My first foster family was a small one, with one beautiful orange momma named Penny, and her two newborn kittens, Skippy and Jiff. Penny and Jiff were both adopted and are now enjoying life in their forever homes. I was so in love with Skippy that I adopted him as my own. Although his life was very short due to a fatal congenital defect of the liver, my experience with Skippy was so heartwarming that I knew I would continue to foster for FOLAS again and again.

 

In late August of 2010 I brought home two kittens who had been abandoned, and I named them Georgie and Gina. They were about 6 weeks old, and Georgie was clearly very sick. Gina was the picture of health, and was eventually adopted along with another kitten from FOLAS. After months of nursing Georgie through a terrible case of Coccidia, I adopted him as my own.

 

Unlike the any of the other kittens I had fostered so far, Georgie endeared himself to my son's older cat, Scamper. Scamper is 12 years old and has shared our home with many other cats and dogs. She is a very sweet black cat, but she has always hissed and ran away whenever another animal approached her. It was an incredible sight to see Georgie, rolling over on his back and presenting his chin to Scamper's face, and then to see Scamper place her paw on Georgie's head and "kiss" his chin and ears.

 

When I first laid eyes on Georgie I could see that he would become a beautiful cat, if he could survive the illness that had reduced his tiny body to skin and bones. But I could not have imagined just how regal this pitiful creature would become in time. A friend of mine suggested that he resembled a Norwegian Forest cat that she has once known. When I looked up the breed on the internet I found all sorts of photos of cats that looked exactly like Georgie. His physical features include a beautiful pattern of tabby markings along with snow white collar, belly, legs and paws. His fur is as soft as a rabbit. His ears are half tabby and half pink, with long tufts of white fur sticking out. The fur on his paws also has tufts that stick out from between his toes. Most incredible is his tail, which is so fluffy it nearly equals the size of his body.

 

As beautiful as he is physically, Georgie's personality is what makes him ultra charming. His friendship with Scamper continues to amaze me, and he habitually follows me about and purrs loudly whenever I hold him. He has a fetish for playing with my hair after I have fallen asleep, and I awaken each morning with a head full of crazily teased hair.

 

I recently took in a new mother cat and her 5 kittens, who are currently living in the my bathroom. The kittens are 6 weeks old now, and they are full of spunk. Georgie lays outside of the bathroom door and listens to them running, pouncing and rolling about on the other side of the door. He clearly can not wait until they are tested and deemed safe to be released from the bathroom. 

 

Lisa