| Paw Colors | Points |
|---|---|
| Grey | 0-49 |
| Red | 50-149 |
| Orange | 150-299 |
| Green | 300-599 |
| Magenta | 600-1499 |
| Purple | 1500-4999 |
| Blue | 5000-9999 |
| Brown | 10000-24999 |
| Black | 25000+ |
This was sent to me by a friend who does rescue and I thought I’d pass it on….
Stop and Think–before you take that cute little kitten or cat home, remember: it is a life time commitment–or it should be. I am sick and tired of trying to find homes for discarded pets. I have been doing rescue since 1982, I have seen it all heard it all, so did my fellow rescue workers.
You decided that you wanted to move to an apartment that didn’t allow pets (and by the way, landlords are forbidden to do this in Toronto). I don’t know what lured you. Maybe it was a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Maybe it was a great view. Maybe you liked the woodwork. At any rate, it was more important to you than she was. So you took her down to the shelter, still wearing her cute little pink leopard collar with a bow, and you cheerfully wrote on the card that she was very healthy for her age and friendly and just likes to sleep in the sun! I guess you knew her pretty well - you put her birthday down on the card, too, making me believe you’ve probably had her for her entire life.
Then you left, secure in your rationalization that somehow, in the midst of kitten season, your seventeen year old cat would find a home. The shelter took a picture of her scared face and big eyes and put it on the web.
For two weeks, I looked at that picture. I hoped someone else would see her fear and feel compelled to help her, but the public wasn’t seeing her. She was back in isolation, getting vitamin B shots and subcutaneous fluids. The tech wrote “depressed” on her card. I’m not surprised. I’d be depressed too if I went from “sleeping in the sun” to a metal cage with a thin layer of newspaper.
Finally today, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I felt too guilty thinking about her sitting in that cage at her age. So I went down and I got her, and now she’s curled up on a fleece baby blanket in a cat tree in my bathroom. When I go in there, she rubs her head on my hand.
Today, I cleaned up your mess. I felt worse for your cat than you did. And all over the city, other rescuers did the same. They rescued your abandoned cats and dogs and bunnies and exotics. And we all wondered the same thing as we did it: How could you create this situation? How is it that you feel no remorse? How is it that you were you able to walk away from an animal you shared your home with for a year, ten years, fifteen years, knowing that they might die because of your actions?
I’ll never meet you to ask you those questions. I just hope I meet the person who will be good enough to give your baby that sunny spot to sleep for the rest of her life (however long that is). She deserves it, and it’s a crying shame you didn’t have the decency to give it to her. This was originally posted in 2006. I am re-posting because the message hasn’t sunk in!
Keywords: adoption, shelters, strays
Answers to this question
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Aww… thanks for posting this is a great message, if you read you should comment because then it will go into the popular questions and stay up longer. Me and my fiance are saving up so right away the cat will be going to the vet for check-ups and shots and such, so that we go to get are second cat it can be caught up on everything, if it isn’t, and be happy and healthy. I would never abandon my cat, Hiss. I love her so much.
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A fund for future kitty. We thought that it's a good plan. So that if we adopt a cat we don't have the "We'll take it to the vet when we can afford it" I really suggest that if you plan on adopting soon, save up some money and put it aside just in case.
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your answer is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well, thank you!
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Dear God, please send me somebody who’ll care ! I’m tired of running, I’m sick with despair.
My body is aching, it’s so racked with pain. And dear God I pray as I run in the rain,
That someone will love me and give me a home. A warm cosy bed I can call my own.
My last owner neglected me and chased me away to rummage in garbage and live as a stray.
But now, God, I’m tired and hungry and cold. And I’m afraid that I’ll never grow old.
They’ve chased me with sticks and hit me with stones, while I run in the streets just looking for bones !
I’m not really bad God, please help me if you can. For I have just become a ” VICTIM OF MAN !”
I’m wormy, Dear God, And I’m ridden with fleas, and all that I want is an owner to please !
If you find one for me, God, I’ll try to be good. I won’t run away and I’ll do as I should.
I don’t think I’ll make it too long on my own, cause I’m getting so weak and I’m so all alone.
Each night as I sleep in the bushes I cry, cause I’m so afraid God, That I’m gonna die !
And I’ve got so much love and devotion to give, that I should be given a new chance to live.
So, Dear God, PLEASE, PLEASE answer my prayer and send me somebody who WILL really care.
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Sometimes someone just needs to be brutally honest. So sad. But THANK YOU!
I’m about to take on a new furry friend from someone who misjudged their ability to care for him. The timing was convenient, as we had just decided it was time to add to our family, but it’s unfortunate that he will now be entering his fourth home in his life (he’s only a year, too!). I hope to give him stability and lots of LOVE!
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Some people mean well and then fall into situations. But others just feel cats are property like their kitchen chair. I'm sure you will make this cat feel secure and loved. He'll know that he is FINALLY home! We have a rabbit that had 5 homes before us because she attacked people when they fed her or cleaned her cage. I pat her while I'm cleaning her cage! No more attacks. I wish people would try to understand more about what's going on instead of just giving up and throwing the pet aside.
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Thank You for posted this great story.it touched me when i read this story.i had a neighbor that had a cat named smokey and she never took her cat to the vet.i told her about a animal shelter that could help her get her cat neteured and get his shot’s for only $60.00.all i heard was yea one of these days i will get him fixed.she never took care of him he would come over on my porch to eat and i would let him come in on those cold winter nights. well one day i saw him sitting there on my neighbors porch looking very sick.i knock on her door and told her that her cat my have to go to the vet because he is very sick and she said when i can afford it i will take him to the vet and i told her that he can not wait that he needs a vet now because he is not doing to well and she change the subject.about ten minutes went by and i saw her getting in her car and leaving to go to the store. i told my husband that we should take him to the vet and then find him a good home. i got my pet carrier went over and got him and took him to the vet.they kept him for two days and that gave us time to find him a new home.i paid the vet bill and found him a new owner that got him neteured and his shots. i do visit with him from time to time and he is doing great.smokey has a much better life now then what he had before. my neighbor thinks that her cat ran away and me and my husband thought it was a good idea for her to think that her cat ran away since we knew that she was a careless pet owner.so once again another cat’s life was saved. i felt bad at first but everytime that i visit with smokey i do see how much happier he is.so i am guessing that i did a good deed once again. so please if you can not afford to take care of a pet then please do not adopt one.
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Some people think cats are easy pets, and they aren't THAT hard to take care of, but you do have to take care of them. People spend so much money on extra clothes, and extra food. You wouldn't delay taking your child to the doctor if they were sick, or just not get them their shots. Cats are family, and if you don't see it that way, don't get one please.
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Thank you, Daisy! That is exactly what I would have done. You saved his life! I so wish more people would get involved instead of complaining about things happening and doing nothing. You stepped up to the plate and did what was right! Good for you!!!!!!
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Thanks for the good story. Cats.com members and cat owners around the world really need to read this.
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Great answers everyone, and great story. Hopefully you are right Tasia and it gets on the popular questions.
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What a great post!! People need to realize that cats are not like old VCR’s. You don’t get rid of them just because you want to. They are very sensitive, wonderful creatures that want to form a life-time bond with their people, (and we hope, other animals in the household.) I hope everyone takes this to heart.
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Sad but so true. People need to hear this and many times over and over to sink in. Thank you Catsofmany!
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