Sugar and the Sugarbabies
There's a whole lot of hissing going on around here since I brought in a new foster cat last week. Sugar, the new girl, is hardly bigger than an adolescent kitten, but she has already had a litter. Thankfully, both her offspring went off together to a new home. Today she will be spayed, so her littering days are over and she can just be a cat from now on.
Fé, whose name is Spanish for Faith
Fé, a grande dame-size feline that I took in last fall, is not playing gracious hostess to this interloper. We divided the house in half, and made the kitchen/living room Sugar's domain and the bedroom/studio Fé's stomping grounds to help Fé get over her queen-size pique. That didn't last long. Now Sugar and Fé take turns sleeping with us.
Chica the dog is getting along fairly well with both, although she snaps if Sugar gets interested in the tennis balls. We had several foster dogs last year, so she's probably happier with this arrangement, maintaining her status as Queen Dog.
Rescuing cats involves a loosely-organized network of foster families that will take them. Fostering works better for cats anyway, we believe, since collecting felines in a building or room together until they reach critical mass usually leads to a lot of illnesses, and the cats don't get sufficiently socialized to help them become adoptable. I'm hoping to learn some tips for helping cats adapt to fostering, and integrating foster cats into households with other pets. Any ideas are always welcome.
Of course, there's always the risk that taking in a foster cat will lead to bonding with the cat and becoming emotionally unprepared to adopt her out. I'm determine that's not going to happen here. Although...she has the prettiest green eyes, and she's SO affectionate...