Update on my fosters

I decided it was time for another update on my fosters, so I you someone can keep track of who is at my house and why. In addition to my two dogs (Remi and Noelle) and one cat (Merlin), I have the following foster pets:

Ziggy - A deaf pit bull mix who has lived with me since December, when I rescued him from being euthanized at a shelter. Ziggy just turned one year old. He hasn't yet outgrown his puppy chewing stage, but he is slowly making progress. Ziggy is a comedian - he is always doing something silly to make me laugh. He is house-trained but can't be trusted alone in the house unsupervised because he is sure to get in some sort of trouble, whether it's stealing food from the counter, drinking a beer, or chewing up furniture or blinds. He is a one-dog wrecking machine, and I constantly threaten to send him to another foster home, but really I love him and will have a very hard time letting him go once he gets adopted. He has learned a lot of hand signs and is one of the smartest dogs I've worked with recently.

Tripoli - A German Shepherd/Aussie mix who has been in foster care since May of 2009. I took him to my house a few months ago because his foster mom wasn't able to get him to adoptions. We had hoped if he could go to some adoption events, someone would quickly adopt him. After all, he's practically perfect. He is around 3 years old, and has wonderful house manners, and gets along with dogs, cats, and kids! What more could anyone ask for? You might think that there are a lot of perfect dogs like Tripoli out there, but he's extra special because he only has three legs. This makes him lighter on his feet, and therefore faster and able to jump higher than other dogs. It's true - he can outrun and outjump all of the other dogs.

Rudy - A cat. I believe he's been in foster care for a couple of years now. I've had him since February, and I've finally trained him to not try to sneak out the door anymore. Okay not really - I think he really just doesn't try to sneak out the door because he's tired of the dogs chasing him all the time. He has given up escaping his prison and now is beginning to demand to be transferred back to a previous prison foster home. We're currently in negotiations. I've offered him his own room at the new house with canned food twice a week if he stops complaining, but he's holding out for something better!




And those are my only foster pets! I believe this is the shortest foster list I will have for a Very Long Time. I am constantly looking around the house for another dog or cat, thinking I forgot someone, but I didn't! I had to stop taking any new pets in until I get moved, so at least for the rest of this month, I will not be taking in anyone new. But as soon as I move, I'll go get Gretchen.

I also realized that I've been very lax in updating what has been happening with my foster pets, so here is an update for a few of my previous fosters in case you were wondering about them. Mia, the brown tabby cat who had been staying up at one of our adoption locations was adopted. Victoria the shy cat is being fostered by another volunteer who is working with her to hopefully make her more adoptable. Simon and Sampson  who were out on a trial adoption are now permanently adopted. And Lucas, now named Elwood, was also adopted out with Jake, another cat from the same rescue. Also my foster dog Bosco is currently out on a trial adoption! I am holding his spot open - he still has some house-training issues - but his new dad says he's going to keep working with him until Bosco figures it out, so hopefully this will be a permanent placement.  I also took in one more cat - another return - named Bugsy.  Then I immediately shipped him off to another foster home.  I will hopefully get him back once I move, but then Rudy might have to share his private room, and I'm not sure that's going to be acceptable to him.

Update on my Fosters

Once again it's time for an update on the current foster pets at my house.  These pets are all available for adoption, so if you see one you like, let's talk!

Ziggy is a seven month old American Pit Bull Terrier mix.  He is deaf, and he is silly, and he is sometimes demanding, and sometimes sweet.  He is mostly lazy, and prefers the indoors to being outside.  He likes to chew anything he can - especially if he's not supposed to chew it.  Shoelaces are a favorite of his.  He barks a lot when he wants something, and his favorite place to lay is at the top of the stairs, unless he has something to chew, in which case he prefers to lay on the couch.  His favorite place to hide when playing is under the futon where the other dogs can't reach him. 

Simon is Sampson's brother.  He is possibly visually impaired, although he doesn't act like it.  He is one of the sweetest foster cats I have.  He loves to cuddle and get affection.  Occasionally he chases the other cats, but most of the time he just watches the rest of the action. 

Sampson is Simon's brother.  He claims he is Simon's Seeing Eye Cat, but I don't usually see them anywhere together, so I have my doubts about that.  Sampson is very sweet when he wants to be, but sometimes he likes to pick on the other cats.  He can be a bit of a bully, quite honestly.  But when it comes to people, he's the most affectionate cat of the bunch. 

