For some cats, the wait can be quite long for their forever home. But the best homes are worth waiting for. Sheba’s new guardian gives us her Happy Tail…
“It had probably been, at least, five years since I’d last had a cat and…well, it was about that time. I went on to the internet, not sure what I was looking for and stumbled upon the JerseyCats website where fostering was an option. Perfect! I called the number, left a voicemail and got a return call within a matter of minutes.
What was I looking for in the way of a new family member? Quite frankly, nothing in particular: kitten, adult, senior, it didn’t particularly matter – as long as s/he was independent and comfortable being left alone during the day. I described the personality of the cat that would work for me, and said that I was only able to take on one cat. JerseyCats instantly suggested Sheba. She had been in foster care longer than almost every other JerseyCat. Upon hearing that poor Sheba was in a situation where she didn’t have the ‘run of the house’ because she didn’t get along with other pets, I knew that I had to take her on as my foster cat.
A couple of weeks later JerseyCats delivered a wide-eyed Sheba. Although most cats in a new environment will quickly disappear into a hiding place, Sheba did not hide for a couple of weeks, or even a couple of days, preferring to check out her new surroundings instantly.
JerseyCats had advised me that Sheba wasn’t a lap cat. That was treat first. After about a month she decided to try out my lap….ok, the first couple of times she was standing on my lap, but I still took it as a sign that she was getting comfortable with me. After a couple of tries she figured out that it was a better to sit or even lie down.
I also started to get a handle on her preferences, like the ‘top of the head,’ head pat – where she can stretch her neck sitting up tall like the Diva she was advertised as being. She also started to become quite the chatter box, always very articulate about what she wanted: ‘Feed me NOW!’ ‘You’re not paying enough attention to ME’ ‘That’s MY chair’ ‘Playtime!’
Nowadays, I like to think that no one else had chosen Sheba because she was waiting for me to come along. So we made it official and she moved from foster cat to forever cat.
Interestingly, I never told Sheba that she was a foster cat and not an adoptee – but, ya’ know – I think she knew. I also think she knew the minute she became an official adoptee as the last remnants of insecurity faded! Now she’s stuck with me.”
Thank you, Cheryl, for adopting this very lucky girl. Thanks also to Carrie, for rescuing Sheba and fostering her while she waited for her forever home.