Thank You Foster Pet Parents | My First Time Letting Go

You know what's weird? When you realize you've been saying something for a long time, thinking that you understood, but you didn't really quite get it. Then one day, a situation becomes personal and only then do you discover how much you didn't know at all. I've been telling other people for a while things like "that's so great you volunteer as a foster", or "gosh, it must be hard to let them go", but until today I don't think I ever realized what it was really like. I'm a permanent type of rescuer, as we've always gone to adopt our animals for life, to bring them into our home for good. We often find or end up with ones that need extra attention or special care, and for that reason they wind up being forever furry family members.

Then there are people who foster. I know some that take in tiny kittens and bottle feed around the clock, or who help out the shelters at all hours with extreme situations. Some folks take animals out of a facility just so they can shine in a home environment, helping retrain them into wonderful pets and find their new, forever homes. They are temporary angels working to rehome the abandoned and unwanted, like my friend who rescues, fosters, and then adopts out to forever homes....she does it all. I'm in awe of someone who cares so much to rescue, foster.....and then let them go.


I decided to let go upon realizing I couldn't give a special, beautiful soul - an older and frail cat - the best possible life in our home. Despite my best efforts to provide her a quiet place away from the other animals, her fear of dogs and the general hubbub in our home was simply overwhelming for her. I'd rescued this sweet kitty from a life of neglect and we had made an incredible connection in just days.....but I realized she simply wasn't going to thrive in this situation.


Someone else could give her more than I could; do better; provide the therapeutic environment she needed to recover and heal. I burst out in tears at the vet while discussing it, knowing with the heart of a rescuer I would do the right thing, yet shattered by the tiny cracks of grief spreading across my heart. "We can't keep them all" I told myself, thinking of the life this sweet girl would now have in a large, luxurious and dog-free home. She could live out her days without even having to come in contact with the other cats if she wished, would have an adoring and caring human who didn't work long hours and had less time for her needs......but from the first night when this terribly thin but beautiful princess had reached out a weak paw to touch me, I'd been smitten by her presence. We'd connected in weeks more than with some animals I've had for life, and a piece of me was going to leave when she did.


I made the best decision possible for her; instantly regretted and second-guessed it for the next few days. Sat with her to soak up the strong spirit of a fighter and the grace of a champion as long as I could, took endless pictures and cried over losing something so very special I'd just found. There was one last night and then a morning where I couldn't feel anything; I was numb as my girl was leaving forever. I handed her over to a wonderful person; struggled to speak as something inside of me shattered; stood there frozen as a piece of my soul drove off. She was gone.

To those of you who do this over and over again, I realize now I don't actually don't know HOW you do it. Today I understand a little more how hard it must be and what an extravagant gift you give; the ultimate generosity of helping lives flourish and go on to bloom and bring light into new households. Thank you for what you offer these babies; for being unselfish; for letting go. You are the heroes of rescue, the promise of a better future and the gateway to new beginnings.

Established in 2011 as Delmarva's original lost pet network, we now cover Sussex County, Delaware along with the lower eastern shore of Maryland and Accomack & Northampton Counties in Virginia.