I’m happy (sad) to report that Neko the Amazing Foster Dog is now in his forever home with a forever family of three kids (10, 5, and 3) and two WFH parents. Forever Mom sent us this picture of him settling in last night. After nearly five months, we really grew to love the derp, but he’s far better off with a family than with a couple of retired farts. (I have no idea what he’s got his nose buried in, but I think it might be a Kong-style enrichment toy.)
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Aw. That’s bittter-sweet for you. Neko looks happy in his new digs.
Are the retired farts looking into their own dog at all (plz forgive me if I missed any indication of pet ownership on your end)?
I used to say that we were “between dogs” since our last dog passed, but after Neko, we may be done with pets for awhile. Maybe in a few years we’ll adopt a senior dog, but our lifestyle is a little too active for dog life and yet not quite active enough for puppy life. We’ve gotten used to the freedom of being dogless for the first time in almost 40 years, so we now realize that, as much as we love dogs, we won’t be ready for another one for a bit.
We did miss his cute, furry face greeting us at bedside this morning. We did NOT missing having to wipe his feet after his morning ahem routine out in the cold and wet!
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I hear ya. My PIC would prefer not to have another cat once our chonkster expires (which is hopefully many, many, many years away).
We can leave him for w/end trips, e.g. 36-48 hours w/out human supervision, but we always have to find someone to stay in our house / cat-sit when we head off to Berlin for two months — vs. being able to actually rent it out, or just leaving it empty.
I can’t nor want to think that far (hopefully) ahead, and I have a really hard time imagining my life without a furry house companion.
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Their routines are so funny! When I had both Finnegan and Alfalfa, they’d both jump up on the bed at night. Finny would take my left side, while Alfie cuddled into my right side, both purring up a storm.
I miss Goofy Boy Alfie.
Now that Alfie’s gone, Finny only rarely comes upstairs at night, but Murphy is there every night, headbutting my hand so I scritch him around the ears and the chinny-chin-chin. He’ll settle down for a bit, then stand up and HOLLER at me (meaning he wants more attention). Once I turn off the light, he’ll jump down within 2-3 minutes.
But I always find him at the foot of my bed every morning when I wake up. He patiently waits as I Worldle, and then joins me in the bathroom while I go through my morning stuff. But then? Holy hellz bellz, he will stand in the upstairs hallway and scream out loud how hangry he is!
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Once I went a year without a cat; it was a very long year!
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Sad for you but I know he’ll gets lots of playtime/attention in his new home. Maybe you could volunteer foster now & then.
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Ah, we expect to get asked to foster from the rescue group that listed him, and we’ve had a discussion in anticipation. We get too easily attached to dogs to do it regularly. We’re ecstatic for Neko because he’s going to have such a full and fun life, but our hearts are breaking for us because we miss him so much. Mrs. ricepad summed it up well when she said it feels almost the same as when you send your kids off to college, except you know the kids will still be in touch and they’ll be home on breaks.
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Do you have a visitation agreement?
Did they keep his name?
We do not have a visitation agreement, but they have said we’re welcome to visit in the future. We plan on not visiting for a few months to allow him to bond with his new family. To my knowledge, they intend to continue calling him ‘Neko’. One of the kids seemed particularly proud to tell his grandfather that the name means “cat” in Japanese. And in an illustration of how small our world can be, I discovered that the grandfather once worked with and knew one of my cousins in a very large, multinational shipping company!
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Is that pronounced knee or nay?
Neither. Neh. As in “neck-oh”.
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You are such good dog foster parents! I am happy for this update, I had wondered. I am very sorry you miss him but glad for him being with kids.
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Didn’t think of that one …
Same as the wafers, but spelled differently. Perhaps if I wrote it “猫”, maybe?
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I think our dogs/cats like turkey even more than chicken.
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After much hollering from the boyz to be let IN to the bathroom while I was taking a very late shower, and then even more hollering to be let OUT of the bathroom (while I was in the shower, of course), both have settled in to the Saturday Afternoon Sunshine Boyz Mode, albeit in reverse positions, as usually Finnegan gets the superior blanket and cushion position.
Finny told me he gave it up for the sunnier spot. Smart kitty. 
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