In the last few months, people across the world have felt their lives shift in some manner in light of the novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). Businesses and organizations that rely on face-to-face interaction, such as Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS), had to modify operations to follow public health guidelines and to increase social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus. To continue providing the best care for dogs, cats and critters at the Shelter, SAS sent out a signal to all foster care volunteers to take in critters if they could as they attempted to move animals out of the shelter. Molly McGuire, a nine-year foster volunteer, was one of many who answered the call.
During the month of March, Molly helped foster two cats, Snowball and Alice. While both fosters occurred within a couple weeks of each other, these two experiences varied for Molly in light of the evolving nature of the virus. With Snowball, the potential adopters visited Molly’s house and while they did not shake hands or have any physical contact with Molly and her partner Craig, the potential adopters spent time with Snowball in Molly’s house, felt the attraction and decided to adopt.
Fast forward to a couple weeks when Alice was in Molly and Craig’s care, further restrictions and guidelines related to COVID encouraged Washington residents to stay inside and reduce contact with others outside of the household. Following these guidelines and restrictions, and taking their own comfort and wellbeing into account, Molly and Craig found inventive ways to find and connect with potential adopters for Alice. They held multiple FaceTime calls with potential adopter Leah so that she could see Alice and discuss what a lovely cat she was, while maintaining proper social distancing. Craig also seized the opportunity to take and share photos and videos of Alice during the day to share them with Leah. Once Leah felt ready to move forward with the next steps of adoption, she worked with SAS and Alice’s foster partners to schedule a meet + greet at the Shelter. Until then, Molly and Craig kept in close contact with Leah with video calls, photos, and shared tips and tricks on how to care for this lovely cat.
When the meet + greet day arrived, an Animal Care Officer helped manage the flow of individuals and bodies in the room to follow the proper precautions. Leah and roommate Tess fell in love with Alice and proceeded to fill out all necessary paperwork to adopt her. While the foster experience of Alice for Molly was vastly different to her foster experiences in the past, she was happy to see that the eventual happy ending for shelter and foster animals had not diminished in these uncertain times. “For me, the surprise was that love can blossom even without in-person head rubs,” says Molly.
Bb, the cat formerly known as Alice, is living a happy life with forever mom Leah. Bb was Leah’s first adoption as an adult/riding solo, and she definitely had to adapt quickly in trying to adopt in the age of a pandemic. “I had to be really on the ball – by the time I called about a cate on the shelter’s website, they would have three or four interested adopters and I was too late,” says Leah. When she saw bb/Alice, she wasted no time in contacting Molly and Craig.
When asked about things that worked well in the unique process of adopting during these uncertain and isolating times, Leah praises the help and coordination provided by Molly and Craig. With the daily FaceTime calls and the endless answers provided to Leah’s endless questions, she was ready to make the leap and set up the Meet + Greet at SAS. “It’s strange to commit to adopting a cat without meeting them in person and play with them a couple of times, but I knew exactly what I was looking for in a kitty and Craig and Molly were extremely honest with me so I knew what I was committing to. I am so incredibly happy I found bb – she’s been a huge mood boost during quarantine.”
Learn more about Seattle Animal Shelter’s foster care volunteer program, the current appointment-based adoption system, and other shelter impacts in light of COVID-19.