The Life of a Foster Parent: “We Love Them Too Much NOT to Let Them Go”

This story is told by Karma Cat + Zen Dog Rescue Society volunteer Jacqueline.

“Oh, bless your heart! I could never foster – I love them too much to give them away…”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that and similar comments when I tell people I foster. At first, it seems like a compliment of some sort, and maybe it’s meant to be one, but I always feel a little bad after hearing that. Like somehow, I don’t love my fosters enough because I “give them away.”

Love isn’t really something that can be measured or qualified. It’s such a subjective thing. But it’s a thing at the core of our being. For all creatures. We may not be able to define it or measure it, but we sure know it when we see it.
 

The many ways fosters and volunteers show love

 
I’ve seen fosters leave the comfort of their homes and families every couple of hours to go and care for a kitten recovering in isolation at our adoption center. Refusing to accept a bad outcome, nursing that floof ball to health with food, medicine, fuzzy play balls, and plenty of warm hugs and kisses.

I know fosters who spend countless days with cats so traumatized and withdrawn no one would ever have looked at them twice or considered adopting them. Yet, with a thoughtful plan of care, they have given that cat a sense of safety and security and allowed it a second chance to consider humans good enough to live with and be adopted.

I know fosters whose cars always have a kennel in them for transporting kittens to vet appointments, for rescuing a stray kitten found by the side of a road, for picking up a surrendered senior cat whose owner just died, for walking into shelters and coming out with a shutdown, overwhelmed cat left too long in overcrowded cages.

There are volunteers here at Karma Cat + Zen Dog who come in twice a day to clean and feed the resident cats at the adoption center. That’s all they do. They scoop litter boxes, and mop floors, and get smelly cat food on their fingers.

There are volunteers who “just” come in to socialize with the resident cats. And while it may look like it’s all fun and games, it is part of a larger very well-thought-out plan of care. To help these cats see humans as fun and safe, to give them the right amount of stimulation and age-appropriate recreation so that when their adopter comes through the doors, they are ready to go home.

There are volunteers who work tirelessly and invisibly behind the curtain, raising money, keeping track of every little detail of a cat’s life waiting for a home, and making the magic work.
 

The bittersweet and best part of it all: the goodbye

 
Then there is the day that we ALL wait for with bated breath. The day when our foster cat is ready and their adopter walks through the door. That’s the moment we have all worked so hard for. The adopter picks up the four-legged ball of floor and brings them to their very own home. And along with that little ball of floof, the adopter also takes countless hours of worry and love, laughter and concern with them. Hours of hopes and dreams for something better. Our foster cats are front-loaded with more love than any one person could give because they have been cared for by the Karma Cat + Zen Dog tribe. And it has been our honor and privilege. And, yes, it does culminate in the sad but joyous goodbye.

We love them too much to hold onto them. We love them enough to find them their very own person and their very own home. We love them so much that we let them go, only to turn and begin all over again with the next kitty, waiting behind a bush, an empty apartment, or a crowded metal cage. We love them too much NOT to let them go…

Fostering and volunteering is a priceless and rewarding experience. If you’re interested in learning more about helping save the animals and would like to browse our volunteer opportunities, please click here.