🐾🐈🥺❤️Tale of 3 Tails: Chapter 55 - Fostering and Letting Go Is Hard 🐾🐈🥺❤️

We were so careful with Cally, because she'd been through so much trauma. She came to us as this horribly sunburnt and skinny little girl, who had been fighting for her life, to a relaxed and absolutely lovely cat, with a bit of a tummy! We also nursed her through her sterilization, which was surprisingly easy, as she didn't pick at the stitches, like most other cats.

In the three months she was with us, she put on weight beautifully and recovered from her sunburn (thank God) because that's always a massive concern with white kitties. They are very prone to skin cancer. And it's so hard to manage that because one of any cat's favorite pastimes is to bask in the sun.

I went through this when I was around 9 with our cat, Snowey. My parents adopted her around the time my mom was pregnant, so she was always a part of my life. I don't think I have any photos of her, but she also became the matriarch of three generations of kittens that followed, of which we kept at least one or two kittens from each litter. This was the 1980s/ 1990s so we weren't so informed about how important it is to sterilize your cats, but we also got to see the whole pregnancy process, the actual birthing, and how cute newborn kittens are. It also taught me how to hand-rear rejected kittens, which was a skill I'd find most useful later in life.

We moved houses a lot during my childhood, which was pretty traumatic, and lost a bunch of cats along the way, but somehow, Snowey always stuck with us. Then she got Ear Cancer and it was all downhill from there. She ended up after her ears had gone through a series of ear cropping surgeries, with lesions on her body and basically keeping her alive was cruel. We had to let her go. We eventually had to put her to sleep, and this was around the time of my parent's divorce, which is why my mother found it so hard to let her go. She would sit in my lap every morning, and you dare not move as she would dig her claws in and basically become very painful cat Velcro 🥺❤️ I still miss her today, 30 years later.

Back to the present day, our two older girls have just really become so relaxed in their home and it's been so lovely watching Squeek come out of her shell. She was always terribly shy and terrified of other humans. She is now up for affection no matter which one of us is giving it. It's like she is a totally different cat.

Lexi has just become more of a drama queen and insists on making a massive noise when her presence notified, so like we all take turns making sure she gets in through a closed window (even though there is a window that is permanently open downstairs) and we have to make her a throne when she comes to cuddle and nap with me <3 Such a princess. Oh my gosh.

Cally, who we were fostering in the hopes of adopting, really got into our hearts. Which made it so difficult to let her go. Unfortunately, the time she had spent on the streets made her super aggressive to other cats. Squeek and Lexi didn't even stand a chance as Cally would attack, unprovoked, on sight. We tried multiple methods to try to integrate the cats, but it ended with both of the older girls living in my room and Squeek refusing to come out from under the bed. She hadn't gone to the litter box or eaten in two days at her worst.Both Squeek and Lexi are "outside cats and this meant they almost refused to use the litter box, meowing at the door constantly or the window to get out. It was not pleasant at all for any of us.

We eventually had to make the very hard decision of letting Cally go to go find her her purrfect forever home. I'm just so sad it wasn't us. It was also such shitty timing... being just around Christmas.

Matthew actually got himself in the middle of the altercations because they were so serious. He's such a brave boy and sustained some rather seriously nasty injuries in the process.
My loyalties, however, do have to lie with the cats we already have and I was honestly frightened they were going to run away as soon as they got the chance. We are still looking for more kitties to join our clowder, but this has taught us that we need to find the right kitty. I so badly wanted to rescue an older cat, as they rarely get a second chance, but I'm afraid we'll have to bring in a kitten if we're going to try this again.

Being such a loving kitty, I truly hope Cally finds the right furever home for her <3

Our older girls recovered very fast (within 48 hours) once the adoption organization came to pick Cally up. And I am so grateful for that.

I guess for now, the lesson is to love the cats we have.

I have decided to remain on the foster list though as it was such a beautiful experience, even if we didn't decide to keep her. I hope we made a significant difference in her life.

Go well Cally. We love you and hope you have a wonderful life in the right environment <3