I honestly had no idea that animal fostering was even a thing let alone a need. I spent hours scouring google for how to be a foster and what to do. There were no rooms available in my home so my walk-in closet became a makeshift foster room. I started with 5 kittens about 9 weeks old and moved on to a semi-feral pair who bunked in my son's room. Eventually, I found that I needed a space for cats
to stretch out and roam. We borrowed space in my den which acted as a homework and gaming room and there I had my first pregnant mom. If you've never experienced the miracle of mama cats/dogs, let me tell you it is the most amazingly wonderful and humbling experience ever. Mamas are absolutely the most incredible beings. It was then that I knew I needed a dedicated space for my fosters. We moved rooms around and combined some spaces and I was left with the perfect little room just for fostering. Many kittens, cats, and mamas alike have sought temporary safety in that room. Unfortunately, that room has also experienced loss. In 2021 I took in mama Sarabi and her four 12-day-old kittens. Mama had experienced a traumatic eye injury; she would need to have surgery to remove it. However, she passed away suddenly leaving her young kittens behind and a gaping hole in my heart. I didn't think I had it in me to raise such young babies without her. I questioned if I deserved to be a foster if perhaps, I was too weak. But as her kittens grew up and thrived, I knew she gave me the strength to keep going. I dedicated the foster room/nursery to her. When lionesses go hunting, other pride lionesses stay behind to watch the babies. They form a nursery called a “crèche” (pronounced cresh). If a lioness never returns from her hunt, the other lionesses will raise her baby as their own. That’s the meaning of this page and what I have officially named my foster room. Fostering animals is an incredible journey that I’d like you to take with me – the ups and the downs. Maybe we can learn something together or at the very least be the crèche that many felines have needed. Thanks, xoxo Stephanie Bowne
