Friday, April 29, 2016
THE UNADOPTABLES
Flip came into foster care as an 8 week old baby along with her two siblings who were readily adopted. But Flip was growing up in foster care with no adoption options in sight. People ask the question all the time. How long do you keep a foster? Fostering for Planned Pethood can be very frustrating, even heartbreaking once in a while, but at the same time it is probably the most rewarding endeavor of my retired life. The answer to the “how long” question is, however long it takes, sometimes it is 24 hours while other times it could be a year or more. I am firmly convinced the right person is out there for each and every poor homeless waif who comes our way.
Flip, Pip, and Skip, really? In most cases I don’t get to choose the foster’s names but anyway these 3 kittens, who were born on April Fool’s Day, were ready for pick up. Skip was adopted right away to a wonderful family where he has 3 adoring kids as his new brother and sisters and the name Skip was out the window replaced by Sprinkles. And my wild child Pip was adopted by a vet student who was advised to “fasten her seatbelt”. But Flip lingered and she wasn’t doing a lot of cooperating either.
She HATED adoption events where she would turn surly and snarly. She was eventually barred from events. But at home she was just as loving and even tempered as could be. She would follow me around and demand to be picked up and petted. So I would carry Flip around with me as I went about my business. I despaired she would ever be adopted. But then the phone rang. A graduate student was interested in meeting Flip after seeing her on the PPI website. In most cases, we set up these meetings at PetSmart. But I asked innocently if we could meet at Heather’s apartment. Then, the day of our meeting, Flip developed a half closed and watery eye. No! We went anyway and it went fabulously well. We walked in to meet 2 of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. They were very tall with blonde hair to their waists and were all tatted up. Flip snuggled up on her potential mom’s lap like she had been there her whole life. We decided to meet in a week to do the adoption. In the meantime, Flip developed a full blown eye infection. But one week later, eye drops in hand, she was off to her new home to live happily ever after, even keeping the name Flip (so she can retain her many nicknames including Flip Flop, Flip the Switch, Flippin’ Out and more)!
Would you name a kitten Cutie Pie? Yuck. So I called this little lady CP. Then one of our volunteers who is a nurse asked me if I knew what that meant in medical circles? Cerebral Palsy. Back to the drawing board. CP was one of Flip’s roommates and though most of the time very loving, she could cop an attitude on occasion. One of the volunteers was trimming her nails at an adoption event and CP caused such a loud fuss about it, people came running from all over the store to find out who was torturing the poor kitten. She was eventually adopted by a young man who never had a pet before. He called not too long ago to tell me how much he adores the kitty who now has a real name, Sasha.
Then there are the returns. Qismat (fate in Arabic) was adopted by a mom and her daughter. The woman told me she wanted her daughter to share life’s important moments as she grew up with a beloved pet. Four months later she was back because they were moving. Not sure how many moments they were able to share before they unceremoniously dumped her. Now Qis was big and black. Black cats and dogs are adopted the least, linger in shelters, and are euthanized the most. Qismat lived with us for a year as a beloved member of our pack before I got the call. A math teacher and his fiancé met her and fell in love after reading about her on PPI’s website. I received a picture at Christmas of the 3 of them. She is now Cricket and an important family member. This one was really hard for me. She almost stayed with us permanently because she is such a wonderful little cat. She gave us kisses and squeaked rather than meowed.
Tark joined Flip and CP as one of unadoptables. This poor sweet little dude was returned twice. He is a little timid but brimming with affection. He was my lap sitter. He was being bullied by the resident cat the second time he was returned. He was the last man standing this past kitten season. First CP, then Flip found their forever homes. So Tark joined the general population which includes four cats of various ages and temperaments, a lab, a shepherd, and two foster dogs. And you know what? He did great. His favorite place was pasted next to his BFF, 70 lb. Stanley. But, finally, after months of waiting, his day came too. He is now happily living with a single mom and her son as the only pet. He is in his glory absorbing all that attention by himself. The last time I saw him he was snuggling up with the little boy, sleeping together in his bed.
