[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/all-cats-deserve-a-home-and-lots-of-love-two-cat-fosterers-share-their-stories\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/all-cats-deserve-a-home-and-lots-of-love-two-cat-fosterers-share-their-stories\/","headline":"“All Cats Deserve A Home and Lots of Love” \u2014 Two Cat Fosterers Share Their Stories","name":"“All Cats Deserve A Home and Lots of Love” \u2014 Two Cat Fosterers Share Their Stories","description":"Pet ownership in Singapore has been on the rise since the circuit breaker, as more people are working from home or having flexible work arrangements, which enable them to devote more time to caring for their pets. In the process of looking for a pet, one can either choose to adopt an animal from shelters […]","datePublished":"2021-01-22","dateModified":"2022-04-14","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/Claudia%20Tan\/#Person","name":"Claudia Tan","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/Claudia%20Tan\/","identifier":73,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f2004e13e937d58b50adb5fc43b2f9a318d48ec017194d5e4f2b87e462a5219?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f2004e13e937d58b50adb5fc43b2f9a318d48ec017194d5e4f2b87e462a5219?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1611301968914_Ginger.png","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1611301968914_Ginger.png","height":626,"width":1280},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/all-cats-deserve-a-home-and-lots-of-love-two-cat-fosterers-share-their-stories\/","commentCount":"2","about":["Asia","Community","Local","Singapore"],"wordCount":1456,"articleBody":"Pet ownership in Singapore has been on the rise since the circuit breaker, as more people are working from home or having flexible work arrangements, which enable them to devote more time to caring for their pets. In the process of looking for a pet, one can either choose to adopt an animal from shelters or fosterers, or purchase them from pet stores and breeders.Most potential pet owners tend to choose their pets according to their personal preferences about the type of animal, breed, and whether or not they feel a \u2018connection\u2019 to their potential pet.While we often hear stories about humans forging bonds with their adopted animals, I\u2019ve always wondered how pet fosterers felt after handing over the animals to their new owners. I\u2019m neither a pet owner nor a fosterer, partly because I can\u2019t deal emotionally with the thought of having to part with the animal that I have developed a bond with. I decided to ask two cat fosterers about their experiences.Shereen’s storyShereen, 30, is an operations administrator who grew up with cats. She shares that she has six cats at her mother\u2019s house, but her fostering journey only began in 2020 \u2014 when she found a pregnant cat at her boyfriend\u2019s motorbike workshop.\u201cI was hesitant to take her in at first because my boyfriend is allergic to cats, but when I found out she was pregnant, I bought her a temporary house which I placed at the workshop, just so that she could give birth safely. However, she was reluctant to enter the house because she thought that we were going to trap her.\u201dHowever, things changed the night before the cat gave birth. \u201cShe was bleeding, and I knew that she was going to give birth anytime soon, and I didn\u2019t have the heart to leave her [at the workshop], so I brought her home. She gave birth to three kittens the next morning.\u201dShereen ErtyqahShereen ErtyqahThat experience inevitably brought Shereen closer to the cat, which she affectionately named Sayang. \u201cI stayed with her the entire night, because I could see that she was anxious. I eventually fell asleep but she woke me up, as if to tell me that she was going to give birth soon.\u201dShereen recalls Sayang to be a very sweet natured cat, who would follow her around \u2014 and even wait for her outside the toilet at times! Sayang\u2019s three kittens, Ginger, Biggie and Bully also grew on Shereen as well.Shereen Ertyqah\u201cThey lit up my days when they were with me. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t want to keep them, but I couldn\u2019t commit to taking care of them long term because of my work and my boyfriend\u2019s chronic asthma. I wanted to give my best to them, so I decided that fostering was the best I could do, while I looked for someone that could give them a forever home.\u201dWith some luck, she managed to find someone to adopt Sayang and her three kittens. She has also gone on to foster more stray cats. \u201cThere was a kitten that I found near a shoe rack, I took her in temporarily before finding someone to adopt her. I think I\u2019ve fostered around 10 cats so far, and I currently have one with me.