04/04/2025
Important Notice RE Furry Fosters Temporary Closure
Dear Furry Fosters Family
This is Jade, one of the directors of Furry Fosters SA.
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to say thank you from the very bottom of my heart to every single one of you for the support you have offered us. I speak for our entire team when I say how extremely and immensely grateful we are.
The last 4 and a half (almost 5) years have been some of the best of our lives, and also some of the most difficult. Specifically 2024 was hard on us.
In 2018, myself and director Ciaran took in our first ever fosters (puppies) for another organisation. At the time, I was so elated and thrilled to get involved with rescue that I created an instagram page to document my experience as a foster in SA. The page was called Furry Foster JHB. Ciaran and I continued to foster puppies, bunnies, and eventually kittens. We were extremely fulfilled, but found ourselves constantly at odds with the ethos of other organisations.
Flash forward to March of 2020. An international lock down. During the lock down, we happened to meet another foster, Rachael Lambie. I am sure that at least 95% of you have interacted directly with Rachael. She is the powerhouse and heart of our organisation. When Ciaran and I met Rach, we had no idea how our lives were going to change. At the time, Rachael had very limited experience, but her passion matched ours, and her heart for rescue shone through in every one of our interactions. One thing led to another, and one cold evening, during an international lockdown, on the couch in my mom's home, we birthed the idea of an organisation of our own. We got stuck on names at first until my sister made the suggestion that stuck. Rather than foster (singular) we would become fosters (plural), and rather than JHB we would open ourselves to growing across the whole of SA. The very next day on the 6th of June 2020, Furry Fosters SA was registered as a non profit with CIPC.
We were all overjoyed/thrilled/ecstatic. At the time our goal was very simple:
Have a foster organisation which provides the highest quality of care, the highest quality of vets, and the most passion possible to cats and kittens.
The catch? The organisation would only exist to support our two foster homes. We did not intend to expand until our 5th year... Not even a month later we took on our first foster moms, and from there Furry Fosters grew in a way we only dreamed of.
We were, have always been, and are still so exceptionally proud of the work we have done in this space. We have created 3 registered NPCs, a registered NPO, and are in the process of beginning our work in the veterinary world. We have had more foster families than we can count, have homed and sterilised in the THOUSANDS of cats, have connected and worked with over 10 veterinary clinics, have collaborated with veterinary students, and have spent over R500 000 at our primary veterinary clinic (not including any other vets we use regularly).
What an amazing adventure and opportunity that we wouldn't trade for the world!!!
With all of this being said, we set out with a dream and a plan, but we had no idea how quickly we would make our dream come to fruition. We had no idea how cruel people would be, and we had no idea what we had in store. We are tired. We are emotionally frayed, and we are burnt out. It is time for a break.
Furry Fosters will be going into a "hibernation" of sorts for the foreseeable future (about 5 months). During this time we will have no adoptable kittens, and we will not be working with fosters, nor will our feral branch (Artemis Trapping Co.) or our domestic sterilisation fund be operational. This will be a hard shut down.
Our hearts are broken, but the reality is that we do not have the bandwidth or capacity to continue as we have been. This year includes a move, changes in studies, changes in work, and a marriage. We need to be able to be present for our real lives which have been passing us by over the last 4.5 years while we have been busy in rescue. We love it. We need a break from it.
When we return, and we WILL return, our plans will be bigger and better than ever, so please stick around and continue to support us! While this is a hard shut down, it is not a permanent one. We will also be keeping our page active as we would miss our FF Family too much if the page became inactive. We are taking the rest we need in order to come back better. We have always wanted our organisation to provide the highest quality level of care, and we just cannot do that if we don't pause.
My amazing, dear friend Rachael has worked herself to the absolute bone this past year and she most amongst us needs some time to reset. Our rescue momma, Maria, also needs a break. Our personal pets and families need a break.
Over the next few months we will rest, relax, and reset. We will come back ready to keep on fighting this fight, and we hope to see you all back here then.
Thank you again to every single foster who has supported us on this journey, our supporters for your loyalty, to every single friend we have made, for the patience our families have shown us, thank you to my co-director (number one cat dad & fiancé) Ciaran for everything you have done for me and Rach, and thank you so, so, so much Rach for being the best of friends, the most amazing rescuer, phenomenal co-director and all round 10/10 human being. I see every sacrifice you make and it is an honour to have you in my life.
And of course thank you to each sweet Furry friend we have had on this journey. Those who we homed, those who sadly didn't make it, and those who changed us forever.
FF and our FF Family is eternally one of the highlights of my/our lives, and we cannot wait to meet you all back here in a few months time!
