Vikki’s Milestone Kitten

Foster carer Vikki Burnett with Azahar, her 500th foster cat with Ten Lives!

Helping just one kitty in need is special, helping 500 is spectacular!

Vikki loves to help, she used to work as a nurse before some personal health issues led her to early retirement. Then one day her son found six little kittens who had lost their Mum and bought them home for Vikki to care for. She was having trouble sleeping anyway, so having to feed the tiny tots every hour and a half gave Vikki something to do, and the love she got back was the spark she needed in her life!

That was in 2016 and Vikki’s life has changed so much for the better. She recently passed the milestone of fostering her 500th cat, a little ginger girl named Azahar (Spanish for “orange blossom”).

“They all have fantastic personalities.” Vikki says, “I’d never been a cat person, but I have two foster fails – Cuddles and Sugar – and I couldn’t imagine life without them!” Her commitment to Ten Lives continues to this day where she is now involved in the Edu.Cat program, taking her foster kittens into schools to meet the children.

“500 is a huge number, and it’s just amazing that Vikki has had the dedication to open her home to that many foster cats and kittens in need.” Ten Lives Foster Care Coordinator Georgie Gallagher remarked on Vikki’s achievement, adding “She is unflappable! She can take anything and work her magic and we can have the confidence that she will go above and beyond and provide all the care that the cat or kitten needs”. Vikki takes great pleasure from seeing the looks on her grand-children’s faces as they play with the cats and she‘s a member of an active social group with other foster carers who occasionally meet at Cornelian Bay. As she says now: “Life’s good, and the animals are my children!”

“Vikki is so experienced with all the cats and kittens she’s been caring for. She’s really developed such a knowledge of neonatal skills which she has been generous enough to teach to our other foster carers, staff and volunteers.” Georgie says, “People like Vikki are important to Ten Lives because they are a rock we can depend on when we’re under pressure. They have opened their home and their hearts to the sick and needy and provide the love and support that they need.”

The beautiful Azahar was foster #500!
PHOTOS: Joel Diprose

“Give it a go!” Vikki says, “Even if you only ever do it the once, it’s an experience you’ll never forget!”

Find out more about becoming a foster carer here.