Meet Phoenix and Pepper The Beautiful Gentle Tamaskans
Our Dogs of the Day Help Foster Cats and Kittens Get Adopted
It would be hard to ignore dogs as gorgeous as Phoenix and Pepper if you passed them on the street, but it’s even harder to ignore these stunning photos of them juxtaposed against the tiniest of kittens- And that’s exactly the point! The photos are courtesy of their talented owners Michelle and Dan Fox of DM Fox Photography. They definitely help the foster cats and kittens get adopted.
How they started fostering cats and kittens
Michelle and Dan Fox wanted to make a difference by fostering and after Michelle was on the wait list for 2 years to adopt Pepper and another year for Phoenix, fostering a 3rd dog felt like a lot. Hearing that the Toronto Cat Rescue was in desperate need of fosters for kitten season, they decided to give cat fostering a go – and the results were adorable!
“Our first kittens were 2 ginger kittens who were around 5 weeks old. They were not afraid of the dogs at all. Pepper wanted to mother them (she likes mothering small animals). Phoenix was actually a little afraid because she’s been scratched by a cat on the street before but then she was ok once she knew they just wanted to play.”
“We’ve never had a skittish cat and the kittens we get are too young to be fearful. The dogs are also pretty calm and respond to ‘leave it’ if we feel that the cat is getting bothered on the rare occasion.”
Michelle’s advice on introducing cats and dogs
“Kittens adapt easily so they either have no fear of the dogs or if they do, they get over that in a day. Cats will take longer to get over a fear of dogs or sometimes not at all. Our current foster cat isn’t afraid of anything so she has been good with the dogs from the start. We had one foster cat who stayed upstairs most of the time. He tolerated them in the same room but didn’t like them near him. He was a cat found on the street.”
“We have never had to give back any fosters because of the dogs. We only had the one who didn’t really like them and he had his own space to avoid them if he needed. I would say if the cat is already fine with dogs (like it seems their current foster cat is) then it’s easier to introduce the cat to the dog for the reason that the dogs are bigger and can stand up for themselves. With the kittens, there is constant supervision as they are so tiny and so active. The fosters are never left alone with the dogs when we are out (they are separated) but it’s easier when they are cats to supervise interactions.”
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