Catch 22….
Means many things… but it is my feeling today.
This morning I took a small kitten (just over 2lbs) to the vet to be examined, spayed, get her shots, and be microchipped. It is a day foster parents work towards, but hate to see it come. It is the first step of a kitten’s future life.
You foster to give them a better chance of life, health… but you also fall in love a bit. You spent the last few weeks, or months caring for the kitten, working for this day. This day, the day you spend worrying, wondering, praying they are alright, everything is good...did the phone just ring. Hello? What, oh she is fine? Great, oh what time, Yes, I’ll be there…. Today is the day she is ‘ready’ to be adopted….(well give a few days to rest from the surgery, but you get the point) The day she becomes adoptable, and she will soon leave my home, her 1st real loving home. Catch 22, happy for the future this day brings, and sadness from the hole in your heart, because you know your time together will end.
This is a kitten I got when she and her sister were just a week and half old…and they were tiny.
She only weighed in at 3.5 ozs. Her sister was 3.8 oz. The first week was dicey. Up every 2 hours to feed them, then they stopped wanting the formula, lost weight, tried formula and baby food mixed together, I could get them to eat just a tiny bit each time…every 2 to 2 and half hours... Took them in for a vet visit and they were given some antibiotics, special food and some probiotics, and they slowly started to improve. They were a bit slower than most, but soon, their little bodies started getting stronger, more playful, and today they are happy healthy little kittens.
Catch 22, give them love, attention, lots of prayers, to reach this milestone in their life, waiting for the all clear call from the vet (because you just never know…) then the joy and yes, pain of watching them get adopted….