the joy of fostering

My personal journey began when my family and I began volunteering at a local private, non-profit cat rescue in Central Florida to care for neonatal kittens ages 0-8 weeks old. There was a desperate need for neonatal fosters, it required botte feedings every two hours around the clock. The babies had the lowest survival rate in county shelters. There were just not enough volunteers.  When the kittens turned 7-8 weeks the animal rescue asked me for photos of them for their online web page. With my childrens’ help, we used natural window light in our guest room, and set up a little photo shoot for our kittens. We got some really cute photos and sent them in.

In the process, we discovered that the vibrant, cute photos of kittens, the ones that really showed their personalities, helped attract online adoptions very quickly!  The rescue soon noticed that my foster kittens were receiving multiple online adoption applications before any of the other kittens- as soon as their photos went up!

It was an obvious choice, I volunteered to photograph ALL of the cats online adoption photos. With my children’s help, we set up at the Petsmart on Saturdays with a makeshift photo box. For two hours straight every other weekend,  we got all of the cats and kittens photographed!!

Big and little, young and old, the cute, brilliant colored photos of the cats helped them get adopted in no time. Even the big, older cats that were often overlooked were being noticed in their new, bright,  silly and creative photos. Online pet seekers fell in love with the cat/kitten personalities they saw in the photos and came from all over Florida to adopt their new fur baby. I didn’t even realize, at the time, I was creating social practice art that would be shared again and again in my lifetime.

Social practice art began then, in our foster community. We had very humble beginnings….  I set up for the shoot in the Oviedo, FL PetSmart tiny little cat room. I used a large cardboard box, cut open, and glued white poster board on all the walls. This became our little photo box. It worked purr-fectly to help us keep the cats in one place. We used colored baby blankets with chip clips from the Dollar Store!! I had one studio light with a very small light box (12″x12″).  Each foster mom/dad helped to assist with their own cat’s photo. We decorated the set and the cats with props to make their very own creative, funny, photo. 

As a result, the rescue’s adoptions tripled! Once the cats/kittens were adopted,  foster families had room to help more. Unfortunately, there are always homeless animals at risk, the process never ends.  There are private non-profit pet rescues everywhere that need help. I hope my experiences will encourage community members around the world to get involved. 

After many years of volunteering social practice art, providing complimentary photography to rescues and fostering over 300 kittens,  I have discovered another way to help the homeless cat/kitten population. And that is to share my “social practice” foster kitten art with haiku poems in book form: Meow Mischief: Haiku A to Z. My message may be indirect, however, I believe my social practice art has an underlying theme and can still bring awareness to the joy of adopting a homeless pet and increase adoptions. I hope that my experiences with kittens will touch hearts around the world and make a difference. 

To learn more about how to care for neonatal kittens go to the website of the National Kitten Coalition.