Foster Volunteer Spotlight: Tanya Purvis (and Family)
Fostering kitties is a family affair for Tanya Purvis. She and her family started fostering at the end of 2019 when a family who lost their home next door locked their kitties in their car and left. When the authorities were trying to rescue them from the car, a couple of the kitties escaped and that started the Purvis family’s fostering journey, just as the COVID pandemic was about to set in. Several of the Stray Cat Blues volunteers got the ball rolling to help Tanya and her family to help the cats and kittens and they haven’t looked back.
The One Who Started It
This is the mama kitty and one of her kittens who started the foster journey for the Tanya and her family
Open to All Kinds
Typically fostering between 10-15 kitties at a time, they tend to take in the kitties that other fosters may say no to: those who might need more time, may be a little feisty, or might even be a little biter! (In fact, she’s got one of those right now: a bit of a Dr. Jeckell/Mr. Hyde who is both a lover and a biter.) They have trapped a lot of kittens, and they have held a lot of cats or kittens until other fosters become available. Presently, she has a full house of loving cats who have little quirks but 90% of them will be good family cats; and the other 10% they are working on.
Tanya and daughter Skylor with some of their foster kitties.
Where some fosters tend to stick to just adults or just kittens, Tanya takes in just about any kitty. If they need help, her family wants to help. The majority of her foster kitties tend to be on the younger side, but not kittens. She also presently has one kitty who is slightly special needs and will need an adopter who is diligent about his dietary needs. She especially enjoys caring for mom kitties with babies. She knows that some fosters avoid those, because they can be aggressive when the protective mom instincts kick in. But, she has found that for the most part, once they know her family aren’t a threat and that they feed them well, all is good.
Tanya’s dedicated barn-type space for holding moms and kittens or cats that need a safe landing spot until they can get a foster home that is heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer.
The Rewards of Fostering
Well it is different for each kitty, what Tanya finds most rewarding about fostering is watching each of them grow in an area where they needed more help and seeing them overcome challenges, such as the fear of noise, something she’s helping a current foster overcome. It melts her heart to see them overcome whatever challenge it may be and just be playful and loving and look forward to being with their humans. Her one wish is that each precious kitty she fosters will get applications from folks with whom she can share what their journey has been, and then their adopters can swoop them up and love them.
Tanya says it’s a good thing they don’t own a farm because “foster failure” in the beginning was tough to stave off. She admits that her family have shed some tears saying goodbye to their fosters. But, she has learned that if you are careful and try your best to find a loving home, not only are you helping the cat, you are also helping someone find a fur baby family member. Her family has built relationships with many of their adopters, allowing them to see how their former fosters are doing every so often. It is rewarding to the whole family, even though it is hard to say goodbye.
Tanya’s daughter Bailey helps her tremendously, especially when they need to do vaccines or anything challenging.
Just Do It!
Tanya is adamant that people who are on the fence about fostering should start! She recommends that if you’re considering it, to speak with an experienced foster and hear about their adventures in fostering. She personally had a lot of good advice to help her get started, and had a couple of very supportive people within Stray Cat Blues she was able to learn from, which helped her tremendously. She stresses that even just fostering one kitten or cat at a time would be extremely helpful and rewarding to both the foster and the adopter.
World’s Best
Tanya uses the boxes that the World’s Best cat litter donations come to Stray Cat Blues in as litter boxes for temporary fosters because they last for two weeks without leaking and then can just be thrown away.
Fostering Advice
Tanya’s best advice for someone starting out fostering is:
First and foremost make sure your family is on board. It will keep things smoothly running.
Second, be sure to have a dedicated space. It doesn’t have to be huge, just a good place for your foster. She didn’t have that in the beginning and found that challenging.
Third, reach out, ask questions, She thinks she asks way too many questions, but it has proved to be beneficial. Asking and repeating questions may make or break fostering. So many people have been doing this for years 25 plus and without their guidance it would be a challenge. And, embrace constructive criticism.
Fourth, say no if you need to. Don’t take on too much. Make sure you have time for the ones that you have. If you have time for two fosters–take two. If you have time for 10 - take 10. But just make sure you have time to dedicate to each fur baby.
And last but not least, enjoy it! It doesn't have to be a chore. It is enjoyable even when it's challenging. And, when it is challenging, just remember there is support within the rescue.
Some of the kitties the Purvis family has fostered over the years.
Why Stray Cat Blues?
Speaking of support within the rescue, Tanya’s favorite thing about fostering for Stray Cat Blues is the people! She appreciates that there are many people involved in the rescue, all with different personalities, backgrounds, beliefs, knowledge, you name it. But everyone comes together to help because we are all here to help our four legged friends!
If you’re interested in joining the Stray Cat Blues Foster Team, you couldn’t do so at a better time, with kitten season about to hit us hard. Simply fill out the foster application on the fostering page on our website here.
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