The story behind the art

A tiny black newborn kitten wrapped in a soft beige towel, sleeping peacefully with closed eyes.
A mother cat with orange fur and green eyes sitting on a colorful blanket with five tiny kittens, some black and others orange, in a dark enclosure.

Audi the Cat

On April 13th of 2024, I was asked to help a mom and her 6 one-day-old kittens that were found outside of a friend’s home. The first night with them in my home, Audi passed away.

Close-up of a group of newborn kittens cuddling together with orange, black, and gray fur, some sleeping and one with its tiny paw resting on another.

What could have been

Her mom’s name was Simona, and her siblings were Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Mustang. This group was my 51st-57th fosters. I am now over 100, check @tianafosters on Instagram to see the exact updated number!

There was nothing I could do to save her; I did as much as I could while dealing with the pain of knowing she very likely was not going to make it through fading kitten syndrome. Losing a cat is the worst experience while fostering. The guilt gets to you, worrying that you could have done more or did something wrong, and quite literally feeling the life leave their body as you hold them in their last breaths. I’ve dealt with this three times, and I still cry when thinking about them.

My mission is to spread awareness for fostering, neutering, and proper cat care. What it is and why it’s important. I share lots of information on my TikTok @tianalenos. 

Through my art, I am hoping to spread the message that cats, in general, would live a much more lavish, healthy, safe life if we collectively put more effort into rescuing them. As one person, I cannot save them all, but I have saved over 100 lives.

Click here to learn more about fostering.

I foster through local animal shelters, which handle all medical care and provide supplies. I keep kittens until they’re 8 weeks old, at least 2 pounds, healthy, and socialized. They go into the shelter adoption center, and I never get to know who takes them home unless I connected with them before, or occasionally, adopters find my TikTok. While this may sound impossible, I find it easier to disconnect from the adoption process.

I have fostered in Texas and Ohio as well with multiple different rescues. Everyone handles things in their own way, and each takes in specific cases. The reason I take specifically kittens now is that that is what the Oregon Humane Society needs fosters for. Also, my cats Peaches and Mango hate adult cats, so it works out.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about getting into fostering if you’re considering it. 

“I could never foster i’d get too attached.” I’d be rich if I were paid every time I got this response. While it hurts my heart that not enough people choose to break their hearts to foster, I understand that everyone has their own experience. I have always been a logical person. I cry and grieve over every drop off, but I know I do not want any more cats.

The Story of my Foster Fail

Four images of kittens, each representing one of the four classical elements: Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. The Water kitten is black with white markings, the Fire kitten is black with white chest and paw markings, the Air kitten is light-colored with darker markings on its face, and the Earth kitten is mostly white with some darker markings.

‘Foster fail” is when someone adopts their own foster animal.

I adopted my 85th foster (Earth renamed to Mango) and picked up one from Craigslist after, Peaches (not proud of that but love her lol). When you choose to be a consistent foster, I think it’s important to go into it with adoption boundaries. I only ever let myself consider adopting any cats if they were a colorpoint (“siamese”), girl, sweet, that I took in at a very young age. I had a few that I let myself consider, but none that I actually wanted.

September 3rd, 2024, I took in four 2-week-old kittens, named them Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.

I was told they were all boys, but Water, but at their 4-week-old appointment, the vet told me all were girls but Fire. As soon as I heard that, I knew I was in trouble with Mango. I had a harder time convincing myself to keep her than let her go. I still don’t know if this was the right decision. I think she’d be happier with someone who didn’t foster lol. Despite the guilt, I love her and she’s an amazing cat.

I moved with Mango from San Antonio, Texas (was only there for 3 months) to Oregon. She handled the car ride SO well, I was very lucky. I stayed in Eugene for a month and decided to settle in Portland. Mango needed a friend, but I couldn’t find any cats to foster or adopt, so I went to Craigslist and took home a free cat lol. My girl peaches!! I took her home on December 24th, 2024.

When bringing fosters into my home, I separate them from my cats in my bathroom for the first few days. My girls aren’t ever happy about it at first, they get jealous. ;(