Most of my readers know that I have been running a series of posts featuring Adult Homeless Foster Cats. I have interviewed seven of these wonderful, adoptable cats and hope that their revelation of their hopes and dreams of what their forever home looks like has inspired some of you to promote them like crazy. Or, if not the seven I featured, I sincerely hope it has prompted my readers to begin to seriously promote this community of cats that if not placed, become forever in foster…they are in sanctuary but have not real home to call their own.
For myself, I gained incredible insights into these very special Adult Homeless Foster Cats. Their hopes and dreams were just the same as mine when I was living in, thankfully, a no kill shelter. Of course, that was ‘after’ I was schedule for ‘euthanasia’ and before my ‘foster’ pulled me. I was An Adult Homeless Shelter Cat for over a year. Surely, if we all work really hard, we can help the often forgotten Adults, living in foster homes, find their real permanent families.
Let me share what this amazing population of Adult Homeless Foster Cats revealed to me…
1 Adult cats have memories; we have experienced abandonment, rejection, and much more from humans; please be patient with us.
2. When presented at public adoption sites; i.e. pet supply stores, adoption events, etc.…we often become reticent and anxious with all the unfamiliar smells and sounds. Our REAL SELF cannot be revealed. Meet us in a quiet place to learn our true character.
3. We get scared if you don’t give us time to become acquainted with you and the new smells of your home. Adopters often fail to follow the explicit instruction of our foster human; i.e. “keep the cat in one room, visit, play, talk with the cat, etc. for at least a week if no other cats in the home and for 2-4 weeks if it is a home with one or more cats”…
4. Kittens have to be trained to the litter box and miss once in a while and yet this is acceptable to humans. However, we adult adopted cats are returned far more often because we may, in the initial orientation period, have a little accident or two. We don’t mean to, but we are nervous and need your support.
5. Adopters assume that we are no longer playful, especially if we are seniors, aged 8 and above. And yet, we adult cats in the senior age group often have never been played with and crave being able to exercise our hunting and playful energies.
6. We adult cats have a personality. In time, with encouragement, we will carefully give our forever family glimpses into our REALSELF. Adopters of Adult Homeless Foster Cats often remark at the pleasure of having ‘won’ our affection and trust.
7. Humans fail to realize the incredible pleasure that they can realize when they allow us to demonstrate our preferences to enable a loving, mutually caring and affectionate relationship to evolve.
I found a quote that I believe appropriately sums up what I have learned from the Adult Homeless Foster Cats I interviewed. Let me know what you think in comments please.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said. “But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed…” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
And that is what Adult Homeless Foster Cats want their forever homes to understand about them. They have so much to give, with time and patience and caring, you will become forever theirs.
I am very late to be posting this celebration of National Feral Cat Day; but believe everyday ought to be “Feral Cat Day”. I want to celebrate and share a local feral rescue and one of their many feral cat colonies. Mom L and Dad P and a friend attended an event on October 17th.
Homeless Animal Response Program (HARP) serves both woofies and kitties who have lost, or never had, a home. They support approximately 10 colonies of feral cats in my county and I want to introduce you to the River Town Cats of Antioch, CA.
We are ON camera!
Mom L did not notice any cats at first…just this one black kitty who was very shy with a photographer…
Nope! Not going to ‘pose’ for this photo shoot
So my human parents and their guest bought some lovely, yummy baked goods and then strolled around a bit. One person pointed them to a location of one of the feral colonies; so they strolled over to look around. These are mostly adult cats, living in two very old and crumbling structures along the front of the Sacramento Delta.
First they saw a brown tabby…so scared that Mom L barely had time to grab this photo…
Who are you? Can I trust you
And then Mom L and her friend Miss Nancy began to discover more and more cats…all adults…(hover over each photo to view the sincere comments)
I know you cannot see me
This is the only home we know
This house is MINE
It is lonely here
Finally, Mom L found one last kitty, who seemed to be standing guard over the entrance to the last dilapidated structure and this cat gave Mom L pause for reflection…we are sorry that the photo is blurred…but Mom L only had her iPhone with her and grabbed this photo through a chain link fence around that dilapidated property.
