Joys and Sorrows of Fostering; Photos of Cat Fosters

These are all the good and bad things I've felt about fostering, just in the past 72 hours!

Joys
- Snuggling with my foster puppy Boo, and laughing as she once again climbs under the covers to sleep next to me.
- Laughing as three white dogs come running into the house, all having turned brown from mud!
- Volunteering at a shelter and seeing the gratitude in the dogs' eyes as they each receive pets and affection.
- Watching as my foster cat Shiro starts to trust me and comes to greet me at the door.
- Smiling as Noelle, Remi, Lucy and Boo all try to play tug of war together with a little tiny dog toy.
- Hearing how well Keebler, another of my previous foster dogs, is doing in his new home.
- Watching Lucy playing in the sprinkler and having a blast getting wet.
- Seeing Petey, a beagle and FiFi, a lab mix puppy, finding their new permanent homes during the Adoption Event at PetSmart.

Sorrows

- Cleaning up the mud left all over the house after it rains and four dogs track it in.
- Trying to give Noelle a bath before adoptions on Saturday - the dog doesn't like water!

- Trying to give ear drops to two cats who really don't like having their ears touched.

- Walking away from the dogs at the shelter; leaving them behind because I don't have room for more.
- Leaving PetSmart on Saturday knowing that the many dogs that were there and weren't adopted will have to wait another week to try again for their very own home.

I'm sad that Noelle, Boo or Lucy wasn't adopted this weekend. But it is kind of nice to have another week with these three foster dogs. I'm falling more in love with Boo every day - it's going to be really difficult to give her up. Of course Noelle is going to also break my heart when she's adopted - I'm more attached to her than any other dog I've ever fostered. And Lucy hasn't been around as long as the other two, but she's such a good dog - very obedient, and always happy. I love having the three of them around because they know the house rules, and they know the schedule, and it makes it a lot easier on me that way. Still, I'm sad they weren't adopted because there are so many other dogs who need me, and I can't help them until one of my foster dogs is adopted.

I realized I never posted pictures of my foster cats Una, Shiro and Princess Rana, so here they are. My friend Rhonda took these pictures. I'm pretty sure I've captured all three cats in these four photos - sometimes they are hard to tell apart!