Daisy is our family’s second foster fail. She was found – covered in mange and starving – on someone’s porch, and was taken in by Lakeside Animal Rescue in Holly Hill, South Carolina, a local foster-based rescue group.

PHOTO: PAMELA GARDINER

As the second of our two most recent fosters had just been adopted, there was space for some temporary housing with our two dogs and three cats.

Daisy came to our home as a short-term foster while she awaited an appointment with a veterinary cardiologist, because her initial visit to a local veterinarian revealed a serious heart murmur. Once she saw the specialist, she was diagnosed with Valvular Pulmonary Stenosis, and put on a lifetime of medication along with biannual echocardiograms.

We suspected that the expense involved in caring for a health issue like this would hamper her adoption, and we were right: Not a single application was received for this happy-go-lucky little girl.

Since efforts to find Daisy a permanent home were unsuccessful, she decided she’d like to just stay with her older dog “sister” and her blind foster-fail “brother”, and has been living the good life torturing them and three kitty “brothers” for over a year now.

PHOTO: PAMELA GARDINER