This is the only home I will ever know
I am joyful that my life did not turn out as this adult cat’s did. Please, please…defend, support and care for those ferals who are living in your communities. They never were given a choice to live in such conditions.
I am so very thankful for the HARP rescue humans who make sure these feral cats receive care and kindness including being spayed and neutered; given vet checks; appropriate vaccines and daily meals.
I am now showing off my SEVENTH Adult Homeless Foster Cat. This will be the last interview in this series and I will do my final wrap up on Sunday, November 2nd.
My intention with this series is to draw attention to the serious backlog of adult homeless foster cats stuck, totally stuck in the foster care system.
Let me introduce you to Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria Noire…a senior, but totally elegant lady cat.
Pleased to make your acquaintance
Savannah: *attempts to dip a tiny curtsy* “Queen Victoria Noire!!!! I am so pleased you agreed to allow me to enter your royal quarters to have this interview. My that is a very high perch you have there.”
Queen Victoria Noire: “Good morning Lady Savannah, it is a pleasure to welcome you to my kingdom and a pleasure to be speaking with you today. I trust you are well, as am I. Here, here…allow be to come down and join you.”
Savannah: “It must be difficult for a ladycat of your distinction to be without your very own personal castle in which to live. I mean, one wants to do a bit of touching up in colors and styles that suit one’s taste, right?”
Queen Victoria Noire: “Absolutely. This is my second foster home since being abandoned at the shelter. You see Savannah, I was ‘owner surrendered’…ahem…but let’s talk about that in a moment. I have been here, oh, about five months. Prior to me coming to this wonderful home I was fostered for about four months with another lady.”
This will be difficult to talk about
Savannah: “Ok, first your original ‘owner’ surrendered you to the public kill shelter, and then then you were saved from that place as was I and you lived for a few months with your first foster. And then you moved again to this foster…did I get all that right?”
Queen Victoria Noire: *sigh* Well, where do I start? I had a loving home. I was adopted as a little princess kitten and enjoyed my home life until the fateful day, *bows head in dismay* at seven years old, when my guardian decided to adopt a dog.
Don’t get me wrong, I wish for all animals to have a loving home, but this was not really a good idea for me. My guardian “presented” me with this dog, and I reacted negatively. It was all so strange for me; my kingdom had changed, my status had changed and I became very upset. Because I didn’t react positively, I was surrendered to the high kill shelter and left to my fate.
The good news is someone cared about what had happened to me and they reached out to Community Concern 4 Cats (CC4C) and asked them to help me. Thankfully they did, and they rescued me from that noisy, cold, harsh environment.
Savannah: “MOUSES! Queen Victoria Noire, how are you managing all this?”
Queen Victoria Noire: *Chortle* Well, let’s see. First and foremost, I am not a princess kitten any more, I am a Queen. And lots of people are looking for a prince or princess, not a Queen who can have a tendency to be ‘not amused’ about more than just a few things.
Oh, and the fact that I haven’t really been able to go to the adoption sites because I have had to spend a considerable amount of time decompressing from the multiple traumas I endured; this has not helped at all. However, that is getting so much better and I have been to adoptions twice, and will be gracing Pet Food Express with my presence until such time as I have found my new kingdom.
Adoption events are so disturbing and challenging but I will endure to find my forever castle
Savannah: “ummm…Queen Victoria Noire, may I request that you tell me a bit about what happened to you during and after your stay at your first foster home? If it isn’t too much trouble, that is.”
Queen Victoria Noire: “Ahem, I adored my first foster home. She was so very accommodating and kind. However, not long after arriving, I was whisked off to the VET for a thorough examination to determine the state of my overall health. They discovered that I had a severe Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) to the point that my *whispers behind her paw to Savannah* ‘pee’ was almost pink. Yes, yes dearest Savannah. I had blood in my urine. It was terribly painful for me, and I never allowed anyone to know.
To make matters worse, the sweet person who was fostering me must have taken in some other cats to foster who had FLEAS!!! I was so distressed over those little demon things biting at me that I over groomed and created ‘hot spots’ all over my body. *shakes head remembering*The foster human to whom I was delivered after being treated for this stressful flea condition then agreed to allow me to create my temporary kingdom and spacious quarters here.”
