Over the years, I’ve written a lot about the importance of fostering shelter animals. There are so many wonderful reasons to give of your time in this way so that animals without homes can get a fair shot at their happy ending.
Until recently though, I haven’t been able to foster animals at home because I had elderly, special needs pets that needed our complete focus.
Now that we have an empty nest, we are finally able to open our home to shelter animals temporarily until the shelter can find permanent homes for them.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been caring for a litter of seven-week-old kittens who were found alone outside near a freeway offramp. Since I got them near the Halloween holiday, I decided to name them after Addams Family characters: Wednesday, Gomez and Uncle Fester.
The Addams Family is a spicy bunch. Since they were born outside, and didn’t get any human interaction for the first weeks of their life, they need a lot of socializing to make them ready for permanent homes.
So, I set about the task to win them over with my charm.
Things were going along great for the first few days. They were eating well and allowing me to hold them for brief periods of time without hissing and spitting at me.
Uncle Fester, a gorgeous black and white little guy seemed to favor me the most — coming to sit next to me when I’d sit down on the floor of the bathroom (where they’ve set up camp).
I’m not one to play favorites. But if I did, Uncle Fester would most certainly be my favorite. His gentle nature and curious eyes melted my heart. Of the three, he seemed to be the most interested in me, too.
I was in love — and about to have my heart broken.
On the fourth day, I woke up to find that Uncle Fester had passed away in the middle of the night.
When I saw him lying there, something inside me broke. So, I sat there, holding him silently for over an hour before I could turn my brain back on.
I took them all back to the shelter to have them tested to make sure the others weren’t also sick. After running all the routine tests, the remaining two kittens were deemed healthy and disease free.
Uncle Fester’s abrupt death remains unexplained (and odd since he showed no prior signs of being ill) — so I’ll never know if there was something I could have done to keep it from happening.
I was understandably upset — and the shelter staff was very kind and offered to keep the other two kittens and find another foster for them. But even though a small piece of me broke with his passing, it never occurred to me to stop fostering the other two.
Years ago when I operated a critically endangered livestock conservancy on my farm in the Midwest, I was used to being repeatedly broken by the harsh reality that death is part of bringing life into the world.
I can’t count the number of times I helped to deliver stillborn calves, or find a young lamb pass away unexpectedly in the middle of a cold night.
I understood that my choice to care for animals and save lives came with a price — and this was it. I know that I can’t save every single one of them.
But I will keep paying that price over and over because there are still two kittens, Wednesday and Gomez, who have a chance to live a long healthy life — and find a home with people who will love them for the long haul.
It’s not a small price. But in comparison to the fulfillment I get from being a part of their journey and helping to prepare them for life after foster, it’s more than worth it to me.
I’m probably not painting a lovely picture of fostering kittens. But I’ve been in this business long enough now to know that what happened with Uncle Fester is simply a fact of life — and it’s by far more the exception than the rule when fostering young kittens.
So, I’m going to press on, because in the days since, I’ve seen so much progress with the other two kittens.
I’ll give you an example.
In the beginning, Gomez was probably the most fearful of the bunch. He would hide in his crate whenever I’d come into the room, and would not come out to eat if I was sitting on the floor next to the food.
If I attempted to pick him up, he’d hiss and scratch like a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills on a reunion special. In short, he was not a fan.
It’s only been a week, and we’ve made so much progress. He still isn’t thrilled being picked up and handled, but he has gotten very comfortable climbing all over me like a jungle gym. He’s even letting out some gentle purrs when I pet him. It’s glorious.
Watching them bounce around the room playing is a kind of entertainment you just can’t get from watching Tic Tok videos of kittens online. It’s pure joy in real time — and it’s magical.
In a couple of weeks, Wednesday and Gomez will be old enough, and hopefully social enough, to go back to the shelter to be spayed and neutered and placed for adoption.
The truth is, without willing fosters like me, these two would have been euthanized.
Why? The reason is because animal shelters are not 24/7 operations. Young kittens, especially ones under two-months-old need a higher standard of care and feeding that shelters do not have the resources to do around the clock.
Can it be heartbreaking to foster? Sometimes, yes. But I would argue that my heart is bigger and more full with their presence in my life.
They fill me up with their energy and enthusiasm for life. They’re healing my broken heart.
So, I’m going to keep doing it. You should, too.
As a child, Jack Hagerman founded and operated his own make-shift animal rescue — taking in stray cats, injured birds, and the occasional bunny. As an adult, he co-founded a critically endangered livestock conservancy on his farm in the Midwest, where he cared for and rehabilitated more than 400 animals in 17 different critically endangered livestock species. He formerly worked with Pasadena Humane and the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society. When he isn’t working with animals, he’s writing about them — hoping to create a better world for our animal friends, one witty tangent at a time.
