We successfully fostered our Nintendo kitties - Mario, Luigi, Peach and Daisy. Luigi was adopted at the Super Adoption and Mario went a few days later. Peach was last to go about a week after Mario. Daisy, the mama, is still at CHS waiting for her forever home. The person who adopts her will have to be a special person. Daisy is very timid and not very friendly. She has come a long ways since I first met her, hissing and snarling in her carrier.
Letting that family go was quite difficult. We had them a few days after birth and watched them grow from helpless, sightless kittens to rambunctious furballs.
Awww, so tiny! Mario is on the left, Peach is on the right.
We never had to worry about their health since Daisy was there to take care of them. It's amazing how much a mama cat does for her kittens. Without her, survival is very slim...as we found out earlier this year. I'm so happy these guys were able to find forever homes!
Peach!
Luigi (we called him Weegee)
Mario aka Bruiser!
A few days after we said good-bye to these babies we welcomed seven more cats into our house! One was a mama who had just weaned her kittens, two were siblings and the rest were from separate litters.Unfortunately, one of them died the day we brought him home. Jessica roused him out of death enough to keep him alive for another half a day. I received a text that night while at work saying he had died. She left him wrapped up in a cloth which she then placed inside a plastic sack. I came home and held the little guy on the bench outside our apartment. I wished for an afterlife for him, a place free from sickness that he could roam and play and be loved. It was an odd moment, one where reality and the unknown met face to face and exchanged awkward pleasantries.
It takes a lot out of you, watching these helpless animals die. Sometimes I am at the shelter and know a kitten is going to die and I just pet them and acknowledge them. I let them know that their death means something to someone, to one individual in this world.
We had a huge scare with this new batch. The foster mama (she let these kittens nurse even though they weren't hers!) because severely ill and had to be put down. We were worried the babies weren't going to make it. Thankfully, after many doses of medication they are doing much, much better.
Jessica and I agree that the first litter we fostered were cute and adorable but these guys (they are all male) are a million times cuter. They haven't really had a mom and are completely dependent on us. They purr like crazy and nuzzle our faces when we hold them. Right now I have two of them purring in my lap. It's amazing. These guys would most likely be dead had we not opened our home to them.
Jessica and I agree that the first litter we fostered were cute and adorable but these guys (they are all male) are a million times cuter. They haven't really had a mom and are completely dependent on us. They purr like crazy and nuzzle our faces when we hold them. Right now I have two of them purring in my lap. It's amazing. These guys would most likely be dead had we not opened our home to them.
And that's why we do it. That's why we are crazy cat people - to save lives of worthless, insignificant animals that most people write off. Loving them and then giving them away is the most painful yet rewarding thing I have done in my life. This coming from the guy who yelled "I hate you!" to the people who adopted one of his cats when he was in the 5th grade!
These are our babies. We don't need children, we have them. They are our lives, our future. Jessica and I couldn't do this if we had children of our own and we are fine with that. We are young! We have plenty of time to adopt or procreate. Right now we are focused on helping our four legged friends! It's the most rewarding volunteering I have ever done.
Thank you for saving us! (The black and white one has stolen our hearts!)
Our apartment might stink, I might post a lot of pictures on facebook and talk about kittens at work...but it's worth it. Saving a life, ANY life, is worth it.
I sort of laugh inside whenever someone asks me if we have and children. I always say, "Nope, but we have animals!" and I'm sure people think it isn't the same...and I'm okay with that. It's what we want, it's what we need and it makes us happy.
And isn't that all that matters?
And isn't that all that matters?