Savannah: “You are the bravest senior homeless lady cat I can imagine. Any human family who discovers you and takes you to your forever castle will indeed have found a true Queen.”
Queen Victoria Noire: *blushing* Oh Savannah, you do boost one’s spirit I must say.
Savannah, you are too kind
I have to say, my foster caregivers are doing everything in their power to make me feel comfortable attending adoptions, they even procured me a royal carriage so that I don’t have to suffer the indignities of being in a carrier or a cage. They understand the needs of a Queen (they are, after all, British. As am I) oh and there is this other teensy little issue; I am not willing to share my kingdom with other cats, or dogs.
Savannah: “Queen Victoria Noire, why don’t you tell me what your new castle and staff can expect from you as their Queen?”
Queen Victoria Noire: The first thing to expect is that, more than likely, I am not going to be a lap cat day one. But given enough time and patience I will learn to trust and be a great companion.
They can however expect that I won’t shred curtains, or screens, or sofas. I am also meticulous with my bathroom habits, I won’t be peeing inappropriately. I won’t be demanding either. I’ll survey my kingdom from on high to make sure everything is as it should be, and I will grace my new family with a dignified presence. Although I might make out my current adoptive parents to be complete fibbers and sit on your lap day one. After all, I am Queen Victoria Noire and I get to make the rules up as I go along. I will love them, cuddle with them, albeit conditionally.”
I must put my paw down on certain interactions with my new humans
Savannah: “Well said! Ok, let’s talk about your hopes and dreams for your permanent castle and the family who will serve you.”
Queen Victoria Noire: “Well, *claps front paws together in excitement* it is likely that I need a home that is more like a library than a circus, which probably means no rowdy children. When you add it all up, it really starts to limit my options don’t you think?
Savannah: *holds up paws* Whoa, I am not the lady cat to be answering that because I also simply was not able to tolerate the commotion of human young people.”
Queen Victoria Noire: “Why that is very reassuring Savannah. Oh, and my fur is silky and beautiful, but all black. Actually, I will make anyone who becomes my forever family always look very slim; black IS the most slimming of colors you know.
I adore my foster parents but I am tired of being confined to one room. I’d love a home where my new family is willing to be patient with me and understand that I might be a little fearful to start with. I’m thinking that an older couple or person would be perfect for me. I’d love to have a castle (cat tower) that affords me a view out of the windows, as I don’t like to go outside but do like a room with a view.
I must be an only pet though. I’m traumatized from my experience with a dog, and don’t believe I will ever recover enough to be able to live with other animals, be they cats or dogs. I’m not really asking for much, just a calm place to rest my head and have a nice human staff who will love me.
Of course I do still like to play, so someone who wants to bond with me through play time would be great.
I know I ask for too much
It sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? I don’t think I am asking for much, and I know there is someone out there looking for a Queen like me, I just need you to help us find each other Savannah, so anything you can do would be wonderful
Savannah: “My Queen, it is my pleasure to work hard to assist you in finding that perfect forever castle where you can rest your head next to your human (s) and find peace and contentment. Let’s get to work!”
Please, Ceiling Cat, help me find my forever castle. I am not young anymore but still so much love to give
Please take a moment to enjoy watching my guest interact with her current foster human.
And so ends my final interview in my series “I Am An Adult Homeless Foster Cat: Savannah reveals hopes and dreams”.
I so hope that you have found this series both informative and enlightening as to the challenges all Adult Homeless Foster Cats face. It is a huge challenge and now is the time to make a difference. Please SHARE this interview and the others I have been posting.
You can find them all by simply going to the right of my blog post screen, to my badges and click on the badge for PAW IT FORWARD. All my series post on this topic will be right at the top.
My final wrap up post will be on Sunday, November 1rst. Hope you have time to stop by.
All savanahspawtracks.com words and images from 2012 to eternity on this site may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent. Please contact me if you are interested in reprinting or using my images. My contact information is under my pull down menu ABOUT. Appreciate the cooperation. Paw Pats, Savannah
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