We're somewhat surprised, given that she's so pretty, so well behaved, and declawed. Likely it's because her profile on the rescue's website indicates that she has to be adopted by someone whose an experienced cat owner and it clearly indicates that she will likely be shy and reserved initially upon moving to her forever home.

Sometimes you wonder about how much honesty you should share on the profiles. We're firm believers in being totally honest with potential adopters about any behavior or emotional issues because to be anything else will only result in the cat being returned or abandoned when they discover it for themselves if they aren't onside with dealing with it. But being honest about those sorts of things where your foster is concerned is much better left to the in person meeting or the initial phone conversation because that way you have a proper chance to explain and answer questions; rather than a person reading something and dismissing the cat because of the way it's worded or the way it comes across is perceived as negative.

In Pica's case, although the profile may deter some people who think she will be "too much work", that is perfectly fine. She has obviously been horribly mis-treated in the past and as a result, she comes with a set of fears that for her are very real. She's made incredible strides in overcoming alot of them with us, but we're also mindful of the fact that they may become stronger when she's moved again and/or she may never fully let all of them go. Either way, anyone wishing to adopt her has to understand fully what her boundaries will be BEFORE they contemplate taking her home. The profile in this instance helps us weed out anyone not up to the task....


Yes fostering can and is abit of psychology playing as well. You as a foster parent are the last stop of protection - in our opinion you have to take that seriously.