Eventually, maybe high school, my mom proposed a compromise: if I stopped bugging her about getting me a cat, when I owned my own home she would buy me whatever cat I wanted. Deal. So I put my desire for a cat on the back burner. I could wait until I was done with college and all that anyway.
Well, guess what? I've owned my own home for a few years now. And yes, I've been seriously considering taking her up on that offer. But I've never owned a cat. What if, as my mom thought, I got a cat and decided I hated it? I've seen that happen with people. They get a pet, and then a little ways into it they totally regret it. I didn't want to do that--to me or the animal.
Eventually I found out that the Humane Society has a fostering program. Cool! So I got as much information as I could about the program, and Chad and I took a few weeks to think and talk about it. And then we decided to go for it. And that's how we came to foster these two beauties:
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| Abby (8 weeks) and Olive (5 weeks) |
They are both girls, but they're not from the same litter and not even the same age. It's important for kittens to stay together while they're young so they can develop important social skills. A kitten who is isolated from other kittens too early may be more rough during play with humans later because they didn't have siblings to play with to learn how much claws and teeth can hurt. So the Humane Society put these two together, and they're good friends.
I have learned a lot since bringing these two home!
1. Kittens are difficult to contain. We were told we'd probably get kittens around 6 weeks old. And Chad and I assumed that being that young they wouldn't be very skilled jumpers or climbers yet, so we cleared out some space under a desk in our kitchen for the kittens. We were planning on letting them have the run of the kitchen but blocking off their access to the rest of the house using a child gate. It worked great for a half a day! They were content to explore the kitchen for several hours. But eventually Abby climbed over the gate and then Olive followed. So we attached cardboard to the gate thinking they couldn't climb up a shear wall. But almost immediately Abby jumped over the gate but poor Olive was left behind. So we laid down one of the benches that goes with our kitchen table and put the gate on top of that. But almost immediately Abby jumped over the gate. Apparently an 8 week-old kitten can jump over 4 feet. Impressive. The only solution left to us was closed doors. We kept the kittens in a bathroom during the night and let them explore the house during the day. We did keep our bedroom doors closed those; I especially didn't want them to have accidents in the boys' room.
2. I really like having cuddle buddies. No surprises here. I was confident about this going in, but I could really get used to having a soft ball of fluff purring in my lap while I'm watching a movie or reading a book or playing a video game. It's nice. I'll miss it. I think Charlie really liked it too.
3. Sure, kitty litter is gross--obviously--but it's not too bad. Throughout the day we'll check the litter and scoop any poop we find. Then about once a week we dump the old stuff, clean out the box, and put new litter in. And yes, there is a pet odor combined with a litter odor (the litter has a "fresh scent" which is a bunch of malarkey but then I don't think it's possible to manufacture a truly fresh scent) in the bathroom where we keep the litter box, but it's not an overwhelming, disgusting, permeating-the-entire house odor. It's totally manageable.
4. Kittens can easily get confused about where to dig, squat, and bury. We have a bean bag chair. It's a chair I've had since I was a kid, and I've kept it around because I thought the boys would like it. They don't. Oh well. But the kittens sure liked it! Except they seemed to think that they should dig around and do their business in it. The bean bag chair has been thoroughly cleaned and put away. And accidents have decreased dramatically.
5. Balls of yarn are not just for cats. Sorry for the grainy picture--it's Charlie. But I think that about covers it. For whatever crazy reason, he calls it his "paint." Weirdo.
6. While kittens have dangerous claws and teeth, they don't always use them--even if they feel threatened. Part of the appeal of keeping the kittens in the kitchen was that we could keep them away from the kids. When we realized containment wouldn't work, I was afraid for Emmett. He's 16 months old and doesn't understand things like "gentle" or "don't poke the kitty in the eye." You know, somewhat important things like that. I imagine the kittens feel for Emmett what the citizens of Japan felt for Godzilla. When they see him coming they try to run away, but when a clear path of retreat isn't available they get this look like they're thinking, "No sudden movements. Maybe if I don't move, he'll lose interest." Of course that's their downfall. But even when Emmett has gotten his amazingly strong little hands on them (pulling tails, poking eyes, throttling choke holds, and other general rough grabbiness) I have never seen either kitten even swat a paw at him. Abby got stuck under a bed with him once, and while he tried to drag her out by half squishing her, she didn't react at all. I've been surprised.
7. Kitten hair doesn't get everywhere. I think we've all been around those pets where if you pet them or they rub up against your leg for even a brief second you are immediately covered in massive amounts of pet hair. I've been pleasantly surprised. I've only seen kitten hair in the bathroom where they sleep. And when they get up after snuggling on my lap for extended periods while I pet them, they leave no hair behind. No hair. None. I honestly don't know if it's (1) some kind of fluke, (2) their youth, (3) cats in general, (4) I'm more blind than I realize, or (5) I found magic kitties, but I was anticipating significantly more shedding than I've seen.
Overall, it's been a really good experience. And while I've decided that I enjoy having an animal in the house, I'm still not ready to commit to a pet for the next 10-20 years. But I think that if I were to get a kitten to keep in the future, I'd want to start by fostering the entire litter, so I'm in a better position of picking the best one. :) Not all kittens are created equal. And when the Humane Society says a kitten is "litter trained," they mean that while shut in a small environment at the shelter, the kitten uses the litter box. Your house is an entirely different story.
Our time as foster pet owners has come to an end, and it's time to take these beauties back to be adopted:
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| Abby (11 weeks) and Olive (8 weeks) |
We might foster again. It's been an experience I'd like to repeat. We've got a lot going on in the next month or so, but after things get back to "normal" we may try again. I'll keep you posted.
