Percy - A Foster Story To Cherish

Percy - A foster story to cherish.png

May 10, Percy's arrival

While we were fostering Maesi (her name was still Aki at that time) the fourth day already, May 10 was Percy's arrival at our home, you can read about this day here and if you're curious about the follow-up stories, they are all linked below this post.

Percy was introduced to Maesi as her playmate because they were both orphans without any siblings so the best thing to do was to place them together to learn about hunting and how to be a cat in general. There are some things we can't teach them and should be taught by another or their kind. The funny thing is that they could have been real siblings if you look at their fur, they actually had the same colors but Maesi is a month older (more or less).

Percy had been inside a big cage mostly in the living room where the foster had other cats. This was to keep him safe as he was still very malnourished. The foster told me he wanted to play so badly and make friends so his being placed here would mean he could finally do so.

Introducing the two little ones

I admit, I was a bit afraid of how fierce little Maesi would respond to Percy's arrival. On top of that, we were stupid to pick him up in the evening, a big mistake on our end. It would be much better to give the kittens some hours during the day to get used to each other before it's lock-up time in the evening if you're having them in a bedroom and they need to be safe during the night. This was the case for the kittens we fostered at the time, as they were small and could hide in tiny corners or behind beds etc, I didn't want to risk them getting stuck during the night. But if you introduce new kittens, it's not ideal if they meet around 10 pm or so, haha. Lesson learned.

Friends

I'm pleased to say they became real friends, it was so adorable to see when Maesi started grooming Percy for the first time. She has been mothering over him ever since she accepted him in her home. She just had to get used to him, which is normal, I was told kittens always end up getting along.

I have seen Percy grow stronger in terms of not looking so malnourished anymore as well as his confidence getting stronger by the day. It was an absolute joy seeing him less scared and approaching us more often. I still remember that he started purring the same day that Mochi did this for the first time, although Mochi's purring was a true milestone in our journey teaching him that we weren't scary, it was very memorable when Percy did it a few hours later. That was a good day!

During the final week, there were several moments when he came to join us on the couch, cuddled up against me, and let me pet him. This is my boyfriend's first (and only) moment when Percy approached him instead of the other way around. A huge milestone that I wanted to capture.

Proud moments

It feels so good when you manage to gain a bit of confidence from a kitten or adult cat, you know you're on the right path and things will get there, you just need patience. Patience will eventually be rewarded in most cases though, we have experienced this now with our dear Mochi which was a long wait compared to the weeks with Percy, but both were very rewarding. This is what makes fostering such a rewarding job, being part of the journey where you help a scared kitten socialize so that he or she will be able to get adopted instead of becoming unadoptable.

I'm very happy that our mentor in the organization told me that she only trusted one other foster with Percy, who was overloaded with other cats already at the time, so the only one she knew he'd be smothered with love and get the attention needed was with us. This was after being foster parents for just a month more or less and we took pride in the comment that we were trusted with this task. We have been very patient with Mochi as well, so we knew we had to give him the time he needed to learn to trust us and not force anything.

The three musketeers

When we adopted Luna, we suddenly had three kittens, of which Luna was supposed to be the only one staying. The change from 2 to 3 kittens (and Mochi) was not that hard thankfully, these three were great together. And then Mochi died. These three cuties have most certainly pulled us through the hard first weeks because we had a really hard time losing him the way we did.

Thinking back, it was probably around that time that Maesi started to get more attached to us and comfort us while our bond started to grow without us really noticing it yet. We needed to grieve first though and decided against adopting Percy (which we were considering at that time) so that we could have a clear mind and not rush into things. Meanwhile, the kittens were staying with us as long as needed, and fostering life continued. And so did the cuddling up against / or on top of each other even though they have definitely outgrown sleeping with 2 or 3 in those kitten beds.

Little Ronaldo!

What we thought was so cool about Percy is seeing him play with a ball or other toys. He was a true football player and very skilled at handling the ball. I have captured it on video many times, but apparently not on any pictures, or at least not that I could find today. I only had to kick the ball from one side of the room to the other and he would jump up from where he was laying and chase it like crazy.

What was especially cool is when a few weeks ago, he approached me to play for the first time. I had no issues playing with him if I took the initiative but him approaching me for the first time was a huge step I take pride in. I was making coffee and when I felt something tap my foot. I looked and saw Percy sitting next to a ball he just pushed against my foot. He looked up waiting for me to kick it for him.

This was such a lovely memory not only with him but also a memory because Mochi would do the same thing. If he wanted something from us, he'd sit next to us and silently look up waiting for us to look back, and then wink in the most adorable way. I have seen Percy adopt the same things in the last weeks. Maybe it was because he liked Mochi and taken note of his behavior when he was still here:

Closing chapter

In the past weeks, we all felt that the chapter was about to be closed. Every day we made sure to make the most out of our foster experience with Percy as we knew every day we could get a message that he was adopted or needed to move on. It made me sad every time I thought about this moment arriving any minute.

We also knew it was time to let him move on because we felt that he was now really getting attached to us as he was making huge progress every day in allowing us closer. When you get to this point, you know it will get harder and harder to say goodbye every day that passes and we did not want him to fall back into not trusting strangers again. We surely could not adopt him living in this too small house and for the ladies, it was also time to let them get used to the situation as it's supposed to be without foster kittens. I think it's healthy for them to know how the household is in a normal situation first before allowing in another foster kitten.

Time to say goodbye

When I was told there was another kitten in need of companionship, I knew this was Percy's new mission to help this other (smaller) kitten learn what he had learned from Maesi. He could now be the bigger one teaching another kitten about kitten behavior. I was very pleased that he was going to another foster who has the biggest heart and I will not worry one second about his well-being knowing who will take care of him.

We didn't want to stretch it longer than needed and brought him to her home the next day so that we could all move on to a new chapter. For us, this is our life with our two own kittens and for Percy his life of teaching kitten skills to his new roomie in another home.

We have shed some tears over Percy for sure, I swore I didn't want to cry this time but my connection with him was very good and I know we all contributed to the well-being of this kitten in a huge way. We made a difference by simply giving our time, love, and caring for him. He will make someone or a family very happy in the future when he gets adopted and I'm happy his life didn't go to waste on the street as an orphan as he was not strong enough to survive on his own. So far three fosters have taken him in, and I really hope this is the final station before he finds his forever home.

We wish you a happy life Percy, and it's been our absolute pleasure to take care of you, little one, we will cherish our time with you! <3

Previous parts of our foster stories

If you really like these diaries about us fostering Aki, you may want to check out the "Bundle Of Beans Diaries" as well, this was our first time fostering. Five amazingly cute kittens were here for 18 days and I made sure to keep a diary and tons of pictures: