As I’ve mentioned in blogs before, I am a huge animal lover, and, lately, I’ve ramped up my volunteering with Philadelphia-based Fishtails Animal Rescue. Devoted blog readers may remember the introduction of my first foster cat, Cannoli, back in June. He was adopted at the end of July, which was both gratifying and a little heartbreaking. My girlfriend, Brena, and I really miss him, but we follow his mom on Instagram and love seeing him featured in her posts.

After a light break from fostering due to the heartbreak of saying goodbye to Cannoli, Brena and I decided we were open to short-term fostering for Fishtails’ cat café partner, Get a Gato. We took in a spunky young Torbie (tabby/tortoiseshell fur pattern) and named her Lunchbox, planning to have her for about three–four weeks until she had gotten all necessary testing done and was medically cleared to live at the cat café. We had no idea how she would fare around the other cats, as she was in quarantine at our house and didn’t get to meet our cat but were hoping it would all work out.

Unfortunately, after a few weeks, the café staff alerted Fishtails it had become clear Lunchbox was not adjusting to café life and was distressed by the presence of all the other cats, hissing whenever they would come remotely close to her. So we took her back and, luckily, she got adopted quickly and just went to her forever home last week. Lunchbox was pretty different from Cannoli — she didn’t like our cat and had a sassy side where she would bite us if we petted her when she wasn’t in the mood. But she was still very cute and fun, so we were hoping an adopter would love her despite her tendencies to chomp, and, luckily, they did.

On top of my fostering adventures, I have begun helping with Fishtails’ social media pages on a volunteer basis, which is definitely a lot of work but gratifying! Follow @fishtailsrescue on Instagram and Facebook for some cute, Philadelphia-based cats (and the occasional dog).

Other recent developments in my cat lady life involve buying a mini stocking for my cat along with glitter fabric paint from Michael’s to write her name on it. I think it turned out pretty adorable. I’m Jewish, but Brena celebrates Christmas, so I’ve begun letting some holiday cheer into my heart.

We also got to visit Cannoli, our beloved foster boy, in his new home last week. He gained a few pounds and is just as friendly and sweet as ever! He is clearly thriving with his family, and it’s really nice to see him doing so well and making his family so happy. They clearly love him a lot, and he has all a cat could wish for.

I’m now trying to hold myself back from taking in a new foster. I could definitely use a break (and so could Maisy), but sometimes I can’t resist, so we’ll see. Fishtails is having an adoption event this weekend, Dec. 14, at Fishtown Animal Hospital, so I’ll get to hang out with a lot of adoptable kitties, at least. There will be food, raffles and pet pictures with Santa, so I’m super excited. If you don’t yet have plans and are in the Philadelphia area, come out and support the rescue!

— Hannah Gruen, advertising & events coordinator