Together Again (fostering and reunion)

[Lilith]

I never thought I'd have to have my cats fostered, not even after eighteen months of peculiar physical health, but last winter after parting with 13 snakes (and donating their equipment)to a rescue, because of worsening health, I decided it was high time I put a safety net in place for the cats, and my one remaining snake, and it was a good thing I did.

I'm 63, reclusive but have a few good friends, including my ex-husband, A, who was prepared to come in and look after the cats if I was forced to go into hospital (dread thought!) but he and his partner (another good friend) enjoy travelling and no way was I asking them to cancel a trip in an emergency.

I started with the Cinnamon Trust, which I'd understood to be a charity (though I was prepared to pay my way) whose volunteers would step in to look after pets of retired people who had to go into hospital or couldn't care for them for some reason. It seems that nowadays CT will foster dogs and cagebirds, but they won't visit houses unoccupied by owners, and they can't get cats fostered. Errm, what about a python? She sounded a bit stunned. What about a pet sitter? she asked when she recovered. (All very well if I could afford one! I was lucky enough to be able to, but for some people this would be out of the question.) Well, I could, I said, if I could find someone good who was prepared to come in at short notice and could cope with Shahi the royal python too.

I have a friend who knows someone who runs a very good cat rescue shelter and although this is in another town, I asked if X (the rescue worker) knew of any good pet sitters round here. Her response took my breath away. She said that if I found I couldn't look after the cats or (worst case scenario) had to part with them, she would foster them or put them up for rehoming...I sent her my heartfelt thanks. I hoped it would never come to this, but the reassurance was tremendous. I'd found a pet-sitter now, and if he or A could look after the cats and Shahi in a short-term emergency, X was there in the long-term.

It was quite an undertaking for her too - Emily, my eldest cat, was then 14, Mouse 13, both ex-feral but placid but not instantly rehomable. Molly, 4, is a handful, a little madam who needs a lot of understanding. I mailed X a description of them, warts and all! Also I've known other rescues in the past and was aware of just how stretched they can be for space, time and money. X only mentioned that for elderly cats, vet bills could be more of a possibility; I assured her that I'd make provision for this. I also decided that I'd set up a decent standing order for their keep if she had to take them - and pay any vet bills of course. I also made a thankyou donation straight away. Having that safety net made all the difference.

I was to need it. Eventually I could scarcely climb up and down stairs and do trays. Feeling very guilty I let the bewildered cats go to X, and just as well; I ended up on IV antibiotics in hospital, not my favourite place. I knew how the cats had felt. But at least I knew why I was there - you can't explain to cats why they have to leave home. A looked after Shahi, who only needed fresh water; if I'd needed it, there's a local reptile boarding facility.

I'missed them badly but hoped Molly was young enough to be adaptable. I worried about my two 'old ladies' though. I was wrong. Emily and Mouse settled very well in a foster home (they weren't penned) and Emily in particular formed a strong bond with Y, their carer. Molly - no. She's always been a 'wildie', a 'madam', not attached to the older ones and we had agreed that if needs be she could be separated from them. She didn't settle in X's house where I'd wondered if she might come to enjoy the company of cats her own age and find someone to play with (again she wasn't penned) and spent most of her time on top of a wardrobe. Growling. She ate well and liked the Dreamies X tempted her with, but she wasn't a happy camper.

In hospital the antibiotics proved to be the turning point and I escaped two weeks later; like Molly I was not a happy camper and I growled too lol. Convalescence was slow but I preferred to do my own thing without any more 'healthcare'. And last weekend the cats came back!

Mouse, who's always been timid, ran and hid. Emily, who had been so settled with Y, was totally bewildered and I think she still misses Y, who was very attached to her. It's difficult for the fosterer too. Molly, well...Straight out of her carrier, tail up, running about like a puppy, headbutting us all and thoroughly pleased with herself! 'I don't believe it!' said X, stroking Moll for the first time ever. 'She's never let me do this!'

'She hasn't always let me do this either,' I replied. 'If I stroked the wrong ear she'd bite me!'

Mouse emerged a couple of hours later, full of confidence, purring. They all look well, though Emily had to be treated for ear mites, and had a massive bleed after scratching what was thought to have been a polyp in her ear. I still wish they hadn't had to leave their home but at least they were with experienced people; A couldn't have got Emily into a carrier to go to the vet with her wonky ear.

I still can't believe how lucky the cats and I have been to have had such good and generous help in crisis. I would say to anyone who is able to find a foster home for their cats, contribute as much as you can possibly pay for their expenses and if you can manage more than that, please do so; it will help the rescue and other cats who are admitted in crisis. If you're in financial straits, you could maybe consider helping with fundraising activities or supermarket appeals for donations of catfood from customers. Rescues and fosterers deserve all the help they can get. They really do walk the extra mile.

