How I Became A Foster Mom to One Very Special Cat!

Manic:  Our house with three very happy and spoiled cats and then discovering a beautiful boy cat literally sitting on my front door mat meowing to come in…just like someone would ring my doorbell!

Managed:  Sat out front with him as he curled up into a ball into my lap and decided to add fostering a cat to my list of my 2013 experiences!  As I drove him to the vet yesterday to have him checked out, I was in disbelief that my day had become all about this lost guy who happens to be the nicest and most cuddly cat that I’ve met in a long time.  Here is the story….

Yesterday at 10am I was working on my computer.  My doorbell rang with a delivery.  The woman at the door told me that she could hear a kitten meowing in my bushes.  So, I went outside to check it out.  Instead of a kitten, a beautiful grey and white full grown male appeared and stood there staring at me and meowing.  He looked pretty clean and healthy, but his paws were dirty from his lost journey.

At first I thought he was an outdoor cat that I hadn’t seen before, but instead he let me know that he truly had no interst being outside and that he longed to come into my house.  I sat down on my front door mat and he plopped into my lap, started purring and exposed his belly for me to happily pet.  I truly haven’t met a cat this nice in years, not since we had our beloved kitty, Zilker who acted more like a lap dog than a cat…she even did tricks!  She also appeared on my husband’s (we were engaged at the time) doorstep!  We adopted her and had her for 15 very loving years.

The thing about our neighborhood is that we don’t have stray cats.  You rarely ever see an outdoor cat because the coyotes and the owls get them.  So this guy just seemed to appear out of nowhere.  I went door to door trying to find an owner, but I’m not sure he has an owner because he isn’t neutered.  My guess is that he is about one year old and I discovered later at my vet appointment for him that I was right on.

So, I went inside for a bit and watched him out of the window.  He simply sat on my mat meowing to please come inside.  He really seemed uncomfortable outside.  So I decided that fostering this one cat is part of my 2013 journey.  This is interesting because I have recently decided (and am writing about this in my future 202 Magazine issue) to try new things, but I must tell you, fostering a cat wasn’t on that list!  Especially since we already own two boy cats and one princess kitty named Lucy!

So I brought him in and placed him in our guest bathroom until I could decide what to do next.  Then I closed the door and the door knob broke and wouldn’t open!  At this point, I couldn’t believe the day that I was having!  I called my awesome neighbor, Rob and he came over to help me get in the bathroom.  It took a long while and we had to hammer the door knob to finally get in.  I imagined that the lost cat (who I’m now calling Foster since he is a foster cat) would be scared and hiding in the corner after all of that hammering, but instead he was happily sitting in the sink, purring and gazing at all of us! Can you tell by the picture how cool he is?!  Ugh….I truly didn’t want to be in this position, to foster a cat, when we already have three kitties!  But how could I leave this friendly and beautiful guy out in the rain?  Nope, I couldn’t do it.

So I took him to the vet yesterday and the vet and the nurses were all in love with him, too.  He sat on the exam table and  just purred!  He is healthy, about 1 1/2 years old and is “very adoptable” the vet says.  I had him tested for the dangerous cat diseases for his sake and for our three cats’ safety since he is our house guest right now and he is fine, thank goodness. So I have now scheduled surgery for him on Tuesday to be neutered.  Sorry Foster….but that has to happen before I go to work finding you a good home.

I must tell you that I’m going to be picky on where he ends up because he is truly the nicest and coolest cat around, not to mention really pretty!  He has made it clear to us that he wants to be someone’s indoor lap cat, no outdoor roaming for him.  At this point, he is staying in our guest bathroom and to my surprise, he doesn’t cry to be let out.  He is perfectly content with the sink to sleep in, the litter, bed and food and water we have provided.  After he is neutered, we plan to move him to a bigger room with windows until we can figure out what to do next.  If we didn’t already have 3 incredibly spoiled cats, keeping him would be no brainer, as he is the nicest cat ever!

And I must admit, I am tempted to be the crazy lady who has four cats, only because Mr. Foster is truly something special!  Our family of four had a meeting and we all decided that we are committed to fostering Foster with love, shelter, good food, cat toys and post-surgery care until we can figure out what comes next.

I still can’t believe that this happened.  I feel that there must be a reason that he ended up on my doorstep and acts like we are his long lost home.  This morning I sat in the bathtub in my jammies.  Foster joined me and snuggled up to me.  Then he put his paw on my hand and held hands with me, all the while, gazing up into my eyes as if he was thanking me.  Then I knew that he is part of my 2013 journey to try new things, in this case fostering a cat and finding him a good home.

Call me crazy or call me compassionate.  I choose compassionate and I am praying that this story has a heart-warming and terrific ending that I can share in a future post that I call Foster Finds A Forever Home!

In the meantime until we take him for surgery on Tuesday, Foster keeps surprising us.  He is content to sleep in the sink in between our visits.  He doesn’t cry to be let out and he is following the litter rules (thank goodness).  He doesn’t seem to know (or care) that our other three cats are roaming the house outside of his safe haven.  Our three cats know he is in there and they are very curious, but thank goodness, they are are not marking and are acting normal, outside of the occasional visit to sit outside of the mystery door, sniffing and trying to get inside!

Wish me luck as we continue our adventure of Fostering Foster….he has already secured a place in my heart!  I still can’t believe that I’m writing this and that we are doing this!