My mom's chewy orders for Beignet were often over $200 in treats.  My former furry land shark foster kitten transformed into a sleek spoiled kitten of very discerning tastes.  With a variety of tasty treats and my parents making him his own mini steaks or sushi grade tuna meals, he stopped attacking everything vaguely edible and now turns up his nose when the offered treats don't pass his inspection.  

Mom calls him "The Boss" and is quite happy to give in to his whims and moods.  But this often left her tired, as Beignet would wake her up at any time at night, dropping his favorite treat packets on her chest or face, or bringing his toys for a 2am play session.  I could not convince her that 2 kittens are EASIER than one.  NOPE! Beignet was to be an ONLY kitten.  She was too exhausted to take another.

But my foster kittens often stopped by for visits, particularly before or after vaccination clinics when they were already out and about.  Beignet loved visits from my foster kittens.  At first, he didn't understand that he was twice their size and needed to moderate his strength.  The Jailbirds, Cows, Carbs, and Puzzles all had some time with Beignet (as well as my own pet, Chiyo, when she was sick and needed medication during my work hours).  He'd chirp at them and keep tabs on them when they'd visit.  After they'd leave, he'd watch for pictures and videos of familiar kittens on his digital photo album.  Sometimes he'd come to my house for a playdate with my pets and fosters.

Beignet and Jailbirds

Beignet and Cows, Jersey (now my very own Wicket) and Holstein

Beignet and Carbs

This worked out just fine for everyone until some of the Carbs and Puzzles got sick in May 2021.  My dad and niece had a birthday party at my house, but Beignet had to stay at home. BY HIMSELF. My parents really didn't ever leave him home alone and my dad nearly drove my mom insane with his repeated inquiries all morning long...Why couldn't they bring Beignet to my house?? With this frustrating conversation fresh in her mind, my mom was primed to come over and meet my newly acquired litter of kittens.

So Jigsaw was promised as dad's birthday present and began traveling with us whenever we were visiting my parents. Then sister Tetris (link to more detailed story) got sick and needed to be offered food every few hours- so she joined Jigsaw on visits to my parents house while we were at work.  Dad fell in love with her and wore down my mom's resistance.  So she became promised as his father's day present.  

Sudoku began to miss his favorite sister Tetris when she and Jigsaw left for grandma's house and quickly learned what it meant when the kitten carrier was brought in.  At the sight or sound of a carrier, he'd come sprinting in, a request clear in his expressive eyes, often jumping into the carrier.

Tetris was the first to get officially adopted, since Jigsaw is still in eye treatment (as of 8/14/21).  Jigsaw does spend time with her forever family frequently, as she gets medications 4x/day-her midday treatment is during our work hours, but until her treatment is over, she's not considered adoptable.  She's a happy traveler, curling up in her carrier to go back and forth from house to house.

Mom, dad, and Beignet got pretty attached to this entire litter, but they were thrilled with Kakuro, now Mittens, found a home with a friend of mine.  That left just Sudoku to find his forever family at Petsmart.  Mom kissed him and told him to "be very choosy and find a good family".  I tried to make him as enticing as possible with a collage and foster story video (my very first!).  

7/30/21 was Sudoku's day to go to Petsmart, and his very first solo trip.  I had a moment of pure panic, thinking he'd escaped the carrier... but he'd just buried himself in the travel blanket.. something he had NEVER done beore.  

I had gone to several stores, searching for a reasonably priced and sized sherpa blanket that I could send home with him. He didn't like the first one I brought home, that was more microplush than sherpa, but he seemed interested in this blue one. Once I slept with it and it smelled familiar, he became as attached to it as my oodie and my well loved sherpa throw.  I did kennel set-up for the rescue that day, so I was able to go in early, set up all the kennels, then cuddle with him for over an hour while waiting for the other fosters to bring their kittens in.  He curled up in the sherpa and never wiggled or moved- just laid in my arms rather listlessly.  When it was time to leave him, he sank into his blanket like a furry lump.  It broke my heart to leave him there, but I was sure someone would fall in love with his sweet self. I ugly cried in solidarity with another foster who didn't want to leave her kitten (when he didn't get adopted that day, she foster failed him!), kissed him on his little head, and left him with the adoption team with high hopes. 