Again I wish I hadn't had to put the cats through this upheaval and it was awful without them, but they couldn't have received better care. My heartfelt thanks to X and Y and other rescue workers involved; sorry to refer to them just as X and Y but this is a public forum and the shelter and foster homes are, as always, bursting at the seams, especially in the dreaded kitten season, and I think they may prefer to remain anonymous. But they have been marvellous.

I never thought this could happen to me; I used to be the most active of people and very self-sufficient. But it did and I'm so thankful we're together again. Everyone is settling in well and despite the separation, no growling from Moll. Crisis over, I hope. And all power to the cats' rescue workers and good on them!

[Crewella]

Wow, you really have been through the mill lately! I caught this as I was rushing off out to work, but just wanted to say how glad I am that you got through it OK and that you had such wonderful help and support, I know how I'd have felt in your shoes. I hope you, and the cats, are back in the swing of things soon. xx

[Lilith]

Thanks, Crewella, well, it wasn't much fun at the time but I think it was worse for the cats. I must say it's marvellous to be regaining my old vitality, never thought I would, and never thought I'd see them again, to be honest. Today caught Molly fishing in an open drawer, dragged out a ponytail band and threw it up in the air...game of one-cat ponytail band pingpong...

'Get your thieving paws off...' Couldn't refuse her though.

Just like old times!

[Crewella]

Awwww - that's exactly why we have cats, isn't it - moments like that!

So pleased to hear you're both feeling perky! xx

[Lilith]

Yes, the house feels like home again - though I'll always miss the snakes. At least snakes don't get attached to people. But I'm glad I kept Shahi - I've had him since he was a baby, all the way from Ghana, and had to help him over a feeding problem when he arrived.

Emily is properly settled in now I think; when she's really pleased she 'flutters' her tail...I thought she was the most laid back of them all but she's taken the longest to get used to the transition. Mousey the timid was first at the bowl of wet food tonight and stood firm even when Molly started dancing menacingly at her

[Lilith]

An update, a week later...

They've all changed places. Mousey is in the back bedroom as before - but in her Mousey cave that I made for her from a cat carrier and a dhurry. She seems very content; when I go into the room a black head pokes itself out with a welcoming 'wow'. There's a Mouse in the house! Emily started off sleeping in an old basket chair (the Mousey chair, much stripped of its basket lol) and Molly, who spent her time on the bed, has taken over Emily's chair and window-cushion in the front room. All relaxed, eating well, enjoying affection, although Emily was still quiet up till -

Early Saturday morning, 3 am. Shahi the royal python was draped over his climbing branch, gazing down at the flood below...A python may not go in weeks, but when he goes, he goes...what you might call the royal wee. The vivarium has to be caulked with aquarium sealant to prevent leaks. And as pythons are nocturnal, this always happens in the wee hours. Being nocturnal myself I'm used to it...got up, collected plastic bag, vet disinfectant, kitchen roll (snake bog roll) but this time Emily came to help, talking to me. She can be very chatty, voice ranging between a trill and a deep 'warrrr!' 'flittering' her tail and wanting lots of attention...this was the old Emily.

As I type this she's curled up on the bed with me. We've bonded again I think

[Crewella]

Awwwww ..... a scene of domestic bliss ..... even with the snake wee!

I had a 16ft Burmese python staying with me for a while, years ago. Definitely needed kitchen roll ..........

[Lilith]

Lol every house needs a snake, wee and all, though he's a good boy; apart from weeing in my lap when he was a baby and cross, because I had to help him with a shed, he's never disgraced himself since. I used to chat a lot online to a fellow-snake fancier whose royal wet the bed regularly. And python wee stinks! My corn snakes were the worst. They're very sociable; it was the little faces at the vivarium window, asking for 'armchair walkies' that decided me to let them go to the rescue, who could vet homes, as they want to be with you all the time. But their manners...I have an old fleece jacket that I wear round the house; it has a hole in the sleeve and all my snakes knew that you climbed into the sleeve and poked your head out of the hole and relaxed...sometimes a bit too relaxed...As I expect you know, snake muck looks like cat diarrohea and smells worse...people always ask, but don't they bite? I reply, I'd rather be bitten than s**t on lol.

I once went to see two royals (didn't buy; the guys were dealers and wide boys) and there was a rat snake there who was a problem; they couldn't get him out of his vivarium because he was so aggressive. Showoff here said, let me have a go, and I got him out straight away; he was fine. Just gave me a little nip on my finger (for his self-respect, you understand) and apart from that calmly let me handle him. But when he made a terrible smell and stuck his tail up my sleeve I put him back pdq! (Wish I'd bought him; I think I could have pulled him round and he'd have had a few settled years with me.)

Aww Burmese pythons! They are MAGNIFICENT! And so calm and gentle, gorgeous snakes! But what comes out the other end...I read on a forum, it would block the bog up! What can you do? Compost it? Or disguise it in a lot of black bags? Fancy finding that in the bin... (It's my snake, see, he's bin. Yeah, he's WHEELY bin!)

Sorry!