Change a Pet's Life Day

The importance of fostering

Cats die every day in shelters due to over population, illness or behavior issues. A good foster program allows these animals to get out of the shelter system and into a home environment where they can get well or their behavior can be monitored and modified.

The most vulnerable of that population is kittens. Bottle babies (unweaned kittens that come in with no mom) are the most at risk followed by kittens with no moms that are too young to be vaccinated. But even kittens with their moms are at risk from exposure to illness.

Bug - our first (and only) bottle baby

So, what can you do??

Well, if you have a space away from your pets, consider fostering for a local rescue.

our foster room - it used to be the (unused) dining room

If you can't do that, check their website for a donation list - kittens eat like there is no tomorrow and rescues go through LOTS of food and litter.

Share their posts on facebook and twitter....good attention is always welcome.

Every little effort from all of us will make a difference....

fostering

*a post by the mom

Some mornings, the alarm goes off and you get out of bed, kiss the resident pets, care for the fosters, realize it is a good day and move forward.

Other days, the alarm goes off and you want to - and sometimes do - pull the covers over your head. You lay there, thinking of all the things that have gone badly in the past few days. Sick kittens, ornery people...it gets tiring.

Why do people complain about things without knowing what they are talking about? It gets so hard to listen to people saying "just take one more what's the big deal" when they have obviously never volunteered in rescue. It is hard seeing things on social media like "we hope it works out". How about you DO something besides hope?

You lay there and think about the last group of kittens you offered to foster....they looked fine, acted fine, and within 10 day all of them passed away from something. No idea what. And you struggled for days to try to keep them healthy and alive...and then watched them leave this planet. You know you did your best and offered them safety and love....but that really isn't enough to heal your heart and get you out of bed.

You have the overwhelming urge to just lay there and feel sorry for yourself. Or be angry at the world. Or both....

And then a resident cat sticks a nose under the covers. Maybe trying to comfort you. More likely wondering when the heck you intend to get up and provide breakfast.

You hear kittens banging on a closed door - demanding breakfast and release from their overnight room.

You remember that for every person out there with no respect, there are the people who come in to adopt or make a donation that are happy your organization exists.

And for every kitten that doesn't survive, there are so many more that did and got that opportunity because you chose to open your door and help.

And so you throw back the covers, kiss a cat, release the kittens and start your day. Maybe this will be a good one....maybe not. But there are lives to be saved, adoptions to be done and food dishes to be filled. (plus the job expects you there on time, but that is a whole other thing)


**The last apple kitten, Gala, passed away on 11/5. While I have had the occasional kitten die in my care, this is the first time I have ever lost an entire litter. Every loss is heartbreaking....this was harder. And yet, as harsh as it sounds, life does go on. The nuts still need care and are getting bigger by the day. Tostada and Reno are at an adoption center in a local pet store waiting for their forever families. Nashville is running around the house - being sure to sneeze on me whenever I tell him he needs to get to our adoption center. I will never lie about this - foster can be so very hard some days. And other days, I sit and watch kittens tumble over each other as they play and know that every hard moment is worth it.

*there have been questions about sharing this post - feel free to share anything you see here so long as you link to the blog and give us credit. 

application

we now turn the blog over to the mom (for the moment)

I've read different blog posts and newspaper articles and online posts about how rescues make it "so hard" to adopt. Don't get me wrong....I truly believe that there are some rescues that do make it exceedingly difficult to adopt. Which makes me wonder what their ultimate goal is for the animals they rescue.

On the complete flip side, there are some organizations that don't check anything. No landlord, no vet, no nothing. And that frightens me. The job of a rescue IS to protect the interests of the animal.

Other rescues take the middle road. The one where I foster does check with a landlord (if you rent) and vet records. We ask for personal references but don't check them unless something pops up that we question.

Our application is 2 pages long: who are you and where do you live? how many people in the household? kids and ages? do you work and where? own or rent? landlord info if you rent. questions about understanding the commitment to having a pet. do you intend to declaw? if yes, why? animals currently in the household. vet info. animals in the household in the last 5 years - and where are they now. Which animal do you want to adopt and why?

