Today I surrendered my cat back to the shelter we adopted her from. I cried the whole way to the drop-off veterinarian. I apologized to her over and again. I kissed her goodbye and left her for her new foster mom to pick her up.
We adopted Tori not long after we moved to Texas. She was a kitten when we brought her home. We kept her in a room separated from the other three cats until we felt everybody had adjusted to the new arrival. Tori was a bully. She hissed and spit and tried to assert dominance even though she was a tiny kitten. It worked. The other cats were so afraid of the little spitfire that they got out of her way.
She was a contradiction in herself too. Tori was a loving cat. She was affectionate and playful. She was sweet and snuggly. She was naughty and untrainable too. No matter what we did, we could not get her to not jump on the counters and tables.
When my husband and I were in our foster parent training classes the subject of pets came up. We were adamant that our cats would come first. Our cats were in our home first and ought to come first. We kept that promise to our cats for most of the three years we’ve fostered. Our cats did not like our first placement and gave her a good scratch on her face. We defended the cats and did our best to keep them apart.
When the cats started actively going after Jessie to scare and hurt her, though, a change had to come. Tori was the worst offender and we were fortunate her shelter would accept her return.
Tori is now in foster care. One down and two to go.