Hope is a big word (and a little cat)

Hope is a big word in animal shelters and in fostering. We use it all the time in many different situations and for many reasons. I can't count the number of times I have heard that word while volunteering at a local shelter or when talking with other foster families. We hope for many things like:

• We hope that no new cats will be surrendered that day
• We hope that our many talks about spaying and neutering cuts down on unwanted litters of kittens
• We hope that our words against declawing don't fall on deaf ears
  
• We hope our fosters will not get sick.
• We hope that the medicines we are forcing on them will get them through their illnesses.
• We hope that they will know how to use the litter box.
  
• We hope that the crate training will teach them how to use the litter box.
  
• We hope that they will eat to gain back their lost weight.
  
• We hope that their hair will grow back and that the hair loss is not permanent.
  
• We hope that they will overcome the abuse or neglect they have suffered
• We hope they will learn to trust us and long for our attention.
• And most of all, we hope that they will find loving forever homes.

That is why I find it appropriate that my newest foster is named Hope. The staff at the shelter named her Hope when she was brought in on Christmas Eve, probably because she looked so bad. Normally we rename our fosters, but the name seemed so right that we have kept it. This is Hope.



She is a dilute tortoiseshell kitten who we are guessing is about a year old. I was actually volunteering on Christmas Eve when she was brought in to the shelter by a good samaritan who found her under a porch in the cold and I was the one to put her in her cage in holding. She was skin and bones and missing patches of fur. Being the sucker that I am, my heart went right out to her.



After about a week in the shelter she was doing better but really needed to be in a home to rest, recover from a mild cold and gain whole lot of weight. She was slightly less than four pounds when she was surrendered to us and should have been a whole lot more. Her hair was thin or missing in parts, most likely due to lack of nutrition. By this date I had been without a foster for slightly less than a week. But when she curled into a little ball in my arms, I just could not walk away from her. Thankfully, by that time, I had been without Simon just long enough to let him go and be emotionally ready for another foster.

Since Hope just needs TLC and to gain weight and I was looking for a slightly easier foster than last time, we were a good fit. And the staff was glad to send her home with someone who could give her lots of love, but would know what to do if she suddenly took a turn for the worse especially since I still had the supplies and knowledge on how to give her IV fluids if she suddenly needed it.

She is still doing well here with me. I brought her in today for a check up because she was scratching at her ears. Her ears are clean and mite free so we are trying her on a prescription allergy diet, just in case her hair loss and ear scratching is an allergy. Other than that, she is happy to be back at home with us and settled into the foster room again. And we are happy to have her.

Happy New Year

I am pleased to be able to end my first year of fostering will all of our 35 fosters in loving forever homes. That is right, everyone is adopted. Simon, the last of my four feral kittens that I almost lost to two different bouts of pneumonia was adopted by a wonderful lady yesterday. That means that I am foster free for the first time since early March. I have really enjoyed fostering and after a short break in the new year, I will be back with more stories from the crazy animal house. Happy New Year.

Taking a Break

It has been a while since I posted because things have been crazy and the weather has been changing. Cold weather means an increase in my pain and tiredness so I do not spend as much time online. I am actually just at the start of a break from fostering so I thought I would let everyone know and post an update on all my fosters for everyone that has been following before I went on my break. So here goes:

Marley, Cali, Sophie, Nugget, Pumpkin and Patch have all been adopted. Parker (the bottle baby and sibling to Dana) unfortunately caught a bad respiratory infection at about two weeks old while in another foster home and did not survive. Since Parker and Dana's mom was so sick when they were born and we lost Dana after a few days, we were kind of prepared to lose Parker if he got sick. We all would have preferred another outcome, but at least Dana and Parker were well cared for and loved for the short time they were here. And the good news is that their mother has pulled through and is available for adoption and is so sweet we expect her to find a home quickly.

Jaz, Simon, Sophie and Tink completely recovered. During the spay process I did learn that Jaz had only one kidney, Sophie has a heart murmur and Tink ended up with a hernia from the surgery that had to be treated for the week leading up to the annual kitten adopt-a-thon. They joined many of the other kittens that were in foster care for a two day adoption event. Since the foster parent stayed with the kittens to answer questions about them during the event, I figured that they were social enough to attend since they were calmer with me around. 61 kittens found new homes during the two day event. And I am please to say that Jaz, Sophie and Tink were among them. Simon was not adopted during the event because he was very nervous.