I honestly don't think any of these questions are invasive or out of line. Let's go through some of them.

kids: we don't say a blanket no to kids. But we do ask ages so we can help you find a better match

rent/own: I am forever amazed by the people that put one, cross it out and then put the other. How do you not know this?? And don't lie...our county auditor is online and I check.
              **I went over an application recently for Morocco. He put that he owned the house. According to the auditor, he did not. I then had to call and ask for landlord information (plus there is the whole "he lied to me" part). He then ADMITTED he lied....because his landlord has a no pet policy. And that is why we ask....if we adopt and your landlord has a no pet policy and finds out you have an animal, what happens to the animal??? [he was denied]

declaw: the "yes" answer won't get you an automatic no, but we will give you the anti-declaw talk. If you are determined, we have some very nice cats that came to us declawed. Please choose from one of them.

current pets: again, no blanket policy on numbers (though it can be a consideration). But do they see the vet regularly? Are they spayed or neutered? If you have dogs are they are heartworm prevention?  We are looking for basic care issues. And if you have pets, give me your vet info...I am just going to call and ask for it.
                **I got an application for a kitten once where the dog currently in the house was not spayed. Everything else checked out so I called the owners. He said that the dog only went out to pee so they hadn't bothered (the dog was female so how they lived with her being in heat I have NO idea). I went over the health risks...and then said - what if she gets loose some day during a walk. It only takes once for her to get pregnant and now there are unwanted puppies adding to the population. He admitted he hadn't thought about that. I made this suggestion: I put a hold on the kitten and they make an appointment with our local low cost clinic to get the dog spayed. Once I knew she was there, we would set a date and time to finalized the adoption for the kitten. He called me the next day with the appointment time. I called that Friday to verify the dog was there for surgery....and the kitten went home on Saturday (we got an update about 6 months later and they adore him).

previous pets: Again, we are looking for history of care and well being.

Here is the bottom line.....depending on the rescue, more than likely the person looking at your application and doing the research is a VOLUNTEER!!  Please don't waste our time making us track down information. Please don't waste our time by lying to us. Please don't waste our time by making things up. In the land of technology, we can most likely find out and you are just making it harder.

The second application I processed this week - I called the landlord and he yelled at me because he just filed an eviction notice. Really??  Why is this my fault? I called the woman, didn't mention the landlord issue and she said she couldn't really afford it at this time. The application had been filled out less than 24 hours before I called her. She had to know this and did it anyhow.

We WANT adoptions. But we also want them to succeed. PLEASE....make sure you are ready for the commitment. Make sure that you understand that this is for life - not for whenever you get tired of having a pet. Make sure you have everything lined up and ready to go. Know that we want to approve people - but we want to make the right match and we want to be sure the pet isn't returned to us after a short period of time because you changed your mind. Returns for rescues are terrible....the pet doesn't understand and as those who process information, depending on circumstances, we feel like we failed to make the right decision. Don't make this harder for everyone involved.....please.

Oh, and do us all one final favor and don't complain about adoption fees. Those fees NEVER cover the cost of rescue, surgery, vaccines, medications and microchips. Heck, if you want to do a rescue a favor, overpay them for the adoption!

what you need - a post by the mom

Daiquiri checking out what mom is posting on Twitter

I have a confession to make. This isn't easy to admit and it won't be easy to read. But here goes:

I didn't want to keep Daiquiri.

There, I said it.

Now, let me back up....and I will warn you, this is a long post.

When I first started to foster, I made a commitment, both to myself and to the cats and kittens I fostered. I would always be there for them. I have been lucky in that not many have been returned (at least that I know of). Chex and Milano came back, and they stayed with me until I could get them adopted again. And there have been foster failures along the way (a foster failure for those new to this is: fostered, failed to return - also known as adopted by the foster family). In fact, now that I think about it, technically everyone here is a foster failure. :)

Last year was hard. Maestro died in May from cancer at 19 years old. I had kittens at the time....and Coral ended up working her way into my heart. So she stayed. And then she got so sick and died from FIP at 6 months old in October. I wasn't ready. While Maestro leaving was hard, it was expected and I had time to prepare. Coral was so young and it took everything I had to admit that I couldn't fix her and had to let her go. And to be honest, I still have problems seeing her picture.

At that same time, Daiquiri was tested and came back faintly FeLV positive. I could have moved her to another foster home, but committed to her and rearranged some things at the house. By the time we got the weird test results, and then the final test results, she was over 5 months old and had been here since she was about 3 weeks old. I was afraid she wouldn't get adopted as a teenager. And honestly, as much as I wouldn't commit my heart, I knew on some level that she was staying.

But I wasn't ready. Daiquiri is the POLAR opposite of Coral. While she is slowly beginning to appreciate a good cuddle, it is by far not her favorite thing. Coral on the other hand was always in my lap. Even when she was feeling good, she would play but then when it was time for a nap, she was with me. Daiquiri will happily nap by herself or with Tim. Yes, she decidedly loves Tim more than she loves me. haha

I thought long and hard. I knew I couldn't give her up. But I also knew I had to make some changes to ME in order to be fair to HER. I just didn't know where to start or what to do.

Fortunately, this was right about the time of the last painting session, and I met up with my friend Kelly. Sitting at a table painting for 6 hours, you talk about all sorts of things. And Daiquiri and Coral were among the topics. I hadn't spoken about it to anyone at that point. I wasn't even sure I could get the words together, no less finding someone who wasn't going to judge me and take it all the wrong way. Kelly was a saint!

6 hours of painting and lots of revelations

And putting it out there helped.

The other thing that helped....getting Mae West adopted. I know, sounds strange. But the woman who adopted her was asking me - how do you choose? And after walking her through the process, it made me think.

Miss Mae West

Over that next weekend, I came to a few realizations:

1. Sometimes you don't choose. Sometimes it happens. I was prepared to keep the numbers at 6 after losing Coral. Apparently, my plans were ignored. And I had to accept that.

2. Maybe what I thought I wanted, wasn't in fact what I needed. And it certainly wasn't what that household needed. See, for those of you who have followed for a while, you know about Junior and Ivy and Spud. They have a....hate-hate relationship. However, Daiquiri LOVES Junior. She doesn't know his background - he has always just been her dorky older brother. While Spud and Ivy think Junior is weird and annoying, Daiquiri just sees Junior. And heavens she plays with him to no end. Surprisingly, it has made a difference....while he doesn't entirely leave the other two alone, and while the other two still take him at face value and find him annoying, having someone else to chase around who loves the game is much more fun. And a tired Junior is a very good thing.

In fact, the other evening, Daiquiri was down in the entry way to the condo, singing about something (or testing the acoustics - who knows with that girl). Junior looked over the edge, then snuck down the stairs. A couple of minutes later.....pounding herds of elephants up the steps and down the hall...Junior in the lead with Daiquiri hot on his tail!!!

3. I needed to let go. Losing Maestro was hard. Losing Coral broke my heart. But trying to force Daiquiri into a mold where she was never going to fit wasn't fair to her....or to me. I had to learn to love her for who she is....a nutty loveable goofy kitten.

Now if I could only get her to like me as much as she likes Tim.....  Or maybe that really IS wishful thinking.

By the way.....hard as it is to believe - the nut is 6 months old now. Happy Half Birthday Daiquiri!!
(oh - and she is going to be a big girl....not fat, but tall and sturdy)

Be the Change

We can't say it enough, but volunteering pays off in so many ways. You can "be the change" for an organization in you area!!

Rescues always need help and volunteers keep these places running. In some cases (like the rescue that mom volunteer's with), it is ALL volunteer...no paid staff at all.

From cleaning, to socializing, to laundry, to walking dogs, to foster care...and even different things you wouldn't think about. Writing thank you notes, working in a retail store (we have one manned by volunteers on the weekends), stuffing envelopes, organizing fund raisers. There is no job too big or too small that can't use some sort of help.

But of course, you are here for kitten pictures....which is a FUN part of fostering. If you have some space and some time, think about contacting a local reputable rescue: with the start of kitten season, they need all the help they can get.

the mom makes for a comfy snoozing spot

or you can snooze on a sibling

They are growing and getting cuter by the day!! The gray tabby in the middle is Jade's original kitten. The tiny black one on your right is the smallest...but gaining steady weight so we aren't too worried about that one.

And now....we think mom knows the genders. The gray tabbies are both boys and the other three are girls (where is Fred when we need him??) Still working on the name theme. Nothing has jumped out at mom yet. They don't have to be related to Jade...most times the kitten theme doesn't have anything to do with mom's name (though sometimes it does). If you are newer to the blog, suggestions are welcome (and we give credit) but we are all about a good theme...and not such big fans of people names (except famous names if you know what we mean).