Musings from a fosterer

Hello.  Starting a little light-hearted blog from me – as a fosterer with the RSPCA Bedfordshire South Branch.

Haven’t been fostering for very long…only since last September.  Monday 12^th September to be exact – when little Shadow arrived into my world.

A tiny little terrified thing that spent 4 weeks hiding behind the blind in the spare bedroom.  But she surprised us all and turned around so quickly.  We had her re-homed on 30^th October to an AMAZING couple.  They now have a total of 3 cats from us and Shadow has, according to all reports and pictures, DOUBLED in size.

Good news!

I’m looking after Gina and Flora at the moment. Two GORGEOUS torties.  Given what they’ve been through, I’m amazed at how friendly and loving they are.

Little Flora had open sores on her feet when she arrived.  She had been sitting in her own filth for so long, the acid had burned through her fur and skin.  Tiny little Gina was emaciated.  I got the heebie-jeebies stroking her because I could feel all her bones.  Both are, according to the vet-check, a year in age or not far off a year – yet, they’re so small and thin, they’re too fragile for neutering and chipping.  My job is to feed them up first…then we’ll get them ready for re-homing.

And, after nearly two weeks, they’re coming on SO well!  They’re still not too keen to come out of their bedroom but they love larking about – with each other and their toys.  And they do give a most wonderful greeting every time I visit them.  They both BOUND out of their beds full of purrs and vying to be the one to be tickled more than the other.

Flora opted to sit in a cardboard concertina file for the first week of her stay.  It was fine…I give them as much time and space as they need…tho’ I thought I’d lost her somehow as just couldn’t find her at first (who thinks to check the concertina file for a cat??).  After standing around scratching my head for a few moments, muttering to myself “But there’s no WAYS she could have got past me without me seeing her…”, I started investigating every single nook and cranny in the room….and found her filed under ‘P’ for Pussycat.  Gotta love a cat that can file properly.

Only thing I’m still waiting on, is them to start grooming themselves properly.

The day they were confiscated, Kendall – a most BRILIANT fosterer – gave them a bath in her kitchen sink.  They were in a dreadful mess.  Even now, fairly sure those lighter ginger tinges on their bibs and bellies….well, I think they’re wee-stains.

Gina seems to be in a slightly more manky state than Flora so got some dry shampoo designed for cats and picked her first to try it out.

Oh my days!  She might have been half-starved and tiny, but – blimey – she put up a fight!  And I am too worried about how delicate she is to be any firmer….so that got tossed in the bin.

Tried out a suggestion of dabbing the paws with some tuna juice (spring water, rather than brine or oil) but that doesn’t seem to have done the trick either.  Now they both just smell faintly of wee AND tuna.

And Gina has a little spikey patch at the back of her head.  She got excitable about the tuna juice as I was trying to get it ready and some ended up on her scruff.  It’s now my barometer for whether she’s grooming or not – if she clears that, she’s doing a jolly good job.  It’s right where you have to be expert yoga-cat grooming level to get to….

Bless, her ears are a little mucky too….but, it’s early days really.

A couple of very nervy fosters I had before Gina and Flora also took ages to start grooming themselves ….and, oh, they scrubbed up beautifully!  Despite scabby noses and also being a little on the way-too-skinny side.

So, waiting patiently.  Wonder if leaving the bottle of dry-shampoo in the room might be an idea?  They might decide to groom in order to avoid another attempt with it!