The hardest (and most special) part about fostering with a rescue is without a doubt the way you must give a piece of your heart to every cat, and then say goodbye when they get adopted. While even the most seasoned fosters struggle with this, the knowledge that you’ve helped save a life is well worth the bitter-sweet goodbyes, as you watch them go off to their amazing Furever Homes. Such is the blessing and curse of a foster family, to have loved and said goodbye to so many wonderful animals on their way to Happily Ever After.
But sometimes a foster family comes across a little soul so special that they simply cannot imagine life without their foster cat. This relationship - equally as special as a foster’s ability to love selflessly and say goodbye, results in what we call a “Foster Fail”. This is what happened to fosters Erin and Darren when they met Dallas last March:
“Dallas came into our lives as a foster in March of 2017. When I first saw pictures of him, he still had his cone on and an IV in his paw, and I immediately fell in love. My husband and I had no idea what type of home he was coming from, but what we did know was that we were going to show him as much love as we possibly could in the time that we had him.
Our first night with him was eventful, as less than 12 hours after receiving him we had to take him to the vet because he was still so sick from his urinary blockage. He looked at us with these big sad eyes, and it broke our hearts.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I tried to spend as much time with this little fur ball as I could, and slowly but surely Dallas started coming out of his shell! He loved waking me up in the middle of the night kneading me and talking to me constantly. It didn’t take long for me to know that Dallas belonged in our home for good, and I think he must’ve felt it too.
On Easter Sunday, my husband surprised me with the news that we could adopt Dallas. Though he would’ve loved to continue to foster with Team Cat Rescue, he said that when he saw how much Dallas and one of our other cats Sparky got along, he knew that we needed to add him to our family for good. I could not fill out the paperwork fast enough!
Fast forward almost a year, and this little guy has stolen the heart of everyone that he has met. Though he is still coming out of shell when we have groups of people over, he has come so far! He follows me around the house like my shadow, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. He is constantly speaking to us, and makes us laugh every day with his antics. From loving to jump onto the very top of our kitchen cupboards, to eating my nail file, to needing to have my husband watch him eat breakfast, there is never a dull moment with this guy.
I am so thankful to TEAM for all of the incredible work they do, for bringing Dallas into our lives, and finally for allowing us to foster fail with him. With Dallas we now have four fur balls in our home, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
