More than 20 years ago, Joyce picked her first cat from the street by coincidence. She wanted to find her cat a companion. At the same time, she heard there was a Foster Parent Programme offered by the SPCA. She then decided to give it a try and become a foster parent. Since then, she has fostered over 1000 kittens, with their age ranging from new born to about 3 months old.

For new born kittens, the first few months are crucial for their growth, which requires much attention and great care. Apart from feeding milk to the kittens, taking care of them when they are sick is another important task, especially when the kittens get sick easily. In 2018, Joyce nursed a kitten named “Jing Jai”, who was only 2 weeks old with serious Cat Flu – his left eye had already infected severely. He pulled through the eyeball removal surgery and managed to survive under the great care of Joyce, who used a syringe to feed him milk day and night.

Unfortunately, nobody was willing to adopt Jing Jai afterwards. Even worse was that he caught the flu again after several months. Joyce looked at Jing Jai, who was very weak at that time, and said to him, “Once you recover from the illness, my place will be your forever home. Please get well soon!” However, not long after that, Jing Jai couldn’t make it and passed away eventually. For Joyce, the hardest thing about being a foster parent is not feeding milk for the kittens at midnight; it is overcoming the sense of helplessness when you have already tried your best but had to see the kittens passed away when they couldn’t make it.

Joyce is really impressed by the vitality of the kittens during the process of nursing them, which helps her to take care of her own children as well. Her two children sometimes help take care of the kittens, so as to develop a sense of responsibility and love towards animals. Moreover, they have learnt how to bid farewell, which can only be learnt through experiences. She hopes that she can take care of more kittens in the future, and try her very best to help each and every one of them.