Just wanted to say a belated thanks for your kind comment! It sounds great that you've been able to get to know the people who adopted the dog you fostered (I especially love that you've been able to petsit him!)

My apologies for not answering this sooner, and thank you for your insights and for the email offer! I appreciate you taking the time to share this info. As it turns out, I adopted the two foster kittens, after my girlfriend made some successful adjustments to her allergy medication and I did further research about reducing the spread of dander in one's home. We're both loving having them around and taking care of them, and I'm trying to be vigilant about cleaning and making this work since rehoming them isn't an acceptable option to me (i.e., if I need to move in the future to find a setup that will work better for the allergy issue, I'll do that). I catch myself feeling super excited when I remember that I have cats now, after having wanted to get a cat for several years now, so I'm cautiously optimistic that all this will continue to go well without having to make any huge life adjustments. (And I hope, if this continues to go well, that I can consider fostering again in the future since the county-operated shelter that I fostered for has had a lot of kittens come in so far this summer.)

New York City-area Toasties: I'm in NYC for a work trip and was able to get Shakespeare in the Park tickets for tonight's all-female performance of The Taming of the Shrew in Central Park (starts at 8). I'll have an extra ticket available, if anyone wants to take it off my hands!

Aw, thank you for sharing your experience. Reading everyone's comments here has made me tear up, but it's helpful to hear from people who it sounds like have had great experiences fostering. All of what you said makes sense and seems important to remember. I guess the mothering instinct that you mention is especially coming out right now for me in terms of worrying about finding an adopter(s) who will provide a loving permanent home for the kittens, as I've known some people in the past who seemed to think of cats as being disposable when they got tired of them. It's heartening to hear that you've found so many great adopters for the kittens you've fostered!

Thank you for your advice! What you mentioned about heartbreak turning into joy about the experience happening at all was how I eventually, after a lot of tears, felt after my beloved cat passed away a few years ago from old age. So, I'm hopeful I could come to feel that way about fostering too.

Ah, yes, I think having my own cat(s) would help me with the emotions of fostering. (And ha, the lap equation does sound tricky.)

I don't yet know who might adopt these kittens, but I hope to be able to find people who are friends of friends or somehow otherwise vetted, and who could give me occasional updates on them as they get older.

I appreciate the hugs! It's interesting you mention that about your beloved childhood cat, because the foster kitten on the right looks a lot like my beloved childhood cat, just with a slight difference in the coloring on his chin. Oh, beloved childhood cats. <3

CORKY THE TOAST, WE LOVE YOU, WE WANT YOU TO LIVE!!!

(But really, I'm heartened that The Toast will continue to live on through its archives and the communities it's fostered and the hearts of its contributors and readers, etc. <3)

On this somber Toast day, I come to you Toasties with a question about another sort of chapter-closing sadness, which is that I’m currently fostering 2 kittens and will most likely be sending them to their (as yet undetermined) permanent homes within the next couple weeks. And I feel so sad about it! I know there are a lot of animal lovers here, so I’m wondering if anyone else has fostered animals and dealt with the emotions of not being able to keep them.

The kittens I’ve been fostering are adorable and sweet and so spunky, and I would *love* to keep them. But my girlfriend has a really strong allergy to cats (we don’t live together, but she’s at my house a lot; she’s been helping me foster and has started to notice her allergies getting worse as the kittens have gotten older). In addition to the allergy issue, I’m also not sure that I’m in a place in my life yet where it makes sense to adopt animals in the long-term, especially because my mom has several older rescue cats that I would like to be able to help her care for as they start to have health issues that come with older age. (And I already feel like I don't visit my mom and my family's cats enough, even without the extra time commitment of having animals of my own to care for.)

I really like the idea of fostering, because it seems so mutually beneficial for the animals, the shelter, and for me (because I get to temporarily take care of adorable kittens in my home!) But the part that entails giving the animals up and being really sad about it is making me think that maybe I’m not cut out for fostering...

Edit: here's a blurry picture of the cuties staring at themselves in the mirror:

I'm so sad about this! But it's also completely understandable, of course. I mostly just want to say how much I've enjoyed reading The Toast and how much it's become an appreciated part of my weekday routine. The Toast has been so entertaining, but it's also introduced a lot of new-to-me perspectives on important things that I'll always appreciate. And it's been heartening to see that such a great commenting community is possible. (Shout-out to the Toast team for the time and care they've put into moderating the comments!)