Story #31: Love With Boundaries
As told by Megan Fry, Senior Director of Operations at Anderson Humane
A Rough Beginning
Goosebumps came to us through a mistake. A tag mix-up at Chicago Animal Care and Control sent him to a foster home under the assumption that he did not have behavioral challenges. What followed was heartbreaking and revealing.
The Goosebumps who arrived at Anderson Humane was terrified. He hissed, swatted, and lashed out, not out of aggression, but out of fear. Even our most seasoned staff hesitated before reaching into his kennel to place his food bowl. Everyone could feel it. This cat had lived a hard life.
As someone who oversees the shelter, I heard every concern firsthand.
Every team had a piece of Goosebumps’ story. Animal care. Training. Foster. Intake. I needed to understand more. When I did, the picture became painfully clear. Goosebumps came from a severe hoarding situation. Survival was all he had ever known. Fighting for food. Defending space. Enduring.
I decided to take Goosebumps home, knowing I could offer him what he had never truly had before.
Safe boundaries. Predictability. Time.
After more than a decade in animal welfare, I expected the challenge. What I didn’t expect was how slowly and beautifully he would unfold. It took seven months, endless patience, a lot of chicken, and even more catnip for him to realize that food appears without a fight and that gentle hands are not something to fear.
Today, my little Goose Goose is still learning how to be a cat.
Three years later, he plays with foster kittens. He asks my other cats for grooming. He brings me toys when he wants to play.
He insists on sleeping in bed every night, so he knows exactly when I wake up to feed him. Every morning, he gives me a small reminder with a playful bite, and I can’t help but smile at how far he has come.
Goosebumps is a daily reminder that animals deserve the space to learn, to heal, and to grow at their own pace.
Sometimes love looks like patience. Sometimes it looks like waiting. And sometimes it looks like letting a cat finally learn how to just be a cat.
His journey is why I believe so deeply in meeting animals where they are and giving them the time they deserve.
Ready to start your own rescue story?
Meet adoptable animals at Anderson Humane by visiting ahconnects.org/adopt, or help make the next 60 stories possible by donating in honor of our 60th Anniversary.
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Interested in starting your own Foster Journey?
Visit us at ahconnects.org/foster-2/ for more information or email fosters@ahconnects.org
