Foster Cat Journal: Time for the Good-Byes

My part of the "Cardboard Box" kittens journey has come to an end. As it always does, seeing the kittens go to their new homes stirs up mixed feelings of joy and tender sadness. I began this journey seeing a photo (below) of what was once a litter of eight abandoned kittens, rescued by a kind woman named Jenna. By the time the kittens were old enough to travel, four had found homes. The remaining kittens came to me.

Dylan (center) and Millie (front right) with two of their siblings.

Monte (right) with sibling (left)

This litter was both the sweetest and the sickest litter I've dealt with to date. They're also the oldest, at 13-14 weeks-dangerously big to placed quickly with ease. I worried that their size would keep them from finding homes, but their beauty and perky personality won people over effortlessly.

Dylan & Dee were the first to leave. I was reluctant to say good bye and worried about Lucy-the-dog's reaction to their presence. It's been a few days and I haven't heard anything from their new family. Is that a good sign or a bad one? I'm going to call to check in, as I do with every adopter, but I'd be lying if I said this would be just like any other call. I hope the kittens are safe and all right and the dog is taking to them well. I had some mixed feelings about this, but the adopter is smart and assured me about being careful with the kitties. I have to give them a chance. I hope I don't regret it.

Dylan & Dee. Which one is which? It's always tough to tell!

Here's super-mouser, Delilah...I think.

So after loading Nancy & Gabe up with paperwork, print outs of research I did on how to introduce a dog to cats, some cans of food and some de-worming medicine, I kissed the kittens and took a deep breath. I would really be missing them a lot-especially Dylan, who loved to sleep on me and irk me by hogging all the food at every meal time. It got so bad I had to feed him in the dog crate, so the others could eat in peace and quiet. That said...the cat still got to me!

Nancy & Gabe get ready to take the kittens home (photo taken and posted with Permission)

Then there was Millie and Monte.

Millie was doing great. She never got very sick and her irritated eyes healed quickly. She went to her new home in Durham to wait until Monte recovered enough to join her. Her new family had no other pets, but did have a 4 year old girl who was definitely rough with my own cats, pulling on Spencer's fur. She's lucky she left here with both her hands. Would I stop this adoption from going forward because of her? I thought about it, but I also realized that she WOULD, I HOPE, grow out of this and my kittens were so easy going that they could handle being roughed up a bit. I said, a BIT. A LITTLE BIT. Her parents were watching her, but I know they can't watch her with the kittens 24/7. Again, I have to have some faith that things will be all right. I got my first kitten when I was 4, too. But, of course, I was gentle with my kitten and a perfect child. Ha ha ha! Oops.

Monte worried me. He just wasn't getting better. I gave him pills, drops, liquids, pastes, ointments...we visited the Vet again and although he was improved from a week ago, he needed another week of meds, at least, then a re-check. Monte had been sick for most of the two weeks he'd been with me. I felt so bad for him. I spent a lot of time just having him sleep on me.

My poor baby, Monte. He really was having a tough time with the URI.

I gave Monte a few days more to recover and he started to perk up. He decided it was comforting to "make muffins" in my hair, chew my hair and nibble my neck-which gave me the shivers! I let him do it for as long as I could stand, even though I knew it wasn't a good idea to encourage this behavior. He was finally feeling better. I'm not going to bust his chops right now.

I tried to take a photo of what Monte was doing to me. This was the best shot I got.

His new family was anxious to get him home since Millie had been crying non-stop since they'd been separated and the mom was sleeping with Millie every night in the guest room so she'd stop crying. After they promised to continue Monte's medication and with the approval of our Vet, Monte went home, along with a bag of his meds, directions and a few toys. I figured I'd have to toss everything out in order to get the URI virus out of the foster room, anyway, so Monte could keep his favorite toys. I also chose ones that were SOFT and could not be used to POKE any kittens eye out...if you get where I'm going with this...

Monte is helping me watch CNN. He likes to keep current with the events of the day.

Monte's new dad came to pick him up. Dad smelled really good and drove a cute Audi TT convertible. I figured Monte would be in good hands with a classy dad like that. I didn't cry when Monte left. I simply smiled and felt relief. My job was done. The cats were all rescued and living in a really nice home with a loving family.

I was also relieved that in the two weeks they had been here, my own cats did not seem to get sick, too. That was my biggest fear. With "Typhoid"-Monte out of the house, I could finally rest easy. All those showers and changes of clothes had been worth it. The only thing left was to scrub down the room REALLY REALLY well and I'd be ready for the next kittens to arrive.

You know that saying, "Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back?"

Everything changed at 4:10AM on Sunday morning.