I actually went into the event hoping to find either Jaz or Sophie a home. Jaz was the most outgoing and Sophie was sweet when she was not scared. So I would have been happy to have one of the four find a home. Jaz captured the heart of a nice woman who did not mind that she could be feisty and had only one kidney. Sophie caught the eye of a wonderful couple with out kids looking for two kittens to be companions to their older cat. I told them all about their history and told them that since Sophie got along so well with her siblings, she would probably get along with any kitten they chose. I was thrilled when they looked around and ended up coming back and wanted no only Sophie, but Tink. Tink had been so frightened they had not even been able to hold her. They felt that since they were looking for two kittens so that the first one would have someone to play with, they did not mind if it took Tink a long time to learn to trust them. It was the best case scenario that I could have found for both of them, but especially Tink.

Simon did not find a home during the event and I decided to take him back home rather than leave him in the shelter that was now crowded with the "leftover" kittens. He would not do well in our kitten cage with other kittens and would likely get sick again from the stress. I am going to keep him in my home and continue to build his confidence until the shelter is less full of kittens. Until then, the shelter is going to list him on petfinder and have me bring in him if anyone calls about him.

Since Simon is just living lose in my home with my own cats, I do not really feel like I have any fosters at the moment. And that is a good thing. I am tired after pulling Silvermist, Simon, Tink and Sophie through their illness and losing other fosters. So I am taking a break for the time being. I am not sure how long it will be, possibly just until after the holiday. No matter what, I doubt it will be long because every time I volunteer at the shelter, I see a new cat or kittens that need a foster home. So far I have stayed strong to my decision to take a break, but we all know I will not last for long, because I love it too much. See you soon.

Muffin - Finally ADOPTED!

I am happy to report that Muffin (my second foster mom and the mother of my foster failure Doyle) has finally been adopted! She has been at the shelter since I finished their foster time back in May. She was happy there, but was not finding anyone who was interested in taking her home. Thankfully, the shelter was able to recently transfer her to another shelter.

The shelters in our area often transfer cats back and forth if they are having trouble getting particular cats adopted. That way they cat gets a whole new group of people looking at them. And I am please to report that this was all Muffin needed. It only took about two weeks after her transfer for her to find her forever home! My family and I are so happy that she has a new forever home. I had considered taking her back into my home when she did not get adopted, but she did not get along with my current cats because the house was just not big enough two dominate female cats to get along. So I am very pleased!

Cautiously Optimistic

The vet check for Jaz, Tink, Simon and Sophie went well. They are improving. In fact, they look so much better (and larger) that the vet and staff at the shelter were joking that they did not even recognize them as my kittens.

I have been able to stop giving them fluids by IV each day and just monitor their hydration instead. So far, they have been hydrated and active and eating. The vet said to continue their antibiotics for another week just as a precaution against a relapse, but that they were much better. She actually seemed surprised that they had all made it to this point and that they were the sickest kittens that she had seen in a while that pulled through the illness rather than needing to be euthanized. It has been a lot of hard work, worry and stress, but definitely worth it to see four mostly healthy kittens playing together in the foster room. The vet actually told me that I saved their lives. It was a great feeling and went a long way toward curing my burn out.

They are still not totally out of the woods yet because they could relapse now that they are only on one medication rather than 3-4 and fluids and they still need more socialization before they can be adopted out. But, as the title of this post says, I am now cautiously optimistic that they will all get their chance at a forever home.

Burnt Out

Well, things have been crazy here at the animal house lately. I have had quite a few fosters in the past month or so and all of them have been very sick. I am currently down to four kittens that are struggling to recover from pneumonia for the second time in as many months. I love fostering very much, but after this last bunch, I am in need of a break so these will be my last fosters for at least a short while. I will update here as I learn of adoptions of the most recent fosters, but otherwise I will be on hiatus until I start fostering again. Don't get me wrong, I will still be doing fostering in the very near future because I know I will miss it as soon as my house is empty, but I think I need at least a week or so off. So here are the updates as of today:

Silvermist - is healthy and happy. She was spayed and went to her forever home on Saturday

Jewel - went to another foster home to finish recovering from her cold so that she could not catch pneumonia from my other guys. She has also recovered and was adopted on Sunday.

