Fostering and sometimes failing....

Our very first foster was a little siamese kitten, Geronimo. He came from a cat hoarding situation and was pretty frail with a severe eye infection. The vet tech, a friend of mine who linked us to the kitten was concerned it could lose its eye.

The kids were very excited to have a kitten in the house. So were our two dogs that were very curious, but also somehow sensitive that this kitten was off limits and needed care.

After a few days of both oral and topical antibiotics this little kitten was up and playing with kids and dogs and pretty much running the house. And well now, four years later..that's our cat, renamed Buckfast after a cheap Scottish wine that has caffeine and tons of sugar in it, made by monks. Seemed appropriate. He also has two beautiful blue eyes that match his bestie's, my oldest son.

We've gone on to fostering more kittens and some dogs. Our current dog, Murphy, a husky-mix is also a foster fail. BUT listen...some went on to get homes: Guinness, Clyde, Hudson, Tremble, Frida, Maple. It's risky business. And often when you're fostering, people especially on social media, seeing all the cute pictures will say, " YOU've got to KEEP that critter!!" I mean I completely understand the urge to say that to people fostering, because everyone wants to see a homeless animal in a good situation, but foster families usually go on to foster more, and if they adopt they can't really continue to foster, as in our case. So if you can, fight that urge!

Fostering is important work, rescues always need them, and it's a huge responsibility. You have to provide a safe, clean, healthy, environment, filled with lots of opportunities for socialization that will set the animal up for success in its forever home. Would you like to foster? You can always ask me about it. And I can connect you to some great organizations.