Hi Everyone...
It's been almost five years since my last post. At that time, I was struggling with health problems in my last two cats, Max and Sally. They have since crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Because I knew that my finances (and my own health) are marginal and not likely to get better, I knew it did not make sense for me to adopt anymore. At a local pet loss/bereavement support group, I learned about fostering. I registered with a local animal adoption agency and discovered that it was an excellent way to help animals and their humans to stay together--and a way for me to continue to enjoy the company of cats, even if it meant changing cats every few months. It helped me get over the depressing empty-house syndrome.
While on standby between foster cases, a friend (also a cat-person) frantically called me in December to ask if I would foster a cat who was found living under a dumpster in Chicago. She couldn't do anything herself, because she was recovering from surgery, and the cat had been dumped on one of her "Cat Lady Network" people living in a tiny, over-cat-crowded apartment. Against my better judgement, I drove over there on Christmas Eve and brought the cat home. Timi is a 2-year-old calico who quickly befriended me. Very tempting to adopt her. But, I gotta do the responsible thing, so we signed her up with ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation). ARF paid for a physical exam, vaccine, blood tests, etc. And ARF will pay for spaying. Timi tested good on everything--except the Doc says she has a heart murmur, which might make anesthesia (for the spaying) risky. ARF will not attempt to place a cat who is not spayed.
I'm worried. Any thoughts on this?
It's been almost five years since my last post. At that time, I was struggling with health problems in my last two cats, Max and Sally. They have since crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Because I knew that my finances (and my own health) are marginal and not likely to get better, I knew it did not make sense for me to adopt anymore. At a local pet loss/bereavement support group, I learned about fostering. I registered with a local animal adoption agency and discovered that it was an excellent way to help animals and their humans to stay together--and a way for me to continue to enjoy the company of cats, even if it meant changing cats every few months. It helped me get over the depressing empty-house syndrome.
While on standby between foster cases, a friend (also a cat-person) frantically called me in December to ask if I would foster a cat who was found living under a dumpster in Chicago. She couldn't do anything herself, because she was recovering from surgery, and the cat had been dumped on one of her "Cat Lady Network" people living in a tiny, over-cat-crowded apartment. Against my better judgement, I drove over there on Christmas Eve and brought the cat home. Timi is a 2-year-old calico who quickly befriended me. Very tempting to adopt her. But, I gotta do the responsible thing, so we signed her up with ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation). ARF paid for a physical exam, vaccine, blood tests, etc. And ARF will pay for spaying. Timi tested good on everything--except the Doc says she has a heart murmur, which might make anesthesia (for the spaying) risky. ARF will not attempt to place a cat who is not spayed.
I'm worried. Any thoughts on this?
