The foster kitty I thought would never find her forever home

Posted October 24, 2018, by Janice Dawn

Moana came to me in early August of 2017, she was about 4-5 weeks old. Very skittish, what we in rescue call “Hissy Spitty”. She slowly bonded with the other kittens in the house that were her age. But soon things changed.

She became more withdrawn, hid and anytime company came over, she was out of sight. She would come out when it was quiet, or when the bedroom door was shut and we were in the room. As a kitten, she was taken to one adoption event that she did NOT handle well at all and in fact, hissed at my daughter and me for three days after the event.

Would not let us touch her. I thought:

“How am I going to find her forever home if no one can meet her? She can’t handle events, she hides with any company so doing meet and greets at home are going to be impossible.”

The small backstory is there are multiple cats in my home with various personalities and such. I eventually figured out that while she could not handle the process of getting adopted, she also could not stay in my home. She was not happy here. She did not ever truly feel she could let her guard down and truly let out her personality.

Over the course of the year, we put her on Facebook, where she was shared quite a bit. Plenty of comments on her beauty, but no takers. More recently we revamped her profile, updated her photos, got her on Petfinder and added some great videos of the Moana we get to see when she’s in a comfortable place.

For her benefit, I made sure it was clear that she would be slow to adjust. That it may take days, even a couple weeks for her to truly be comfortable. The last thing I wanted was for her to be returned because she was not the instant lap cat someone was envisioning.

I did not think the back and forth would be good for her at all, so I made it clear that it would take time, and may truly come down to someone willing to take a chance on her. That person came around at the end of September 2018.

Brianna had been searching for just the right cat for a couple of months and came across Moana’s profile on Petfinder. She thought she was beautiful and we started corresponding by text about her. I continued to send more photos and videos of her being her sweet self. We talked about her transition and that I’d be there every step to help them help her settle. We were all very confident and very excited.

The last day she was with me, she snuggled with me while I took a nap. She hadn’t done that in a while. I slept with a blanket that was going to go with her so that she had something to comfort her during the change. I was optimistic but worried about how it would really go.

We met on a Saturday morning at Petsmart in the bonding room. I wasn’t sure how she’d handle it but she did pretty well. Brianna got there and she was able to really see her, and pet her which I was not sure if that would fly but it did! We spent some time talking about her even more and going over food, toys, scratch posts. They had actually purchased her an awesome cat tree that morning!

Things went well so we packed her up for the trip to her new home. Later that day Brianna contacted me concerned because Moana was behind the couch, had hissed at her, and wasn’t eating or drinking. I reassured her that that was normal and that she would not let herself starve.

A few hours later she sent me a photo. She’d put the blanket in the cubby of the cat tree, and Moana came out and got in that cubby and just observed everything around her. I was quite impressed. The next morning Brianna sent me a video of Moana doing with her what she’d do with me. Looking for pets, for loves and attention. I WAS THRILLED!

But the even better news was that the video was actually from the night before! So after 12 hours she essentially had “adjusted” to her new home and bonding with her new momma in ways I didn’t think would happen for a while! In the coming days, Brianna would report only the best news.

The continued progress of her personality coming out. Playing with toys, snuggling and sleeping with them. I cried with each update, happy tears!

“She’s doing so good. Eating and drinking. Bathing in public. walking with sassiness like she owns the place. I’m just completely flabbergasted.”

That was two days after being adopted.

“She’s doing great and such a doll baby. She gets loving and toys. I bought a red laser for her and she goes absolutely crazy for it. {We} laughed so much the first time we did it that we cried. She’s such an amazing cat”

That is the most recent update as of this writing. Brianna was Moana’s hero. Moana needed a person to take a chance on her. And I told whoever was to adopt her, that the reward would be amazing. Brianna is so thrilled with Moana and it’s clearly a mutual feeling. I couldn’t be more happy about how this all worked out for both Moana and Brianna.

Janice Dawn

Note from Elisa: This is another in the Reader’s Forum series. If you have a story to tell, please PM me on Facebook or email me at elisablacktaylor@gmail.com along with a few photos. Basically, all I do is divide the paragraphs for easier reading. You’ll get credit as the writer and may use any name you wish.

Photos for this article courtesy of Janice Dawn.