If you’re an Animal Lover Without an Animal to Love, Fostering Could be the Answer for You

by Anna Pickering, Mayhew

To be completely trustworthy, I’ve at all times been a canine lover. Our household dachshund Douglas has been the love of my life for the final 6 years! So, once I moved to London, I assumed I used to be destined to reside a depressing, pet-less existence. When I began working at Mayhew in North West London, I used to be surrounded by beautiful canine and cats and the wonderful workforce that appears after them, and I started to know the urgency and significance of fostering, significantly for cats.

After talking with our knowledgeable Animal Care team, I had a superb understanding of what fostering would contain, and it appeared like a really perfect resolution for me. Mayhew can have as much as 150 cats and kittens on website at its London headquarters at anybody time, and out of those, many would profit from foster properties, so I wished to see how I might become involved.

As I work at home rather a lot, I knew I may very well be available to take care of a foster cat or kitten. I additionally knew I had full help from our Cat Welfare Coordinator, who could be available to supply any recommendation I wanted – as they’re for all of Mayhew’s fantastic volunteer foster carers!

Let me inform you how Cole got here into my life…

Cole, the two-year-old male, stray cat

I fell in love with Cole, an nearly two-year-old cat who got here into Mayhew as a stray. He’s a really fluffy and affectionate boy and had been within the cattery for greater than two months already. Once I had been accepted as a foster carer, I introduced him house on 24 May.

I collected him from Mayhew and introduced him house to settle into our rented one-bedroom flat. I’d been warned he could disguise for a few days while he obtained settled, however Cole made himself at house instantly! Within a couple of hours he was snuggled up on the couch and snacking on dreamies. The Cattery workforce at Mayhew gave me every thing I wanted, together with his favorite toys, which actually helped to make my home his house.

Foster carers desperately wanted

Some individuals aren’t able to decide to a pet for its lifetime, whether or not for monetary causes or uncertainty in regards to the future. Fostering a cat or kitten will help you discover a furry buddy briefly, in addition to assist a charity like Mayhew by liberating up area of their facility for extra animals in want. It additionally helps to arrange the cat or kitten earlier than they ultimately transfer on to their endlessly house.

However, please bear in mind fostering remains to be an enormous dedication as there’s no realizing how lengthy you should have your furry buddy earlier than they transfer on. It’s not one thing to be undertaken flippantly. But if, like me, you resolve it’s best for you, organisations like Mayhew desperately want fosterers for the pets of their care. This will be for any variety of causes – from serving to a nervous pet get used to residing in a house or taking care of somebody’s cat or canine once they’re in hospital or unable to care for his or her pet on account of a change of their circumstances.

Fostering isn’t for the faint-hearted, however in case you love cats and have the time, vitality, and assets to spare, serving to a homeless cat make the transition to a everlasting house may be one of the crucial rewarding experiences of your life. It definitely is for me!