Recording our foster journey
You know I love to keep a diary of things for later, but also for ourselves so I can look back when something happened as sometimes life throws you so many lemons that I can't believe it happens in such a short period of time. Timelines get blurry if I don't write things down so I can check the facts later. Our recently started foster story has already been quite intense and therefore I'd like to document more information than I write down in the weekly update blogs. This is to share my experience with other (possible) foster families too. Maybe you have been considering jumping into foster care and never went ahead but are now wondering if you should. I hope someone finds the things I share valuable enough to sign up for foster care in their own area.
Lack of foster homes
For as long as I remember, even when I still lived in Holland, shelters asked for foster homes constantly, especially during the summer months when people think it's ok to dump their pets on the street because they are going on a holiday. I never understood how someone can leave their pet, who they love and care for all year, on the street because they are going on a holiday. Even when I was just around 18 years old, I paid top dollar for my dogs to be taken care of in a shelter especially for pets when their owners are on holiday or can't take care of them. These are pet hotels more or less, often they have the time of their lives, so I learned and witnessed. Of course, like with regular hotels, not all are great, so do your own research.
Cat love
All the years in Budapest were less great also because of not being able to have a cat. I've seen the foster requests there too during the pandemic as well, but we weren't allowed so we never considered it. We truly feel that cats bring in something special, they are their own persona and you can receive so much love back from them if you have that special connection. Kittens are easily satisfied though, and it does not take much effort to become friends with them, you can smother them with love but even if you don't have all day to play with them, they can still become very social if you give them some human love when you're around part of the day. We decided that when we'd be in Spain finally, we'd not wait too long to adopt a cat, luckily for us, the rental agreement didn't exclude pets (many do!).
Adopting vs Fostering
Like many other people, we were looking for a playmate for our cat Mochi. He's a street cat so we have been taking care of him for 6 months before we finally started to bond a bit more. It was not a waste of time though, I was determined that he'd finally accept us as his humans at some point, even if it would take me years to get it done. When I realized he was the happiest whenever he was chasing a toy such as a ball, he then has his tail straight up, I knew he needed a play buddy. We, humans, are just a bonus.
When filling in the form to adopt a cat, there was also a questionnaire for fostering and we discussed this before sending it back to come to the conclusion we'd foster first to help more kittens before we adopt one. We'll see when the right kitten is there and not rush the process. Within a short amount of time, we were asked if we'd like to be some sort of halfway house for the 5 babies that were found in the garbage who was now already using the litterbox and strong enough to move to the next home as the other foster needed to take in more critical cases. We said yes and never regret doing so.
Was it all rainbows and sunshine?
Most definitely not, I'm not going to lie, some days have been very messy and stressful but I can assure you that by far most time spent with these 5 kittens was filled with love and joy. On top of that, what I expected to happen with my daughter, happened. She needed this type of task to learn how to handle kittens as she loves cats just like her parents do, lol. She just never had the joy of actually having one at home and with our bigger furry friend Mochi not being the biggest fan of being touched and most definitely not being a lapcat, I wanted her to have this experience.
Caring for kittens
Not only has my daughter learned how to pick up the kittens and feed them and of course play with them, she has learned that they bring so much joy and love if you are kind to them. If you follow our foster stories from day 1, you have probably seen a few pictures where she was reading to the kittens and they were just sleeping on her lap while doing so. I really had the most adorable and touching moments in the past period while fostering that I can't even pick the best moments because there are so many.
One thing she still struggles with a bit is that sometimes a cat doesn't feel like playing or cuddling, but this is the only thing we still need to remind her about sometimes. She has been an amazing help while we fostered the 5 kittens, especially when I was super sick and my boyfriend was overloaded with work. I asked her to help and check in on them, of course, we took care of the litterbox (by we I mostly mean my boyfriend as I was too sick) because with some Giardia (parasite) cases this needed to be cleaned well.
Learning a lot
But not only has she learned a lot, but so did we, even though we had a few litters before way back in the day. We never had kittens that come from the street as tiny as these nor did we take care of kittens with parasites until we started fostering. We also learned that quarantining kittens in the bedroom are far from ideal if they turn out to have parasites because I can assure you the smell is real and will wake you up as soon as one does a number 2. If you won't wake up you will regret it in the morning, lol.
Did you ever consider fostering?
I want to share more of our journey with you in another post but first I'd like to ask you if you are a cat person, did you ever consider signing up for foster care? With foster care, you have the option to say no and don't have to take in every cat that needs a foster home. For example, we chose to foster kittens because of the fact that we have a 1 bedroom apartment and I can't quarantine in another room, kittens can be placed inside a cage or playpen to keep them safe at night this is harder with big cats. Especially if they have a parasite or other things that you don't want in your bedroom.
Sometimes there's just a need to foster 1 kitten or cat, sometimes it's a litter of 2,3 or even 5 kittens with or without a mother. Some need medical attention others just need to be fed, and played with and when it's time to be adopted, you need to take them to the vet for their vaccination, chip, and passport. As a foster, you can decide if you think you are a good fit or not and I'd advise you to be honest and not just say yes because you feel bad for the kitten/cat.
Critical cases
I can also assure you that I see horrible pictures and videos from the organization when they rescue critical cases and it breaks my heart every single time. I know that I can't give these critical cases what they need living in this small apartment so I will not say yes to these cases because I don't want to tell them after a few weeks it won't work. Even though there will be mismatches that can't be foreseen, if you can foresee these issues you should be honest and not take the task upon you.
Food for thought?
Maybe I gave you some food for thought, as fostering can be ideal for people that love cats (or dogs, because we should not forget they need foster families for dogs too!) but are often traveling for example, or spending their year in between countries. Fostering kittens can often be just a few weeks because they are already adopted and need to have a temporary home until they are cleared to leave. You could consider dedicating a few months a year of your time to helping these organizations that are in desperate need of foster families. Especially if you're a cat lover but can't commit to having your own because of your regular life.
I will write more content about fostering and share some tips and tricks as well as things to take into account but also the positive sides of fostering. It's very rewarding! I hope I will see you back next time, even if you don't want to foster yourself because I understand fostering is not for everyone.