Maybe it is the alignment of the stars, maybe it is fate, but whatever the reason, it is my firm belief that the right home is out there for each and every adoptable little face that crosses this threshold. It just takes a bit longer for some than others. Some have bigger challenges and crazier issues than others too. We did not have a chance to relay Chloe’s and Mila’s stories yet. Chloe was with us for a year and Mila has been with us for the past nine months. So we will meet you right back here next month for their stories:
The Unadoptables the Sequel.
by Judy S
Flip, Pip, and Skip, really? In most cases I don’t get to choose the foster’s names but anyway these 3 kittens, who were born on April Fool’s Day, were ready for pick up. Skip was adopted right away to a wonderful family where he has 3 adoring kids as his new brother and sisters and the name Skip was out the window replaced by Sprinkles. And my wild child Pip was adopted by a vet student who was advised to “fasten her seatbelt”. But Flip lingered and she wasn’t doing a lot of cooperating either.
She HATED adoption events where she would turn surly and snarly. She was eventually barred from events. But at home she was just as loving and even tempered as could be. She would follow me around and demand to be picked up and petted. So I would carry Flip around with me as I went about my business. I despaired she would ever be adopted. But then the phone rang. A graduate student was interested in meeting Flip after seeing her on the PPI website. In most cases, we set up these meetings at PetSmart. But I asked innocently if we could meet at Heather’s apartment. Then, the day of our meeting, Flip developed a half closed and watery eye. No! We went anyway and it went fabulously well. We walked in to meet 2 of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. They were very tall with blonde hair to their waists and were all tatted up. Flip snuggled up on her potential mom’s lap like she had been there her whole life. We decided to meet in a week to do the adoption. In the meantime, Flip developed a full blown eye infection. But one week later, eye drops in hand, she was off to her new home to live happily ever after, even keeping the name Flip (so she can retain her many nicknames including Flip Flop, Flip the Switch, Flippin’ Out and more)!
Would you name a kitten Cutie Pie? Yuck. So I called this little lady CP. Then one of our volunteers who is a nurse asked me if I knew what that meant in medical circles? Cerebral Palsy. Back to the drawing board. CP was one of Flip’s roommates and though most of the time very loving, she could cop an attitude on occasion. One of the volunteers was trimming her nails at an adoption event and CP caused such a loud fuss about it, people came running from all over the store to find out who was torturing the poor kitten. She was eventually adopted by a young man who never had a pet before. He called not too long ago to tell me how much he adores the kitty who now has a real name, Sasha.
Then there are the returns. Qismat (fate in Arabic) was adopted by a mom and her daughter. The woman told me she wanted her daughter to share life’s important moments as she grew up with a beloved pet. Four months later she was back because they were moving. Not sure how many moments they were able to share before they unceremoniously dumped her. Now Qis was big and black. Black cats and dogs are adopted the least, linger in shelters, and are euthanized the most. Qismat lived with us for a year as a beloved member of our pack before I got the call. A math teacher and his fiancé met her and fell in love after reading about her on PPI’s website. I received a picture at Christmas of the 3 of them. She is now Cricket and an important family member. This one was really hard for me. She almost stayed with us permanently because she is such a wonderful little cat. She gave us kisses and squeaked rather than meowed.
Tark joined Flip and CP as one of unadoptables. This poor sweet little dude was returned twice. He is a little timid but brimming with affection. He was my lap sitter. He was being bullied by the resident cat the second time he was returned. He was the last man standing this past kitten season. First CP, then Flip found their forever homes. So Tark joined the general population which includes four cats of various ages and temperaments, a lab, a shepherd, and two foster dogs. And you know what? He did great. His favorite place was pasted next to his BFF, 70 lb. Stanley. But, finally, after months of waiting, his day came too. He is now happily living with a single mom and her son as the only pet. He is in his glory absorbing all that attention by himself. The last time I saw him he was snuggling up with the little boy, sleeping together in his bed.
Maybe it is the alignment of the stars, maybe it is fate, but whatever the reason, it is my firm belief that the right home is out there for each and every adoptable little face that crosses this threshold. It just takes a bit longer for some than others. Some have bigger challenges and crazier issues than others too. We did not have a chance to relay Chloe’s and Mila’s stories yet. Chloe was with us for a year and Mila has been with us for the past nine months. So we will meet you right back here next month for their stories:
The Unadoptables the Sequel.
by Judy S
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