indescribableCats wind up in shelters for a lot of reasons, and very few of them are "because s/he was a bad cat." People lose their jobs, or move away and don't take their pets. Kids leave for college. People die. People lose the wherewithal to feed themselves, much less an extra, meowing mouth. And in all of these cases the cats, who have no idea what's going on, wind up suffering for it.
Amazing cats come from shelters. Adult cats who don't need to be trained; kittens who have all the world in front of them. Cats whose personalities are already plain when you meet them, making it so much easier to find the right cat for you. Cats who need you.
I've been very upfront about why none of my current cats are from shelters, and why my lifestyle and emotional needs are better met by reputable breeders. But if you don't fall into this category, and feel that there might be a cat-shaped hole in your life, go and take a look at your local shelter.
This post brought to you by the California Dammit Why Can't I Take Junebug Home Oh Yeah Alice Would Kill Her To Death Committee.
June 10 2012, 04:43:43 UTC 5 years ago
Now we have two rescued dogs, Maui (Golden Retriever/head case mix) and Puck (some kind of Spaniel and something else that herds) (word of advice: never name a dog Puck. Trust me. You'll slip, and then your five-year old will have a new vocabulary word ...). Two really great dogs. Hoping they'll be with us for a long, long time. Our kids love them. We love them. They love us, and we all lived happily ever after (or at least until the zombies come, but that's another story ...).
That said, this is what I have to say about animal rescue. There's a special place in Heaven for those who adopt animals (and even more so for those who adopt children). But some of the folks who work at the adoption centers would do both the animals and the potential adopters a much greater service if they'd be straight about the kind of needs these animals have. Our two cats were "wonderful, social, child-friendly" and turned out to be wonderful, but anti-social and hissed, spat at anyone who came around the corner. Our first rescue dog, Maui - "sweet natured, docile, slightly nervous but give her 6 weeks and she'd come into herself, relax." Turned out to be sweet-natured as long as you're not another similarly sized dog (ask me about the $800 Christmas tree sometime ...), clearly abused in her past life (thank God for Barb Dwyer of See Spot Stay, an EXCELLENT dog trainer, positive training all the way works), fearful of everything that moved until some intensive therapy ensued.
All our animals turned out to be great pets, but we would have been so much better prepared had we had more warning. We can't be the only family that adopted rescue animals only to find out all was not as it seemed. The race to find a home for each animal by (admittedly under-staffed, under-funded) adoption agenies does a disservice to both stressed out animals and stressed out adopters by sweeping the real stories under the rug when it's time to find families for these wonderful animals, and robs both the animals and the adopters of the chance to find a home that really is prepared and the right fit for both sides of the equation.
xoxo -
D
June 11 2012, 01:43:44 UTC 5 years ago
He's toothless now (thanks $2,000 vet bill on a grad student salary) and much happier but he would have been a lot more stable and adoptable if they actually took care of him instead of anthropomorphizing him and denying him medical care. Luckily, I had health insurance when he gave me a black eye and split my face open (two separate hospital visits) because he's a little unhinged. But he adores my boyfriend (a newer addition to the household than him) to pieces and can generally be cuddled without pain or terror being involved after a four year settling-in process. They of course told me he hated men too. :P