Julie shares this story about how CARA rescue Rose found her way into her family’s heart:
“I moved to Manila in August 2015 from Canada. My family and I were super excited for this new adventure and an opportunity to live in the Philippines for the next 3 years, more especially – no snow for 3 whole years! Yippee! We moved here with our cat and 2 children. Shortly after arriving in Manila, I noticed all the homeless cats wandering around. It’s kinda hard not to notice this. My heart went out to them, I found myself loading my pockets with cat food each time I left my house. I wanted to take care of them all – but didn’t know where to start or how.
“In September, I attended a social function and mentioned my interest to help out at a shelter to the person sitting beside me. She referred me to CARA and suggested that I contact them to find out more. I researched their site and discussed the options with my family. We decided to trial foster a cat. This would allow us to help the shelter, relieve them from some finances and allow a cat to experience life in a home with a loving family. We planned to foster her, until she found her forever home. After several email exchanges, I was invited to visit CARA to bring home our foster cat. I explained, that I was looking to foster an older cat 5-7 years old and that we had another cat and 2 kids in our home. I decided to let CARA choose the cat. Frankly, there were too many to choose from and I was afraid I wouldn’t make the right choice. They ultimately, chose Rose.
“When I brought Rose home, I decided to leave her in the travel cage so that both her and our other cat could adapt to each other’s scent. After 30 mins, I decided to open the door; I assume she would bolt out. She remained in the cage. After a couple of hours and lots of coaxing her to come out (treats, toys, etc.). But to no avail, I decided to reach in and pick her up. She didn’t struggle, or budge in anyway; she just let me hold her. In the first days to follow, she hid under tables, chairs, beds and tucked herself in any shelf or box she could find. At first I was nervous, and a little hurt. It appeared that she wanted nothing to do with us.
“As the weeks passed she began to trust us more, slowly she let her guard down, allowing us to pat her without running away, soon she would follow us around from room to room and even curling up at the foot of our beds after a long day of playing with her ball and simply being loved. The timid cat we brought home 5 months ago had blossomed into a lovely, member of our family.
“What no one expected… We can no longer foster Rose; you see we love her too much to ever re-home her. I would like to adopt this sweet little cat – and give her, her forever home. Both our cats were rescued from shelters, and I honestly believe that sheltered cats have an appreciation for being adopted. I still load my pockets with cat food and give our a few loving pats when I can. But now, I am no longer as heartbroken as before, for I have hope that there are more people like our family out there. Open your hearts and home to an animal in need, the love and gratitude you will get in return is like nothing you can imagine.”
Words and images by Julie Burns.
About the contributor: Julie is from Canada and moved to Manila with her husband, two kids (age 10 and 9) and furbaby (cat age 10) in August 2015. She and her family are enjoying winters without snow since then!