Foster Tales from the Katz Family

Ellen Katz and her husband Howie Newman have helped care for some of our older PAWS kitties. Here is Ellen's tale about her foster experience, including the progress she is making with their current foster, Mara.

My husband and I began fostering in 2016. Due to space limitations, we usually foster only one cat at a time. The younger, more sociable ones tend to be adopted pretty quickly, but we have had a number of shy or older cats who’ve stayed with us longer while they become more socialized or medically stabilized.

Before Mara came to us, we had fostered Morticia for a year and a half. She was a PAWS kitty who was adopted by an older woman, with whom she lived for many years. She came back to PAWS at the age of 12 when her owner became ill and could no longer care for her.

When she first arrived, her fur seemed very greasy and flaky. We took her to the vet for a check-up and she was diagnosed with diabetes. We gave her insulin injections twice a day and periodically had to measure her blood sugar level in order to determine if her diabetes was under control or if the insulin level needed to be adjusted. After a few months, her skin cleared up and became glossy and healthy! In May 2020 we found an adopter for her; her new mom is retired, and the insulin injections are not a problem. (The part that was tricky was describing virtually how to give injections, as it was in the middle of the COVID shutdown!)

We have also fostered another 12-year old former foster cat named Margee, a shy cat named Zuma, and others. All have convinced me that there are people out there for almost every cat, no matter its age or personality.

Meet Mara - A Shy Cat Who Likes to Play

Mara was one of a litter of four newborns found by a caring family in Middleton and brought in from the cold along with their mother. PAWS placed them all in a foster home and was able to adopt out the mother and the other kittens. Mara stayed in foster care due to her extreme shyness.

For the past four years, she was in a foster home with several other cats. She got along well with the other cats but continued to be very shy.

We moved her into our house this past June so she could receive more individual attention and hopefully overcome her shyness.

Mara is such a pretty cat. She’s small (at least compared to our own cat, who is a bit portly!) She is still very shy–will jump if you move suddenly or come too close. But, on the other hand, she is very alert and playful. She loves chasing superballs around the house and has a favorite stuffed mouse that we periodically find on different floors of the house.

She also seems to like being around people, as long as she can keep her distance. If we’re on the couch she’ll be in the dining room curled up under a chair where she can see us. Mara’s previous foster reported that she would sit on the back of her chair when she watched TV, but would run if she turned around to try and touch her.

We’ve learned to not go toward her, to not try to touch her, but let her come to us. It’s VERY slow, but exciting to see her progress. “Her” room is now my home office, so we spend a lot of time together. I talk to her a lot. If she’s in another room and I call her in a high-pitched voice she will come.

Recent progress:

A few weeks ago, she chased a laser pointer for the first time. (Previously, she was afraid.)
Eating out of my hand is becoming a routine she has come to expect.
I now sit on the floor with my palm facing up, and the other hand cupped over it so that she has to reach her head between my palms to get to the food. Her head and neck make contact with my upper hand while she’s eating. I have to sit very still or she’ll jump. This gets her comfortable touching my skin. I’m not sure if she has allowed any human (other than a veterinarian, in which case she was probably sedated) to touch her.
I also sit on the floor and put some dry food pellets along my thighs and on the floor between my legs so she has to climb over me and squeeze around me to get the food.
The other day I heard her purring for the first time!

Mara has continued to make progress to the point that she now looks forward to eating out of my hand and even fell asleep in my lap once, for a very brief time.

Her shyness can be frustrating at times, to me. She seems to enjoy being around people but will flinch and run away if I get too close or reach out to touch her. My biggest hope is that she will begin to trust people. I hope that she will realize that the people who feed and care for her every day can also be trusted to pet her. This may take a year. Or, it may never happen. But we are not giving up.

The amazing thing that I have seen as a foster for PAWS is that there is someone for almost every cat. There are so many kind souls who connect with animals in different ways. My hope is that there will be someone, perhaps with a few other cats, who will give Mara a safe home and continue teaching her to trust people.