Marley, Nugget, Cali and Sophie - initially came to my home to be sure they were eating enough. They were old enough to be adopted, but the shelter manager suspected that they did not like the shelter food and needed something different. She was right. They were also transferred to another foster home to avoid pneumonia. They did have a slight cold so they will stay with their new foster mom while they are on meds.

Christopher - was a small black kitten that came home with me with some mild cold symptoms and then stopped eating and continued to get sick. Despite medications, force feeding and fluids he just continued to get worse. Last week I had to make the hard decision to bring him back to the shelter to be euthanized. He was in pain and too weak to stand up anymore. I was devastated by this because he was not one of the sickest ones that I was prepared to lose. He is also the first of my fosters that did not make it. I wish him the best as he plays with all the other pets at the rainbow bridge.

Pumpkin and Patch - are two orphaned baby kittens brought in my animal control. They were about 2 weeks old. One was orange and one was calico. I took them home to bottle feed them for the first 48 hours that they were with the shelter. I am an emergency bottle fed foster person. Kittens that young have to be fed every 2 hours around the clock. I can not do this long term, but since I do not currently work, I have the ability to go in on short notice to pick up a bottle fed kitten and take care of it until one of the regular bottle fed homes and come and get it. This was the case with pumpkin and patch. They are both doing well and growing in the new foster home.

Parker and Dana - These were two kittens born to a very very sick mother cat in the shelter. Her foster mother brought her in because she has gone into labor and already lost two kittens. We thought she was done delivery and set her up in a crate in an office to watch her. I left my drink in the office because I was distracted. When I went back a few hours later to get it, I could hear a kitten crying. I immediately searched for the kitten and found that the mother had managed to clean it and was keeping it warm, but it was not nursing. I grabbed a staff member who realized that the mother was so sick, she had no milk. We took the kitten, who I later named Parker, and I started bottle feeding it. I took it home that night and brought it back to the shelter the next day to continue bottle feeding while I was volunteering. Just as we were all getting ready to go home that night, I decided to check on the mom and tell her how her baby was doing. When I went it and went to pet mom, I saw a little tail sticking out from underneath her. It was another kitten. It was still wet and very cold. We managed to get it warm in the incubator and feed it a little. We all knew it was a long shot, but we had to try. That kitten I named Dana. Dana did survive the night with me since I took the incubator home, but I am sad to say that Dana did not make it once he/she was transferred to another foster home. Dana was just too sick and too little to survive outside an incubator. Parker however, is not only doing well, we were able to place him with a mother that just had a litter. The mother accepted him and treats him as one of her own which is the best thing for him. He and his new family is not with me, but I will update when I hear more. Parker and Dana's mom is also recovering slowly in one of the offices at the shelter.

Jaz, Simon, Sophie and Tink - these are the babies (who are over 8 weeks now) that have pneumonia for the second time in as many months. They are also the reason all of my other fosters were sent to other homes. We did not want the other to get pneumonia and could not take the chance that the babies would get exposed to even one more virus. They are slowly, very slowly, improving. It is still touch and go as to whether or not they will all pull through. They are on tons of medications and I am giving them IV fluids every day. Three of them are also still mostly feral and as you can imagine, all this medical care is not helping them learn to like humans. Sophie who was the runt of the litter is actually the healthiest and most social. I have high hopes that she will soon be well enough to go up for adoption. I think that Tink and Simon will pull through the illness, but am concerned about them being socialized the older they get. Jaz has lost a lot of weight and is very tiny. She is in the most danger of not making it through the pneumonia. They see the vet again this coming Friday. Depending on how they are doing, we will have to decide if we continue such intensive treatment, or if it is time to let them go. They have had intensive medical treatment for over a month now. Of course I want them to pull through and go to good homes, but at some point you have to think if we are treating them just to keep them alive because we do not want to lose them or if it is kinder to let them go. hey were actually looking a little better yesterday, so I am cautiously hopeful that we will have a positive outcome for them.

