A Gift I Give Myself
Fostering orphaned kittens is a time-consuming, stressful, and labor-intensive endeavor. Why do I do it? I do it for myself, for the love, pleasure and satisfaction it brings me.
I love teaching, but I do that for the students. I love my family members and sharing all their special moments, but my bottle-babies I foster for myself.
When they stare up at me, the only mother they know, with loving eyes, I forget the sleep deprivation, the constant cleaning and laundry, and the intense sorrow when one doesn’t make it. Each little kitten is a bundle of love and trust, a beacon of hope for the future, and a way to pay back the world for all the joys cats have brought me throughout my life.
Fostering animals is the hardest job you’ll ever love! They come to you at the most inconvenient times. Many are dirty, infested, and sick. Few are really healthy, and all are hungry. Some arrive in boxes, sacks, and cages. Others just wander in, having been dumped in your neighborhood.
The one thing they have in common is need – for warmth, protection, food, and love. So I gather them in and try to save them. No matter how much I give of myself to their rescue and rehabilitation, they give me back more in return. I make a difference in their lives, even for the ones that don’t survive. Especially for them, because I provided the only comfort and love they ever knew.
Give me the helpless, the lost, the homeless wee ones struggling just to live, the innocent refuse of an uncaring society. Send these, the weak, abandoned lives, to me. I offer warmth, care, hope, and love. They are so tiny, and I am just one rescue worker in a city that doesn’t seem to care.
But I care. I know it’s the right thing to do, and when I see one of my babies adopted and settled in its “forever home,” I experience enormous satisfaction and joy.
What began in anxiety and concern ends as a purr-fect day. I am energized and strengthened by each foster experience, and I rededicate myself to rescue work.
Try it. I say again, fostering animals is the hardest job you’ll ever love.
(Editor: Mary Finch is on the Helotes Humane Society’s Board of Directors. Above, she has eloquently shared her thoughts and feelings on the satisfaction and joy she receives from fostering rescued kittens. If you would like to become a foster to rescued animals, please contact the Helotes Humane Society at 210-422-6242. You can also visit their website at www.hhsanimals.org.)