Why animal lover Pinky is choosing to leave a legacy of love

My current cat is a foster fail and actually the only pet I have ever had. Her name is Julie (pictured with Pinky), which she was given by a volunteer at our local SPCA Centre, and we thought it suited her. More often than not though, we call her Kitty – except when she’s naughty! We ended up fostering her for about four months and by then, we decided we had no choice but to adopt her.

I love all animals – though I admit some more from a distance than others (yes, I’m looking at you, spiders!). I grew up vegetarian and decided to become vegan when I was 15 after reading a pamphlet at a local library. So, I’ve always had great respect for all animals. My favourite animal of all time is the elephant, but since I started fostering with SPCA, the top spot is now joint with cats.

My partner volunteered for SPCA when he came back to New Zealand in 2010. When we purchased our house, he suggested that we start fostering, which we did in September 2015. I now focus my fostering efforts during kitten season each year – I try to start in October or November each year, and go until April or May, though sometimes it can go on longer if I have a particularly sick litter. We choose not to go on holiday over Christmas/New Year every year because I know this a time when there is likely to be fewer fosterers available. That first Christmas as foster carers was when Julie was still with us as a foster herself, and we were sad about having to leave her at SPCA for 10 days over Christmas as we had already planned to go away before we started fostering. Now, being available to foster over Christmas is my way of trying to make up for that!

I think there is more work to be done to educate people about desexing and microchipping cats, and I support the work SPCA is doing in this area. There are far too many rescue cats and kittens looking for a home. It would be great to have enough resources to focus on those that really need help. Instead, so much effort goes towards helping innocent kittens who are born just because someone didn’t get their cat desexed or because they wanted their kids to experience their cat having kittens – something that someone actually said to me. I also support SPCA’s work to help prevent animal abuse through education, improving welfare and seeking justice by advocating for animals who can’t speak for themselves, while also caring for abandoned and neglected animals.

My partner grew up with cats and was keen to adopt, but as we lived in rentals, it wasn’t possible. When we purchased our first house in 2015, we talked about adopting a cat, but I wasn’t very keen as I hadn’t really had any experience with handling animals and being around them. He then suggested fostering to see how I felt about having a cat around. To start with, I was a very reluctant feline fosterer. Having never grown up around animals, I had a lot of misconceptions. I didn’t like the feel of claws as they walked over my lap – cats seemed to sense my unease and always gravitated towards me, as they do! I had never handled meat; I was worried about fur getting everywhere and getting licked… all the excuses! My reluctance lasted less than a minute after bringing home our first foster cat in September 2015. Almost immediately I wanted to adopt her! It was very hard to take her back to the Centre when she was ready for adoption.

Julie was the third cat we fostered and while fostering her for four months, we fell in love and had no choice but to adopt her when she was healthy enough. As she’s an anxious cat, we call her our only child – she’s terrified of kittens and even though I want to keep all the kittens I foster, Julie prevents me from doing so.

I no longer even think about all the reasons not to have a cat around – I’m often cleaning diarrhoea, vomit, nursing sick kittens, popping medicine down their throats, having them jump up all over me, unintentionally scratching me, and using me as a climbing frame and soft bed. And I love it!

All my family is in the UK. Sam’s parents are in Kerikeri and his sister and her family live in Germany. We don’t want any children. Last year, we decided it was time we wrote our Wills and an important part of that involved a discussion around who would care for Julie if something happened to both of us. I read online about SPCA’s Giving Hearts programme. By leaving a gift to SPCA in my Will, I know I can help domesticated animals in need in some way after I am gone. I can think of no better way to acknowledge my love of cats and the work that SPCA does in this area.

With Legacy gifts being a vital source of funding for SPCA continue our work, we truly couldn’t do what we do for animals in need without the generosity of legacy donors like Pinky.

SPCA has recently partnered with online Will provider Footprint to make creating a Will easier than ever. If you haven’t created one, why not take advantage of their free, easy-to-use platform to get your Will created today! Head to partners.myfootprint.co.nz/spca