\u201dShe adds that the main difference between fostering and adopting is essentially providing the cats with a temporary home, as opposed to a forever home. Given her current situation, she feels that it is best for her to foster, but she isn\u2019t eliminating the possibility of adopting a cat of her own in the near future.Having taken so many cats under her wing and giving them away eventually, Shereen says that she has gotten used to it. \u201cOf course it\u2019s hard, after you\u2019ve built trust and bonds with the cat, but I try to think positively about the situation, that they will be happier and have a better home after this. I\u2019ll usually cry for a few days, but I still get updates from their pawrents, so that makes me happy. They also allow me to visit the cats from time to time.\u201dAs she becomes a more seasoned cat fosterer, she has also learnt how to better manage the different personalities of the animals that she takes care of. \u201cNaturally I was nervous the first time I did it, especially since Sayang was a stray, and different cats also have different personalities, and act differently when they\u2019re sick. But I love cats, so I always try my best to give them what they need. There\u2019s a lot of patience needed because some cats take a longer time to settle down. They\u2019re like little babies.\u201dI asked Shereen which foster cat she remembers the most fondly, and without hesitation, she says, \u201cSayang! She\u2019s my first foster, and I already had a bond with her at the workshop before I took her in. I cried when she was adopted but I take comfort in knowing that she\u2019s in a good home.\u201dSayang (now known as Sandy), Ginger, Bully (now Charcoal), have been adopted by Mai Linh and Kenneth, while Biggie (Chopin) has been adopted by Michelle, who is also a fosterer.broken._.cattos\/InstagramI asked what the cats’ new pawrents had to say about them:\u201cSandy, Ginger and Charcoal have changed our lives in the best way possible.\u201d\u2014Mai Linh“Chopin is the monkey I never knew I needed to complete my family.”\u2014Michellebroken._.cattos\/Instagramthepianocats\/InstagramMichelle’s storyMichelle, 31, shares that her fostering journey stemmed from her passion \u201cabout anything cat-related\u201d. \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of injured cats on Facebook groups, so I thought that if I can help, I should.\u201d She explains that animals which require foster care often come from less than ideal backgrounds, such as abuse, illness, or have been abandoned. \u201cFostering can help to improve their situation by providing them with proper and regular meals, shelter, and security. There are a lot of cats waiting to be rescued, I can\u2019t take in so many myself, so I am happy to let them be adopted by responsible and loving owners.\u201dShe thus reached out to a cat rescuer to see if there were any cats that she could foster. \u201cShe mentioned that there was a very friendly stray cat, Oliver, that she would like to save.\u201dWhen Oliver first came under Michelle\u2019s care, he had been a stray for two years, and had endured much hardship. \u201cHe was all bones, his fur was patchy, and he was infested with fleas. It was a very sad sight. However, he was still extremely friendly. With lots of love, a proper diet and visits to the vet, he was eventually ready for adoption.\u201dMichelleWith such a lovable personality, it\u2019s no surprise that Oliver settled in with his new owners quickly. Michelle says the experience was akin to a teacher seeing a student graduate. \u201cI felt very happy for Oliver, as he no longer had to suffer, and would be pampered by his pawrents.\u201dMichelleAn owner of four cats herself, Michelle sees no difference in fostering and adopting because \u201chumans are slaves to both fostered and adopted animals,\u201d she jokes. \u201cBut for fostering, you make an additional effort to find people that can love the animal better than you can, but until then, you\u2019ll still give them lots of love and ensure that they\u2019re ready for their forever home.\u201dOn her part, she also did a house visit the day Oliver was brought to his new parents. \u201cThis was more to check the condition, safety, and environment of the house. As fosterers always say, \u2018windows and doors must be fully meshed, if you cannot fulfill this, don\u2019t bother\u2019.\u201d She occasionally still gets to interact with Oliver through video calls and Instagram.Having given Oliver and Chopin a better future, Michelle hopes to foster more cats in the future, \u201cbecause all cats deserve a home and lots of love\u201d.With fostering, it seems like although having to part with the cat is an inevitable consequence, I guess knowing that the cat is going to a better home is a source of comfort in itself. Perhaps bonding with foster cats is an experience that is meant to be relished in the moment, and while we’re not sure if the cats will remember, we know that they will still be loved and cared for by their new owners. Join the conversations on THG’s\u00a0Facebook\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram, and get the latest updates via\u00a0Telegram."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"“All Cats Deserve A Home and Lots of Love” \u2014 Two Cat Fosterers Share Their Stories","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/all-cats-deserve-a-home-and-lots-of-love-two-cat-fosterers-share-their-stories\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]