The adoption team gave me updates during the day and my mom told me to keep her posted about his adoption status.  No one noticed my sad little lump and when adoptions ended he was still there.  I was in the area and stopped to see him about 20minutes after the adoption team left.  I am certain he had not moved since I had left. His food, water, litter box were untouched. He ignored everyone walking by.

When I called to him, he did stir, coming to me at the window and pacing.  I couldn't touch him, just cried and talked to him through the window until he settled in a corner and began nursing to comfort both of us. I took this little video, sobbed, and left him again.  I sent the video to mom, just to show her that he was still there, then went to run more errands. 

But got a call about an hour later from an angry mom, yelling at me... WHY DID YOU SEND ME THAT VIDEO?! YOU GO GET HIM NOW!
But mom... adoptions are closed...
YOU WORK THERE! MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! HE CANNOT STAY THERE ALONE ALL NIGHT!

Luckily, in addition to fostering, I also do a lot of volunteer work for the rescue and am trained in adoption interviews and paperwork.  I got approval for an after hours adoption and rescued Sudoku. He was thrilled to join sister Tetris and older brother Beignet in his new forever home. Sudoku very proudly told my mom that he listened to her advice, was very choosy, and picked the very best home.  

Mom told me later that she showed the video to my dad, who watched it and said..."what's one more kitten?"
When we arrived, dad kept looking at him, asking "is that the pitiful sad cat?"

My mom believes that the kittens don't need to learn new names, so they all kept their foster names.  Because we referred to my husband and I as "dad and mom" and my parents as "grandma and grandpa" while they were all fosters, they still call my parents "grandma and grandpa" even though they belong to them.  Dad can't remember Tetris or Sudoku's names though, but they love him anyway.   He calls Tetris "Gray", but she doesn't come when he calls her that.  When mom calls "Tetris", she comes running.  Dad's used "Tetris" twice now.. maybe he'll learn.  I'm not even sure what he calls Sudoku.

So... my parents have 4 kittens. They have no regrets, but my mom has informed me that she doesn't want to meet any more of my fosters, lol.   Jigsaw gets very excited when we ask her if she wants to "go to grandma and grandpa's house" to be reuinted with her family.  The vet is pleased with her eye's progress, so hopefully she'll get cleared for official adoption soon. 

My buddy made my mom some personalized decals. They were a surprise- and as soon as she saw them, she made me put them on her van immediately.  Dad came out to see what we were doing and giggled the entire time we were applying them... he thought it was so cool that they had the names on them. 

Update 8/28/21 It's official! Jigsaw had a vet check-up on the 25th. My mom was thrilled to hear the UCD Vet team describe her as "perfect" and "such a sweet girl".  Her eye may never fully recover, remaining slightly cloudy and dry for life, but the lubrication is cheap and available OTC.  I'm convinced she is completely unaware that her sight is impaired... in fact, she views the world with pure love and joy, so I envy her vision.

No more traveling back and forth from my house to grandma's house for her lunchtime treatment. I miss her night time cuddle sessions, but I drive by her new home every workday and stop and see them often.  

