Welcome to the family Luna!

Fostering vs adopting

Remember that I reached out to the rescue organization at first simply because we wanted to adopt a kitten? While I was filling in the questionnaire to find a suitable kitten, I read the questions meant for possible foster homes as well. While reading them, it became clear to me that I needed to discuss this with my boyfriend because something inside told me we needed to start fostering to help more than just 1 kitten and then wait until we find our perfect match while doing so.

We are not the type of people that pick a kitten simply by looks, Mochi has great looks but he was taken home because we wanted to rescue the last kitten out there hoping he'd be Mojo's friend when she'd return. Little did we know she'd never return home. But as Mochi is our main guest, let's call him the primary cat, we have to take into account what he needs in a kitten to be able to become friends. It's not just about us anymore, he's equally as important.

We did not need more than 5 minutes of talking this through before we agreed to start with fostering. We are already invested in helping the neighborhood cats by making sure there's water and food so we can take on this extra task as well. It will also help our daughter learn more about taking care of kittens and their different behaviors and needs. Not every cat is the same, she needed to see that with her own eyes. And on top of that, not all cats are a match. I think we're quite capable of seeing what Mochi needs (or doesn't like etc) so this would be the perfect way to test the waters and find our new family member.

Foster experience

First, we had the bundle of beans, the 5 most adorable kittens that stole our hearts one by one. When they left, we had Aki who was rescued very close to our home and then Percy joined her a few days later as he so needed to have a kitten friend being all by himself until now. So although the last two are combined, there was definitely a change in behavior for both Aki and Percy, but all for the better. They are learning different behavioral skills by being together, which was probably needed for both.

We learned what type of kitten is not for us, and probably not for Mochi either. There were a few we'd adopt in a heartbeat from the first round of fostering and there were a few we'd not adopt not because we didn't like them but simply because we knew we'd be up for trouble pairing them with Mochi.

This goes the same for Aki and Percy, Aki was actually on our radar to adopt her, and we wanted first picks when taking her in. We discovered quite soon she was not the right match and with that decision, she's now up for adoption, unfortunately without success so far. Percy on the other hand needed to relax first and when he did, I started to get fond of him more and more by the day. I can even see how he could have ended up being our new member, he's actually really sweet and will be a lovely addition to someone's family for sure.

We choose one from another foster home

When speaking to my "mentor" in the organization, she realized she may have the right match for us all along, one little girl she's been feeding by hand every few hours while for at least a week everything going in went straight out, putting her to worry a lot during the first weeks. She is very affectionate and ready to cuddle all the time because she hand-fed her and she spent a lot of time with her alone during the first weeks.

She told me to come and meet her and see if she's the one and so we did a few weeks ago. I never really looked at her in the videos and pictures before, I don't even know why, I guess I was expecting to fall for a different type of cat at first, but when I held her and she instantly stayed with me to enjoy the cuddles, I felt a connection. She has the most adorable eyes as well and since I met her, I fall in love every time a picture or video is shared.

This was a few weeks ago, doesn't she have the cutest face?

She fell asleep in between the pillows on the couch in between us while the rest was playing and being absolute mad kitties, lol. It was adorable, here, let me share it with you:

What's not to love?

Meanwhile, our daughter only had eyes for another cat

She met this big ginger cat there and decided he was my friend. This goes both ways, maybe you remember me sharing that picture with a big ginger cat on her lap?

Buddies for life, so it seems!

So while we were meeting Luna, she was actually too busy with her other buddy and only spent 1 minute tops to meet Luna. It's fine though because she has enough love for all the cats in the world, that became clear to me as soon as we started fostering. I see her eyes light up as soon as she can play or take care of a cat or kitten. It's adorable to see and I know there will not be any issues with Luna and her. Luna is such a doll, she will enjoy having a kitten that loves to be cuddled.

The wait started

We could not take home Luna right away as she was still too young to be tested for Feline leukemia and we knew we'd had to wait a few weeks probably to have her home. She was in good hands though and we had some distraction from the wait with the two other kittens at home, which definitely helped us get through the waiting. They were scheduled for their vaccine and testing on Tuesday, meaning we could finally pick her up a few days ago. We were so excited to take her home!

New friends

I totally expected Aki to be a bit mean again to her as she did to Percy when we introduced them. I also expected Percy and her to get along very well as they are both more relaxed characters than Aki, who seems to have a hard time sitting still constantly. For now, to let Luna get used to her new environment, I will place her in the playpen with Percy and Aki for the nights, but as the other two have had the freedom of the whole house the last days, I also gave Luna this freedom starting on Wednesday. It's best to let them all get used to each other as soon as possible because we may end up having them all at home for a little longer if nobody wants to adopt them. Which is fine honestly, they are not much trouble to us, it's just that Mochi doesn't fancy Aki's cheekiness, so that's the only thing I need to keep an eye on. For the rest, I think the three little ones will have fun playing.

I will write an update next Friday to see how the foster babies are getting along with Luna and how Mochi handles the three kittens.

See you next week when I continue the Friday Foster Stories series.. until then, the older parts are linked below..

Previous parts of "Friday Foster Stories"

If you really like these diaries about us fostering Aki, you may want to check out the "Bundle Of Beans Diaries" as well, this was our first time fostering. Five amazingly cute kittens were here for 18 days and I made sure to keep a diary and tons of pictures: