When Rosalie Hanlon and her family moved from Halifax in 2019, they fell in love with the beauty and community the Annapolis Valley has to offer. After travelling through Asia earlier that year, they were looking for somewhere with more space where they could support Rosalie’s mother through early-onset Alzheimer’s. They were ready for a new chapter surrounded by community, and, as it turned out, cats.
“When Covid-19 hit, we realized we would be staying put for the foreseeable future,” says Rosalie. “As four cat lovers, we decided that the SPCA’s kitten fostering program would be a great fit for us. We didn’t want to add another permanent member of our family until we felt more confident in what the future held.”
They joined the SPCA foster program in 2020, quickly learning the ropes of caring for fosters which were sometimes mother cats with kittens or litters on their own. Their home became a haven for these tiny paws.
“Our neighbourhood was a great help with socializing the kittens. Many sweet hands helped build trust and share love with the little kittens,” says Rosalie.
Thanks to Rosalie’s family and community, many kittens and moms were able to find their forever homes. Eventually, they decided to branch out and foster older cats who were recovering from illness or needed a few weeks away from the shelter.
Then, in August 2023, an email arrived about a cat named Tula at the SPCA Kings Shelter who needed a foster home. Tula had a lesion in her mouth that wasn’t healing and had required multiple trips to vets to determine the cause. 
“The SPCA was very clear when I picked her up that this was potentially a terminal situation and would only be until the results of her biopsy came back,” says Rosalie. “It was the one-year anniversary of my mom’s passing when the ask came to foster Tula. I felt confident everyone in our family understood what we were taking on. We had a litter of kittens at the time as well, but it just felt right.”
When Tula arrived home, the Hanlon’s were struck by how sweet and gentle she was.
“She spent the first night on our oldest child’s bed, and the look on his face the next morning was clear. I said, ‘You love her, don’t you?’ He replied simply but sincerely, ‘Yes,’” says Rosalie.
While they waited for test results, Rosalie checked in often with the SPCA. “She didn’t seem to be in pain,” she says. “So, we made a plan to keep her comfortable with us for as long as she wasn’t suffering.”
Then came the call, and a surprising voicemail.
“The SPCA called and left us this message: ‘We have bad news. Tula doesn’t have cancer. If you want to keep her, you’ll have to pay to adopt her,’” says Rosalie. “So, as you can imagine, it was quite a roller coaster of emotions. It was so exciting to learn that she wasn’t terminally ill, and there was never a question about whether we would keep her. She was clearly part of our family. We feel very lucky to be the ones to adopt her.”
Since then, Tula has fully embraced her role as queen of the household. She wasn’t a fan of the foster kittens, so the decision was made for the Hanlon’s to become a one-animal home, which helped lessen Tula’s anxieties and allowed her to thrive.
“She has the run of our porch, hunts the flies that sneak into our home, and loves to curl up near the fireplace in the winter,” says Rosalie. “She sleeps on a special pillow in our youngest child’s room now and is well loved by everyone.”
Tula’s personality has the chance to shine now, and she’s become very talkative. She loves telling her family when her food bowl is empty and yelling at them to let her out on the porch. And while she’s mostly calm and sweet, she gets the 8 p.m. zoomies where she likes to run around attacking ankles and pants. 
And she’s not shy about joining in on family time. “Tula regularly joins us for dinner by sitting on a chair at the table,” says Rosalie. “We recently had dinner guests, and all the chairs were taken. Tula meowed loudly until we got her a chair. Then she jumped up and happily enjoyed watching us eat.”
A year after adopting Tula, the family moved into their forever home, and of course, Tula came along for the adventure. During her first visit, she slipped between the floors through the unfinished basement. “We weren’t going to sleep in a different house from Tula,” says Rosalie. So, the family camped out on the floor until she came down to join them.
It didn’t take long for her to settle in, but her secret passage has since been sealed off. “Sorry, Tula,” Rosalie jokes.
Tula came to her new family during a period of healing. After experiencing loss, there were many difficult feelings in the Hanlon home. In a way, they needed Tula as much as she needed them. “Tula seems to sense who needs attention and will sit or sleep near them. She loves to be part of whatever is going on and we love to have her close by,” says Rosalie.
Rosalie hopes others will consider opening their homes to animals in need.
“Animals provide so much comfort,” says Rosalie. “The foster program is a great way to connect with animals when life is uncertain or the costs of animal ownership are high. You’ll be providing a great service, but it will give you companionship and support you may not realize you need. And you might find a member of your family you didn’t know was missing. Just remember to give them a chair!”
Thank you to our fosters for all you do. To learn more about becoming a foster, click here.