The story behind the art
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.
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 with the pain of knowing she very likely was not going to make it through fading kitten syndrome.
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.
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 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
‘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 shed be happier with someone that 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 December 24th, 2024.