Seattle Humane foster parent Sarah Kimblad had been intrigued by the idea of fostering cats for years – ever since being sent a link to a YouTube channel livestream about fostering mama cats and their kittens during the pandemic.
“That was my first introduction to the concept of pet fostering, which had never occurred to me before then, and I was immediately hooked on the idea,” she says. “Unfortunately, my grumpy old-man cat had always been clear that he would tolerate no kids on his lawn, so the idea was shelved for years.”
Sarah cared for and nurtured her companion cat of 17 years, and she began fostering with Seattle Humane in December 2022, following his passing.
“When my grumpy old man passed away, and I knew I wouldn’t be ready to adopt again for a long time, fostering became the perfect opportunity to continue caring for cats whilst also providing support for shelters,” she says.
Sarah has a wonderful sense of humor about her lifelong love of cats, and says she was well-known in her neighborhood for her “tactless attempts” to pet the neighborhood felines during her youth.
“From the stories I’ve heard, I came out of the womb already a crazy, old cat lady,” she says. “Oddly, I considered all other animals to just be okay, allegedly paying little enough attention to them that I mistook a poodle for a duck in my childhood. As I’ve gotten older, my fondness for all animals has grown, though I still have an unmistakable preference for cats. I’m pretty confident in my ability to tell a canine from a mallard these days, though.”
Watching the cats in her care improve, whether in health, behavior or both, from how they were in a shelter environment is very rewarding, she says, and it brings her just as much joy to hear when they’ve finally found their families!
Sarah credits the long life of her companion cat and his many needs for preparing her to foster, but she says people shouldn’t shy away from fostering because they think they don’t have what it takes to handle certain cases – there’s a pet out there for them.
“Don’t get hung up on perceived reasons why you can’t foster,” she says. “There are many kinds of pets who need fostering, so even if you think you can only foster healthy pets, or small pets, or pets who get along with your dog, that’s still one kind of pet you can help feel better, and that makes it worth it.”
