We are still kind of numb from finally making the decision to release Lilly’s spirit from her failing body, and there is so much else going on now I don’t know where to begin… hopefully I will catch up a bit soon but in the meantime here is something our friends Anne and Pat sent us — we’ll be using it on the Critterweb whenever I finally get a chance to update it, which will be some time after we move at the end of the month…
Fostering Cats
by Anne & Pat
When our cat died, we decided not to replace her. After a year, the urge for snuggly cat fur, purry rumbles in the ear and bossy voices over the food bowl was too much for us and so we thought we’d try fostering cats for the Toronto Humane Society. In the past two years, we’ve nurtured 15 cats. There have been broken bones, urinary tract infections, spay/neuter recoveries, drooly eyes, stuffed-up noses, litter-box assessments, wounds, and sociability issues. Three sad terminal cases were a feral cat with a crushed head, an older cat with multiple health problems, and a young male with feline aids.
Goku came to us with a broken pelvis. You can see in his portrait that he is still wearing his analgesic patch. He spent the first month in a cage and then the last month gradually regaining muscle strength. In my notes for his adoption papers, I wrote, "He is absolutely beautiful. His eyes are green with gold rims. His shape is well proportioned. He has silver-tipped grey fur that glows; it is satiny to the touch. His face is extremely expressive – we can tell exactly what’s on his mind. And he talks to us."
The Humane Society receives many cats whose owners complain that they don’t use their litter boxes. Most of these complaints are excuses to be free of the cat; however, the cats must be assessed, and that is how we got Noel. I wrote about her, "She’s never hissed, scratched or bitten. Her fur is luxurious to stroke and she craves a good long love-up. She needs a scratching pad – we introduced her to one – see photo – with some cat mint rubbed into it and she used it daily from then on – we highly recommend it." And, like all others with us for litter box assessment, she was clean in the house.
While the cats are with us, we can tell the day when they’ve decided we’re okay, the day when they give their hearts – and then we go and do what the last owner did – abandon them. It has never been easy returning a cat, always a tearful ache when we stroke the lovely head for the last time. And it gets no easier with the numbers of cats we’ve had – it’s just plain hard to do. Another foster parent put our task thus,"We learn how to love and let go."
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