As I said - it has been crazy here in the animal house. I am sure you can see why I need a break. Although I have to say, even with everything that is going on lately, fostering is still one of the best, most rewarding things I have ever done. And I will be back with updates on these guys and information on new fosters once I start fostering again. I doubt I will be gone long. :)

Silvermst and the shelter

Silvermist is a little white Angora kitten with chocolate point markings. She is beautiful and has had a hard life so far. She was found alone in a local state forest at about 4 weeks of age. She has always had trouble with eating and came home with me to learn how to eat solid food and gain weight. At first I was feeding her with a medicine syringe while she learned to eat the wet cat food.

She never really was all that interested in eating and pretty much just laid around and slept. She did not play or run around like the other kittens I have had. She mostly wanted to sit on my roommate's chest and sleep. And while watching a little tiny white kitten sleep on the chest of a big tough burly guy is amusing to see, it was not quite normal. Being less active is normal for her breed, but she seemed more worn out than just relaxed.

She was one pound four ounces when I brought her home and I managed to get her up to 1 pound 9 ounces before she started losing weight for no known reason. This continued for a few days even though I resumed force feeding her. When she got down to 1 pound 2 ounces, I brought her back to the shelter for help. They decided to keep her to give her fluids twice a day and treat her for worms in the hopes that this would make her feel better.

After a few days, she was doing a little better and since she was craving attention, she came back home with me with medicine and instructions to watch her carefully. Well after only a day or two, it was obvious to me that she needed to go back to see the vet. She was trying to eat, but she was fighting off whatever worms she was dealing with and now she was showing signs of an eye infection and upper respiratory infection. I brought her right in because I was really concerned about her well being.

The shelter vets, who are always incredibly busy doing spay and neuter surgeries, fit her into their schedules to check her out just like they did when the babies were not doing well. The vet and the staff were just as concerned about her as I was and decided she better stay with them again for more fluids and they would continue the medication and force feeding that I was doing at home. At that point it was really a waiting game to see if Silvermist was strong enough to fight off all the problems she was dealing with. And she really needed to eat to get strong enough to survive.

Since I was so worried about her, I came in most every day that week and volunteered in the shelter. That allowed me to help out the shelter when they were short on volunteers and I got to check on Silvermist multiple times throughout the day. After a day or so the staff and I noticed that Silvermist perked up when I sat near her cage and talked to her. Eventually she even started to eat anytime I sat there and petted her. Apparently, she is a social eater and only likes to eat when "mom" is around. So, I spent every day there sitting by her cage for a few minutes as often as I could. It might have been a little weird looking, but if that is what she needed to get well, then that is what she would get. And the staff fully agreed and was wonderful about just walking around me without complaint while I was sitting in the doorway of their busy cat holding room.

Silvermist actually got well enough to come home with me again on Tuesday. I was initially concerned because she had not done well last time she came home and I was afraid that she was too timid to eat with the other cats. But, I am glad to say, she has done fine. For the first time since she came into the shelter and my home over a month ago, she is playing and chasing toys. She comes running when I open the can of cat food just like the other cats and runs away when she sees me with the medicine bottles. It is wonderful. She is still sick and has a way to go before she can be adopted, but she is on the mend finally.

And she has develop quite a few fans at the shelter. The staff and volunteers that got to know her while she was there were thrilled to hear that she is doing well. And the vet that has been watching her was also thrilled. That is what amazes me about the vets and staff at the shelter. They truly care about each and every one of the animals that comes through their doors. Of course, I am thrilled that Silvermist is doing well. She has been in my house for a while and I am quite attatched to her. But everyone at the shelter was just as thrilled as my family to hear that she wants to play and act like a normal kitten.

I have also really enjoyed the time I have spent volunteering in the shelter. I have learned a lot and gained a better understanding of the joys and challenges of shelter life. I really encourage anyone that loves animals to seek out your local shelter or rescue group and sign up to donate some of your time as a volunteer. You will not regret it.