If you recall a few weeks back, I fostered two feral kittens, Wednesday and Gomez. When it was time to take them back to the shelter to be spayed, neutered and placed up for adoption, Andrew and I said our tearful goodbyes, but felt very proud that we had helped two feral, fearful kittens become confident, well socialized love-bombers.
Within just a few days, they were adopted as a pair and are enjoying their new home together. Knowing that made our tearful goodbye so completely worth it.
What I didn’t expect when I took them back to the shelter was that I would be rushed by three very excited shelter volunteers who enthusiastically encouraged me to go home with another batch of kittens who had just been brought in.
Only this time, it was a nursing momma cat and her seven adorable babies.
I learned that one of our very dedicated shelter volunteers, Mary Anne, who is also pretty well known in our community as a kind and thoughtful cat rescuer, had been “gifted” the momma and her litter.
One morning, Mary Anne happened to look out her window to see a car had stopped in front of her house. Someone got out with a large box and placed it on her driveway and quickly sped off. Inside the box was a nursing momma and her 3-week-old babies.
So, Mary Anne did what she always does when she finds vulnerable cats and kittens — she brought them to the shelter to be given a health check and placed in a loving foster home until the kittens could be weaned, socialized and grow until they were old enough (at about 2-months) to be spayed/neutered and adopted into loving homes.
To be honest, that felt like a lot to take on. Wednesday and Gomez were only two kittens — and they were more than a handful to manage.
With all my experience caring for animals, I was still a novice at fostering kittens, after all. So, the idea of taking on an adult with seven nursing kittens felt a little overwhelming.
But those enthusiastic volunteers successfully peer pressured me…
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