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Foster Tiny Paws

@fostertinypaws

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Mom to Orange Boy and, as of 6/18/26, Jack & Sissy: all are former Community Cats.
Disabled September 11th Responder.
Art makes me happy.

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I lost Ween last Monday. She is with Dibley.

Ween: March 17, 2009 - May 11, 2026
Dibley: August 27, 2011 - July 19, 2023

I have struggled to put my feelings into words.

Sometimes the death of a pet is not only grief for the pet itself. It is so much more.

It's grief for an earlier version of your life, people who are gone, places you lived, hope you used to have, and the realization that your life changed in ways you never wanted it to.

One grief article said that when a pet is tied to another person or earlier life chapter, losing them can feel like “the final symbolic link” to that life disappearing.

That is exactly what this feels like to me. A life disappeared.

Ween and Dibley were not just cats. They were tied to another life... gone. Another person... gone. Another version of me... gone. A happier and fuller time that had more hope in it than the life I am living now.

Looking through photos of them together feels like looking into another world. A world lost. A self lost.

There are certain photos of Dibley that I cannot look at because I know they were taken during the last weeks of her life.

I did not take final photos of Ween because I did not want my last memories of her to live in photographs from that day.

And looking back through old photos of life with Ween and Dibley hurt more than I expected.

I was not only looking at two cats I lost.

I was looking at everything I lost with them.

The life. The people. The hope. The version of myself that existed during all those years we were together. by @fostertinypaws

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5 months ago

Vander's Story: What Was Withheld, What Was Too Late

My experiences fostering in NC (the good, the bad, and the ugly) & Vander's Story are too long for IG. The post is on my FB page. You can find the link to it in my LinkTree.

Thank you all for your support over the years, it is sincerely appreciated.

#FosterTinyPaws #Vander taken in Whitsett, North Carolina by @fostertinypaws

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a year ago

August 28, 2023 would have been Dibley's 12th Birthday.

Her Gotchya Day in Portland, Oregon was 09/29/2011. I was living on the top floor of an apartment building in downtown PDX right next to Union Station (train) & the Broadway Bridge. So it was a pretty loud area & I could hear frantic meows above all that noise, with closed windows. She was NOT easy to catch. She was hunkered down under a shipping container by the train tracks. I tried for hours & hours several nights in a row to get her to come to me and food. No luck. I rented a Zip Car & then rented a trap. I got her that night! The Vet told she was approx. 4 weeks old; I decided her Birthday would be 08/28/2011. Dibley died after an exploratory GI surgery in North Carolina on 07/19/2023 & I am still *very much* hurting. As I write this, tears are streaming down my cheeks & I'm sobbing out loud. I have a bad sinus infection & crying just makes it even harder to breathe. Ugh! When does the crying stop? It's been just over a month. I haven't cried this much over the loss of a person. WTF is wrong with me??? 😂🤣

Dibley was a stray. She was a rescue. As was/is Ween. I didn't purchase them, I didn't adopt them from a shelter. I rescued them myself, right off the streets, & took all of the necessary steps to make them my family: vaccines, spay/neuter, MICROCHIP.

FosterTinyPaws has an Amazon Wish List. There are items on it for Ween (a rescue & permanent family member), for Adoptable Natasha (a rescue who survived panleukopenia & has mild cerebellar hypoplasia), and for "my" Community Cats.

If you'd like to celebrate Dibley's rescue, life, & the Birthday she never saw... please shop from my Amazon Wish List & help me support the rescues and strays in my life. As you all know I am a disabled September 11th 1st Responder & finances are ridiculously tight. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a *big impact* in my life. Thank you for following us & thank you for your continued love & support.

Amazon Wish List is also accessible in the Bio/About via LinkTree

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1D2D4WSH7AMGO

#FosterTinyPaws #PetsAreForLife #CommunityCats taken in Whitsett, North Carolina by @fostertinypaws

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3 years ago

I interrupted biscuit production. Oops.
🧡🍊 by @fostertinypaws

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11 hours ago

He does have a good life now. Thank you for helping me give that to him. 🩷 by @fostertinypaws

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a day ago

Happy lil guy. Belly Rubs.
🧡🍊 by @fostertinypaws

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a day ago

In case you missed it in the Reel... Sissy touched me with her petite n' fuzzy paw.

She's all about those 'cookies' (Friskies Party Mix Natural Yums) by @fostertinypaws

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2 days ago

Feeding Sissy "cookies".

If you'd like to send Sissy some cookies, they're on our Amazon Wish List (LinkTree, Page Bio).
🤎🖤🧡 by @fostertinypaws

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3 days ago

Head-bonks and belly rubs is the right way to start the day.
🧡🍊 by @fostertinypaws

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4 days ago

Have you had your bonks today?
🧡🍊 by @fostertinypaws

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4 days ago

Sometimes we do this. Sometimes this starts with hisses. Sometimes it doesn't. Today it did NOT start with hisses. No matter how it starts... I DO hear her purring. by @fostertinypaws

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6 days ago

How's your Sunday?
🧡🍊 by @fostertinypaws

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6 days ago