I have been volunteering at a cat cafe near my college since September 2019, and it only took me a month to realize that I wanted to be involved in cat and kitten rescue in a more personal capacity by signing up to foster. At the time, I was still living in the dorms and was not allowed to have animals, so I resigned myself to waiting until August 2020 to start my fostering journey. Flash forward to the COVID-19 pandemic, and suddenly I was at home with my family, sending in foster applications to all the organizations in my area trying to do my part to help out in a time of crisis.
Three weeks ago, my mom spotted a post in our neighborhood Facebook group asking for help rescuing some cats from a woman's house who had recently passed away. I sprang at the chance to help, and threw some towels, our old cat carrier, and some gloves into my car and drove to the house. My car broke down halfway there, so the woman I had been in contact with and her mom had to pick me up and then drive me back home with 3 cats while my wonderful parents waited for the tow truck to come to get my poor car. That night, we had three cats in one bathroom out of the two in our small house. I spent most of Thursday and part of Friday reaching out to different rescues who could back their rescue and adoption, and Friday morning I got a response from a rescue I had been in recent contact with that was willing to take on the cats.
Scooby, Earl Grey, and Cami on their first night here:
The next morning, Earl was taken to his new home by the family of his previous owner. That left us with Scooby, an extremely shy cat who took any chance he could to hide, and Cami, a sickly but curious little Siamese. Throughout the day, Cami became more alert and curious, and after a wander around the house to explore, she eventually settled down right on the couch, happy to have love and a warm place to sleep.
A couple of days later, I get a text from the family of the cats: there are two more cats at the house, one of which is Scooby's sister who escaped through a back door the last time we were there. So, on Easter Sunday, another foster and I packed up and went back to the house to pick up two more cats. She came back to our house and took the siblings to foster together, Scooby and Daphne (his sister). I took home a big orange tabby who meowed the whole way home and who we named Nugget. So now our house was back at two cats, but one had been switcherooed.
He was pretty comfortable right away, needless to say.
Nugget, meanwhile, proved to be an adorable little menace. He enjoys jumping up on the counters and kitchen table, trying to eat my dad's plants, and waking us up at 4 am for pets. We still love him, and we are trying to teach him proper housecat manners during his time here.
Yesterday, Cami went home with her adopter. She is an adorable little girl, and though she is over 12 years old according to the vet, she is a fighter. I'm going to write a whole other post about her story and struggles, but for now, I will leave you with this adorable picture of Cami and Nugget both passed out on my bed on their last night here together.
Although my journey to fostering was a bit different than I expected, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Watching a cat go to a loving home after all they've been through is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, and I hope to have many, many more experiences (and cute cat photos) like this in the future.