VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

I "Washed Out" as a Foster Parent

By Shirley Brown

I began fostering with Folsom Feline Rescue in 2002.  I took in the handsome Merlot kitty for a 30-day period.  Merlot was full of personality and quite stunning with his striped, sorrel coat.  He seemed to know how beautiful he was and at times, he seemed to strut.  He liked action and playtime; the more, the better.  He wanted to chase and pursue and run.  Noise didn't bother him; commotion didn't upset him.  After his 30-day period at my house, he returned to the Bennett Foster Home and not long after, he was adopted out.

My next foster experience was with the "D" kittens.  I had Dakota, Dallas, Daytona, and Delta.   They were black and white tuxedoes, four males and one female.   

Merlot in his porcelain bed

What could be cuter than kittens?  They were precious.  They slept together cuddled in one bed and when I took their photograph, you couldn't tell where one started and one left off.

The "D" kitties liked to plot and strategize ways to escape the barriers I had put up to keep them out of the living room and off the furniture.  They figured out how to squeeze past the cardboard.  Into the laundry room they ventured.  It was quite an adventure for the tiny cats. Once they got into the laundry room, they didn't know what to do.  It was exhausting for them and soon they were all taking a nap, snuggled and intertwined with one another.

Two by two and then one by one, they were adopted out to permanent homes.  Dakota and Delta were adopted together.  Daytona and Dallas were adopted out to one-kitten homes.

Then came the dynamos  --  Spreckles, Freckles, Dozer, and Skip.  These foster kittens were active with a capital "A."  Little tabbies, they were, with boundless energy.  I had all four in my bedroom for activity time when I grabbed my camera to snap their pictures.   When the film was developed, I discovered I had

Dakota and Delta, two of the "D" kitties

captured only streaks and bits of kitty tails as they ran by.  I didn't get a single still picture.  All I got for my efforts were blurs.

Then the four dynamos were well enough and heavy enough for their surgery and soon they were adopted.  I didn't get feedback from their new homes, but I'm sure they were up to hyperactivity and mischief wherever they went.

My next foster group was a twosome  - -  little tabbies that I thought had been trapped at the zoo.  They were not

named; so I gave them the names of "Zoë" and "Zed."  I used the letter "z" as the start of their names because of the zoo connection.  However, Zed did not like his name.  He preferred "Ted" and I had to re-name him.  Later, I discovered that they weren't trapped at the zoo at all!  They had been turned into Blue Ravine Animal Hospital. 
Both Zoë and Ted were sick with upper respiratory infections and eye infections as many orphaned kittens are.  I learned how to give them their medications and they began to recover.  I took them to get their nails clipped at the Saturday Petco adoption and potential adopters were very interested in them.  I found myself reacting very negatively

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Ted and Zoë, here to stay!