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Right before the Fourth of July weekend, Laura Salter got a call from the Nebraska Humane Society. They had a stray baby chihuahua come in. He was emaciated, he had a hole in his skull (a fontanelle that never closed), his chances … didn’t look great. Could Salter foster him?

“I get the fun ones,” Salter said. She’s been fostering animals with the Nebraska Humane Society for 15 years. She gets the problem children, the ones who, for whatever reason, aren’t yet ready for adoption. Sometimes, she gets the sickly ones. Sometimes, her home functions as a hospice, and sometimes the animals die.

When it looks like the animal might not live, he goes to a foster with some experience, one who’s had some losses. “They don’t want to break a new foster’s heart,” Salter said.

But the dog who would be Anderson Cooper did live. And he’s a strange, strange little man.

Anderson Cooper thinks he’s a cat. At Salter’s home, Anderson Cooper only hangs out with the kittens and cats (whom Salter is also fostering). He prefers cat food and can’t stand other dogs.