On Fosters to Failures

When Zach and I moved into our current house, a big reason I wanted to move was so that I could have a room for foster kitties! I was eager to start fostering cats, because so often I would see posts saying that different rescues desperately needing fosters and it literally made my heart ache.

Shortly after we moved and got settled, I reached out to a local rescue, Save the Kitties, and asked about their fostering program. I started fostering in March 2022. We started with Callie, who was terrified of everything and only six months old. Callie was hiding in a litter box at the rescue when we found her. She was a very skinny girl too! I knew that Save the Kitties had recently rescued her from Wichita Animal Shelter and we had no idea what her life was like prior to the rescue.

I spent a lot of time with Callie while we looked for an adopter for her and tried to get her to be a little calmer and a little less scared. I felt like she wanted a little friendship and might be a little lonely in her foster room. So we started fostering Gabby, a long-haired, calico who’s previous owner had surrendered her and her two sisters. Gabby wasn’t doing great in the shelter environment and was hiding in a cat tree most of the time at the rescue. We began fostering Gabby in June 2022. These two ladies became fast friends. Callie seemed calmer having Gabby around and Gabby just seemed happy to be here with her new friend. I felt like they felt safe, comfortable, and content. And thus began their friendship!

Finding a forever home for two, bonded adult cats is not easy. We didn’t have a lot of interest and when we did, nothing ever really worked out. Plus Callie did not seem to do well with any variation of change.

At the end of January 2024, I was having coffee with Zach one morning and told him I wanted to adopt them. He said he’s just been waiting for me to finally do it. And so we did! I’m so happy we finally did it and while our other cats and them are still learning to adjust to each other, I feel like we’re one, big happy family!