Scribbles - The long-timer.  She is sweet, but only on her terms.  If you try to make her do something she doesn't want - like get in a cat carrier to go to PetSmart for an adoption event - she may very well scratch you and bite you.  Not that it gets her out of going.  It just means I have to call in reinforcements (in this case, my husband Dave) to get her into the crate.  Then once she gets back home, she comes around purring and being all affectionate, just so I forgive her for the scratches she gave me that morning.  Hmph. 

Rudy is an interesting cat.  He is affectionate, but he'd rather rub against my legs than sit on my lap.  He likes to sit by the window and watch what is going on outside.  If I let him, he'd go out and see for himself.  He does okay with other cats and with dogs, but he's kind of a loner.  So he'd probably be perfectly happy as an only cat. 

Victoria - This beautiful girl is one of my favorite cats.  She's shy and won't come very close to me, but if I go to her, she'll let me pet her and she'll roll over and start purring.  She needs to get more used to people before she is ready for adoption, so I want to take her to adoption events each week to help her get used to the noise and the people.  But she finds the very best hiding places in the house, and so far I've only been able to find her and take her to one event.  Of course if anyone wants a cat who is very beautiful and very easy to care for, she's the one for you.  You may never know she's there - but at least she isn't constantly following you around and asking for attention like the rest of the cats at my house! :-)

Mia came into rescue when her owners moved and left her behind.  A neighbor took her in and cared for her, but couldn't keep her because her dog was trying to eat her.  So I took her home, and she's been living at my house for the past month - until yesterday.  Yesterday she got to go up to the adoption center at our vet's office!  So I am hopeful that someone will see her there and want to adopt her soon.  She is front declawed, and very sweet and affectionate, so I hope it won't take her long to find a home. 

So those are all of my foster pets as of today.  Well, except for Butterscotch.  I'll tell you about him tomorrow!

Foster Cats Plus One

Dogs make sense to me.  Cats, not so much.  But I like cats anyway, and I somehow always seem to have two or three foster cats.  Or four...five...  Okay fine, right now I have seven foster cats.  But in my defense, I only have one cat of my own.  The rest I am doing my best to get rid of.  I mean, to adopt out.  Into loving, permanent homes of course.  But in the meantime, they're living in my house, and they seem to have plotted together to take over.  They now outnumber the dogs and humans combined, and they're taking advantage of it.  One will jump into the pantry while I'm pulling another one out.  Or one will sneak into the closet while another one is distracting me elsewhere.  Two of them pretend to fight so I walk away from my dinner and a third one steals food from my plate.  One of them terrorizes a dog (guess which cat?) while another one drinks the milk in my glass.  They are seriously plotting against me, I know it.  But I love them anyway. 

Simon pretended to be blind so I would feel sorry for him and take him and his seeing eye cat brother Sampson home.  The longer he's at my house, the more I realize that he can see just fine.  He runs all over the house, chasing the other cats around furniture and over couches - even when the furniture was recently moved!  He doesn't even bother pretending to be blind anymore.  . 

This guy is my own cat Merlin.  He's the worst of the group.  He pretends to be all sweet and affectionate, and sleeps on my pillow next to me every night, to lull me into complacency.  But he is the worst food thief I've ever met.  Even when I'm sitting there eating, he will try to steal the food right from my plate.  Not only does he blatantly take things that he knows he is not allowed, but then he acts all nonchalant about it - at least dogs will look guilty when they steal food they know they shouldn't have.  Not Merlin.

This is one of my newest foster cats.  Her name is Victoria, and she's the only good cat in the group.  But even she has her own way of tormenting me.  She is a little bit feral (wild) and doesn't quite trust people yet.  So most of the time she just keeps her distance from me.  We're working on this, and I've gotten to where I can take her picture without her hiding under furniture (see below).  But she manages to find the best hiding places in the house when it comes time to go to the vet.  I haven't been able to find her hiding places yet, but she's made me spend hours looking for her - truly a great way to drive me crazy. 

This is Victoria and Sampson, the seeing eye cat.  I tried to use Sampson as a detective to help me find Victoria's hiding spot.  I figured since he's a well-trained, official seeing eye cat (not really), he should have skills in tracking and search and rescue as well.  But no luck - he refused to locate his friend.  The dogs were no help either, but that didn't surprise me.  You just can't count on animals to help you out when it comes to vet visits.