bye bye birdie

Oh Birdie. Who knew this foster cat would be the hardest to say goodbye to? When I agreed to take him I had no idea what I was getting into. They told me he was a "typical, playful, attention seeking kitten". Turns out he was playful, but that was about it. He was terrified of every little noise and would run if you tried to pet him. I had to cut up cardboard boxes and tape them along the bottom of the bed or else we probably never would have seen him again. For the first couple days he was locked in our master bathroom so he had nowhere to hide. I felt bad he was all alone, but Emma would go in there and hang out with him.

Soon he became pretty attached to her. He would let her pick him up.

He would lay in bed with her every night.

I wouldn't see him all day, but as soon as he heard Emma walk in the door from school he would come running downstairs.

When she would go upstairs... he would follow. When she would come downstairs... he would follow.

I thought he would never get adopted. The 3rd application for him was from a family with a 9 year old girl who really wanted a cat. They came to meet him. I knew there was no way he would just hang out in the living room, especially with strangers, so we had to go into the cat room (our guest room - the one with cardboard along the bottom of the bed) and close the door. I explained how he was a bit of a scaredy cat, except with Emma. I told the girl he wouldn't be the kind of cat that she would be able to show off to her friends. I told them it would probably take some time for him to warm up to a new family and he would hide a lot in the beginning. He was pretty scared during their time with him, but he sat in Emma's lap and even let the girl hold him. They left and I thought there was no way they would want him. About an hour later I got an email saying they wanted him.

This week Emma made him a tie blanket for him to take with him. She slept with it every night, so it would hopefully make him comfortable in his new home.

Finally it was the day we sent Birdie off with an excited 9 year old. When they came to pick him up she brought this note and gift for Emma.

There were a lot of tears, especially at bedtime when Birdie would be right there cuddling with Emma. He was by far my least favorite foster, but I can't help worrying about him a little bit. I'm hoping he isn't having as hard a time as Emma and will warm up to his new little girl soon. I told his new family we would love updates if they wanted to send us some, so we will wait and hope we get some happy news from them soon.