Today was a sad day indeed. When we first got this first family of foster cats, we brought home four little bundles of fluff that barely had eyes open, and a mumma cat who I would have sworn was half wild, if her temperament was anything to go by. 5 days of intensive 'being zen' later, and she had bonded to us and was fairly relaxed when we open the washhouse door, and even let us pat her head. By the end of day 10 she was as tame as anyone could want, and was showing a lovely, placid nature. She was even tolerating our 2 year old coming in all 'full volume, top speed' and demanding cuddles.
Yesterday she was taken to the vet to be speyed, and came home all drowsy and droopy after a successful surgery. Today I had the heartbreaking job of returning her to the SPCA Shelter to recover, get fed back up to optimum weight and health, and go up for adoption. The rest of the family was really down, and it wasn't exactly a picnic for me either. There are times I am so glad to have 'emotion detachment issues' - they make the rough times like these a little easier to cope with.
It was amazingly reassuring to discover that the Hamilton SPCA have a "No Kill" policy of fosters and adoptees... only the ferals and seriously infirm get given 'the cold needle' and even then, only if there is no hope for rehabilitation or recovery. It meant that I wasn't handing over this lovely tortie girl to face a death sentence if she wasn't adopted within a week or two. In fact, if she's still there when we take the kittens back, we might just adopt her ourselves.
Fostering cats is a real mixed blessing... on the up side, you know you are helping the SPCA cope with a massive overload, taking some of the stress off their awesome crew of staff and volunteers. They provide the fostering family with pet food and pay for required vet visits, and it's as simple as a visit to the shelter to collect the food or a phonecall for an order number for the vets.
The downside is that it is so very easy for you to get attached to the fostered pets, and having to hand them back can feel like a betrayal of trust... but you know you'll do the fostering thing again, and have to go through the heartbreak once more... and again, and again... because you know it's the best thing for the animals in the long run.
Oh yeah, photos of the kittens to come soon - just need to find the time to edit them all - so many wonderful shots to choose from!
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