“The cat distribution system blessed us with cats,” said Ken Lager, Salem Drive. Staff at Mt. Lebanon Magazine work with Lager as a photographer, but outside of work, he’s a foster with Animal Advocates, a 100 percent volunteer-run animal rescue based in the West End. It’s a no-kill operation, which takes in many animals from overrun shelters, where the animals would be otherwise euthanized. Animal Advocates relies on a network of foster volunteers to house dogs and cats until adoption, but also has a physical location with a thrift shop and adoptable cats.

A foster for one year now, Lager enjoys the constant rotation of kittens in his home, especially since the passing of his family’s two senior cats a few years back. He and his wife, Tia, agreed to foster kittens, at the request of their teenage son, under one condition: “They’re all rental cats,” Lager said. He did concede that the hardest part is letting them go to their forever homes. However, fosters get the final say over adoptions, which is something Lager appreciates after learning the personalities and needs of each individual cat. At the time of the interview last fall, Lager had three kittens — Suni, Simone and Ivy. Suni and Simone are part of the “Olympic kittens,” named after Olympic athletes from this past summer. Ivy, a black-and-white tuxedo cat, is one month older and from a different litter, but benefits socially from living with other kittens.

Another foster, Julie Andrews of Lakemont Drive, started volunteering at Animal Advocates in 1992, and especially enjoys working at the thrift shop. The best perk is the co-workers —adoptable cats that live in the store. Andrews ran her own pet-sitting business in Mt. Lebanon until recently, when she phased it out during the pandemic. That’s when she got into fostering.

“I needed my animal fix,” she explained. The first litter of three kittens came to her home soon after, but one never left. Her cat, Beatrice, was her first “foster fail,” an affectionately used term used for animals that fosters ends up adopting themselves. It wasn’t long until her second foster fail, Kai, came along, this time aided by Lager.

Lager fostered Kai, a special needs cat, when he was a kitten. One morning, Lager checked in on the kittens and saw blood coming out of Kai’s mouth. He instantly drove him to the emergency vet, where they found a cyst blocking his throat, and performed life-saving surgery to remove it. During Kai’s recovery at home, Lager’s son had a baseball tournament out of town. Andrews agreed to watch Kai in Lager’s absence, but the overnight visit turned into a permanent stay. With Kai’s distinctive “foggy eye and wonky teeth,” Andrews said he didn’t have any applicants, so she decided to adopt him. Andrews has a full house now with four cats, including two 19-year-olds, and a dog.

Linda Marino, Oak Forest Drive, is just as familiar with the lure of foster failure. Marino said every cat she’s adopted in her 25 years started as fosters, including Tori, an abandoned newborn kitten she bottle-fed back to health, and Fynn, who was found inside of machinery at a construction site. “Many of the cats, if it weren’t for us, wouldn’t make it,” Marino said. The most challenging part is “you never know what will turn up. Like emergency visits to the vet.” Marino also volunteers with cats at the facility, where she changes litter, provides meals and medication.

A member of Animal Advocates’ Board of Directors, Marino said the group always needs new volunteers, and with more help, they could expand thrift store hours and dog fostering placements. All donations to Animal Advocates go toward animal care, Marino explained. This includes the sales at their thrift shop (in-person and online,) which offers all kinds of products, from women’s clothing and home decor to pet care supplies. “We have a really excellent group of volunteers,” she noted.

“From a foster perspective, it’s fantastic,” added Lager. “We know that we’re doing the cats good, bringing them out of a place where they could possibly not make it.”