2/12/2024 I've been terrible about updating my alumni section- I can barely keep up with my regular blog to try to get kittens adopted.  A little over 1.5 years ago, my husband and I bought a bigger house. Though we have no human children, and no plans in that directions, we do have a significant fur family and it was pretty obvious that fostering was a huge part of our lives.  My foster supplies and routines took over our small house.  We often had friends over to visit with our foster kittens, and it was always so cramped.  We were fitting our foster supplies in wherever we could, making it difficult to get to our other things.  We were also aware that neither of my parents would be able to live alone if one of them passed.  My mom's physical health was limited- she needed help living 7lb bags of litter.  My dad takes dozens of medications and needs this monitored due to his Alzheimer's.  So we bought a 2 story house with an empty bedroom downstairs so we'd be ready, if needed.  Upstairs, in addition to a craft room and a game room, we now have a room dedicated to fostering kittens! But we also volunteered to take over being a supply and wellness clinic location for our rescue, so every 3 weeks we open our doors to all of the foster kittens and puppies.  With that comes all the set up and data management.  Overall, in addition to a full time job, I put in a lot of hours doing tasks for the rescue. 
Excuses aside, I have a lot of former foster kitten families that keep in touch, but none as much as my parent's crew.  Everything was centered around their cat's feeding and play schedule.  My mom slept when the kitties let her sleep and played or fed them when they told her it was time.  I called my mom every day on my way to and from work, and any time I had anything I needed or wanted to tell someone something.  Mom always had time to talk to me, whether it was something important or just a trivial thought.  Every day, she let me know what her cats ate, what they refused to eat, what toys they played with, how many times they pooped, and whether the puzzles covered it up themselves or if Beignet had to go cover it for them (he was extremely picky about their litter boxes and she had to clean them regularly or he'd give her the stink eye).  

Just for fun, I made her cats into sushi.  My mom printed these pictures out and carried them in her purse so she could show everybody. She didn't go many places (hated to drive) so that was mostly cashiers or customer service people at the grocery store, but she was so proud of her sushi cats.  I ended up making them into this sushi scene and got her a tshirt, water bottle, and custom diamond art made.  

Unfortunately, mom passed away very unexpectedly in August 2023.  We moved my dad and their cats into our home that day.  It has taken them some time to adjust, especially Tetris, but they're getting used to it now.  Jigsaw discovered our cat wall and loves to hang out on the top shelf. Her wonky eye doesn't deter her at all! 

Adjusting has been difficult for all of us.  The grief is immense.  I guess I didn't realize it, but I lost my best friend.  I'm glad we planned ahead and had a place for my dad right away, but we thought we'd have several years to settle here and fix the place up before we needed to use that space.  My world has been upside down for months.  

But today we went to UCD with a foster, Jeepers.  Like Jigsaw, he had a wonky eye and needed to be seen by their ophthalmology team.  Jeeper's eye recovered much faster than Jigsaw and he received the all-clear in just 2 weeks of treatment.  But the vet said we should use lubrication drops if he could tolerate it- probably for the rest of his life.  I commented that seemed very easy, as we had taken in my mom's cat, Jigsaw, who needs daily eye drops. 
The vet paused and looked at me... she remembered Jigsaw and my mom!! Jigsaw pictures pop up in a rotation and she shares them with others often enough that years later she pulled them up on her phone in seconds!!! 
I managed to NOT cry until after the vet team left, but I teared up when we were waiting for our paperwork and definitely cried when I told my dad. 
Mom absolutely LOVED her kittens and LOVED when anyone else noticed how special they were. She would have LOVED to know that Jigsaw is so fondly remembered.  She would have told everyone this story with pride.  She would have told ME this story at least a dozen times in the first week she knew it, even though I'm the one who told HER. 
Dr. Adelman shared her pictures with me and I'm so grateful for the UCD team.  This chance conversation brings me comfort.  When I told my dad, he was also really tickled and picked up Jigsaw to tell her how pretty she was.   He didn't believe me when I told him that he said she was so ugly and confused-looking at first.  He loves her so much now, he can only see her beauty.  I just.. don't have the words to explain what this means to me- that she remembered my mom and the stories mom told her about Jigsaw pushing mom over and plopping into position to get her eye drops.  That she remembered Jigsaw. That she knew exactly where she had her Jiggy Jig pics.  I have chills.  I am healing.