You ask the right questions, review the application over and over, check all the references — you do everything you can think of. Yet, even after years of experience and countless success stories, it still happens. When an adoption goes wrong, you feel angry and heartsick, but you must try again — and hope again — because their lives depend on it. Thus, the story of Apollo and Hercules.
These two sweet kittens were brought into my program separately seven years ago. Both on the shy side, they met in my foster room and bonded instantly. I knew that they needed each other.
When I handed them off to their adopter, I felt it was the right home, and they were socialized and ready. I shared with their adopter how beneficial it would be to continue handling and holding them often.
Sadly, the email I received from their adopter in early December, seven years later (!), left me sick to my stomach. She described them as “feral kittens” and said she couldn’t handle or hold them all those years. She claimed they weren’t bonded at all. Then she said that a few years ago, she’d entrusted them to a friend when she had to move, but now the friend was moving and could no longer care for them. She also informed me that she explored taking them to shelters, but no shelter would accept “feral” 7-year-old cats.
My babies!