Anna's Foster Cats and Kittens

Cats react very differently to the cat wheel. Some, especially kittens, take to it right away. Some learn to race like the wind and really enjoy it. Some like it and then get bored; some are too leery to even try.

Forrest started out very leery of it, but we worked gradually to get used to it, just playing around and on it so he got used to the fact that it moved. Two days ago he tried really running! Pretty soon he was asking for more, and today I could hear him running on it by himself, without the lure of a toy to chase. Win!

He found it a bit scary at first, but now he can just take a drink.

Enjoy these quite misleading photos of Forrest, 7 months old, who is more typically in motion!

Sometimes a cat gets adopted, everyone thinks it’s a great fit, but it doesn’t work out. That’s what happened to Forrest, the rescue we started fostering in January.

Forrest is a wonderful kitty, and he was adopted to a new home with a lovely person and an adorable, somewhat younger kitten. It seemed like a match made in heaven. But Forrest is nothing if not exuberant, and his energy felt intimidating to the younger one. After giving it good try, his adopter sadly returned him to me.

So my sweet Forrest is back! If you’re looking for a kitten, he might be your boy. He’d truly love a playmate, so if you have another kitten/cat at home already, he could be perfect. I recommend a kitten who is older/bigger than Forrest, or a young adult cat.

Our break from fostering is taking a break. We have a 5-month-old kitten!

It looks like someone dumped him in the country, and it’s even harder than usual to see how someone could do that. He’s just a delight. He’s beautiful, sweet and affectionate, appears to be healthy, and has perfect litter box habits.

He doesn’t have a name yet [update – his name is Forrest!], but he’s a dark tabby with markings that look more like a Bengal cat than a normal tabby. He weighs just under five pounds.

This boy is so much fun to play with, but he’s also super snuggly and affectionate. His personality is outgoing, despite his recent scary adventures. I’m pretty sure he’ll find a home quickly, once he has been vetted and neutered.

Thank you to our friends Cathy and Bill, whose small farm north of Madison he appeared on. The farm is about 10 miles north of the north edge of Madison, so it’s a convenient distance for unscrupulous people to drive out and dump their unwanted cats. Cathy is the biggest-hearted person and has always tried to feed and care for every one. By now she is at capacity, so new arrivals are surrendered to 9 Lives Rescue, if there are openings, so they can find homes.

There are so many cats in our community that are at risk, whether abused, in hoarding situations, or dumped in the country like this guy. The work 9 Lives Rescue does is possible only because of people who want to help. If you’re one of those people, and wish to donate or volunteer, click here. Thank you!

We’re taking a break from fostering kitties for awhile to deal with some human-related things. We’re currently listed as temporary or respite fosters for 9 Lives Rescue, which means we may have kitties for a short time, and we’ll be sure to post them here.

We’ve been fostering for over five years, and have brought 86 cats and kittens into our home during that time. A few are shown in the slideshow above. It’s impossible to describe all I’ve learned from those cats. Each one was an individual and taught me something new. We hope to have time to start giving more time to fostering again soon!

I fell behind in posting to this site this year, so there are no photos on the site of Hitchhiker, who was adopted today!

Hitchhiker showed up at Cathy’s farm in January. She thought he was just passing through, so she gave him the name Hitchhiker. He was raggedy, apparently feral tom cat with a bent ear and a scarred nose. But Hitch didn’t move on – he picked fights with one of her farm cats, and eventually, it got so bad that Cathy decided he had to go.

I didn’t believe Hitch was feral, so I said I would foster him, and 9 Lives took him in. Here’s what I posted in a fundraiser for him: “Now in a 9 Lives foster home, Hitchhiker has started to reveal his true colors. He was outgoing from the first. Even in a new place, in pain, worried about what these new humans might do to him – he still turned to them for help. Within hours Hitch was asking for head rubs. Coming from a hard life in survival mode, he turned out to be incredibly forgiving, with lots of love in his heart.”

He also turned out to be FIV+, full of worms, with cracked and infected teeth, itchy ears, and a skin infection. He was getting into fights because he was starving and wanted access to the food the other cat was guarding. The worms left him so hungry he was eating 12 to 15 ounces of wet food per day when he first came to us, and was still thin.

So our scar-faced boy was gradually brought back to health. He had become very close to me, and it really seemed like gratitude was a big part of it. Some cats seem to take what comes, without seeing it as the result of someone else’s efforts, but I swear Hitch knew I was the reason he was in a better place and healthier. He even started remembering how to play!

As always with my foster cats, I would give a lot to know his back story. He clearly had someone who cared about him and played with him. The vets thought he was about 5 years old, and that seems right to me, so how did he go from a loved pet to a trouble-maker on a strange farm? We’ll never know.

When he was listed for adoption on the 9 Lives site, what I wanted was for someone he could form a new bond with, a forever one. That’s where Delia saw him and fell in love. She drove from Milwaukee to meet him, and saw how appealing he was. Moreover, he really liked her! I knew she was the one. He left this morning for his new home, where I know he’ll be very happy.