Fosters love ‘em and let ‘em go

By Jessica Coleman

Staff Writer

   In animal rescue, we often drag home strays. That’s what rescue is.

   My poor husband never knows what he is coming home to, or what I’m coming home with. Nine puppies at one time? That’s happened. Seventeen dogs in the back of an Equinox, rescued from a hoarder? Check. An injured duck in the middle of the living room rug? Yep. A kitten that, while friendly, always looks like she hates everything? Her name is Sarah Beth and she is actually very sweet  – she just has one of those faces that looks mad all the time. She’s curled up on my sofa right now. 

    In fact, I found another kitten on Friday, after the first responders gathered to honor Deputy Goforth, who was murdered in Harris County. I named the kitten Deputy.

   Because we post photos of these animals on social media, we often hear, “Oh, just keep him! He’s so cute!” 

   I know the people who say this mean well. I know they mean “I know you’d make a great home for him.” However, there are very specific and important reasons we can’t. 

   Sure, I could keep Deputy or Sarah Beth (If I wanted to be divorced – Love you babe! I promise they aren’t staying!), But then I wouldn’t have any space to put the next kitten that needs me.

   In addition to my desire to remain married, I have rescued somewhere close to 60 animals this year, and those are just the ones that actually came into my home. There have been many I took directly to a foster home, and some I simply transported for other shelters. 

   If I kept them all, can you imagine what my home would look like? I don’t even know where I would put that many litter boxes. I only have so many bathrooms, and the hubs has an aversion to unpleasant smells in the living areas of our home (I know, I know, what a weirdo).

   See, most critter foster parents only have a certain number of “slots” in our homes. We only have so many places to stash animals and only so much time in the day to give them the attention and love they need. There comes a point when keeping an animal isn’t in the best interest of said animal. We all have our own pets, and only so much space for fosters. When we keep one, we take up a space a dog or cat (or duck, or hamster, or who knows what. We’ve rescued everything from finches to pit bulls) may need a week or a month from now.

   We don’t let them go because we don’t care. We hear often “I can’t foster. My heart is too big,” and it is a little bit upsetting, if I’m being honest. 

   What we do as foster parents is exceedingly difficult. We have to watch them come to us abused, starved, scared, and then we nurse them back to health. We teach them what love is. We feed them, pet them, bond with them – and then we have to let them go. I can count on one hand the number of times I haven’t cried when one left, and those are usually because they didn’t stay more than a day or so. Please don’t assume that we must have smaller hearts or love them less because we let them go. Please don’t dismiss what we do as apathy. It breaks our hearts to say goodbye, every single time. 

   We would love to “just keep him,” but we can’t – not until shelters are empty, and our alleyway dumpsters don’t have cats and dogs scrounging the cheese stuck to leftover McDouble wrappers. There are so many more that need us. We have to allow them to leave us so we can save another in their place. We send them to loving homes after an application process to ensure their safety and health, and then we rescue another one. Until there are no more to save.

   Also, if you advise me to keep them, my husband secretly hates you, so there’s that.