CENTRAL SAANICH -- Karma the cat stretches her neck towards the camera and curiously sniffs the lens. Her furry face fills the screen.
When she first arrived here, Karma’s foster mom Season says she seemed like a typical kitten.
“She’s feisty and frisky,” Season smiles. “And just full of love.”
But Season didn’t realize how full until she started fostering a neglected puppy named Oliver.
“He was skinny. He was really shy,” Season says. “He wasn’t super affectionate.”
The dog just didn’t know what to do. The cat on the other hand did.
“Karma just kind of joined him,” Season says. “[She] just kind of went, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK. I’ll be your buddy.’”
By “buddy,” Karma seemed to mean “best of the best buddies forever and ever and possibly longer.”
Season shows me pictures and video of the kitten cleaning, cuddling, and playing with the puppy.
“It was just love,” Season smiles.
A love that helped transform Oliver into a caring, confident canine, says the founder of the RainCoast Dog Rescue Society.
“Love heals all,” Jesse smiles. “That’s what it is right there.”
He says that Karma played a crucial role in making Oliver ready for a forever home.
“He went to a wonderful family,” Season says. “[But] it’s always sad because we always bond with our babies.”
Although being a foster can feel bittersweet for Season, it was bewildering for Karma.
“She looked for [Oliver] and cuddled with us a lot more,” Season says, before laughing. “Two days later we ended up getting another puppy.”
The new foster, named Sophie, arrived unsure about both people and other pets.
“[Sophie] came in didn’t really want anything to do with us,” Season says. “But Karma just jumped on her.”
But this new dog was just not her old best buddy.
“[Karma] tried and tried to cuddle with her and clean her.”
But Sophie wanted nothing to do with the cat, until Karma showed her everything about being loved.
Jesse shows me pictures and videos of how Sophie transformed and now cuddles and confidently plays with Karma.
“She has a natural ability to love and rehabilitate and make these remarkable connections with other animals that is really uncanny,” Jesse smiles. “We’ve never seen anything like it!”
Now Sophie’s ready to meet her new family while Karma’s been officially adopted by her current one, where the kitten seems to have found her calling.
“I think she’ll be our greeter for all of our foster puppies,” Season smiles. “Letting them know that it’s OK.”