Four months ago my cat Tiger died suddenly. He was a healthy cat and his death was unexpected but at 12 years old he had a full and happy life. He was 2 when I rescued him and my life will be forever changed because he was a part of it.
My husband and I didn't want to go too long without a cat because we didn't want the dogs to lose their "cat manners". A month after Tiger died we adopted two 1-1/2 year old tabby cats that came from the same litter. They had been living in a foster home for a year and prior to that were living wild in some farmer's barn. They were attached to each other so it was hard to place them since people were willing to take 2 cats and the SPCA didn't want to separate them.
Initially we kept the cats completely separate from the dogs with occasional views of each other through baby gates or leashed visits. Maybe we were too conservative initially because the dogs become extremely excited every time they see the cats and cannot be trusted to be left alone with them. The cats mark anywhere the dogs sleep when they are allowed in other portions of the house so we have to limit their access as well. One of the cats did get past the barriers while I was at work this week and when I came home one of my dogs had him cornered. No fur was up, I don't think there was any aggression from the dog but he was very excited and had scratched the cat while jumping on him. The cat had a small cut on his lip and was fine but the experience terrified me. What if I hadn't gotten home when I did? Would I have a dead cat on my hands?
Now it seems like we have set up the cats as some sort of forbidden prize for the dogs and they are obsessed with them. A month ago my uncle died, leaving behind a 10 year old tabby cat. In my blog from last month I talked about how sad I was that we couldn't find a place for Jones. Since we brought Jones home my stress level has increased dramatically because now my house is divided in three.
The young cats are still separate from the dogs. The dogs have had leashed time with Jones in the same room but their reaction is as volatile as it is with the young cats. Jones has been an only cat his whole life and isn't used to having any animals around. The young cats have been around other cats but they both have eye infections right now and I don't want them to get Jones sick since he is older and I want to keep his him healthy since he will need to have dental surgery this month to take care of his rotten teeth. So my husband and I live separate lives behind doggie cats and screens. The dogs are used to sleeping with us, Jones is used to sleeping with my uncle so we swap who sleeps with which pets each night. The young cats have each other and seem to be content with our visits during the day. But we are not making any progress towards getting our house, our sanity or our marriage back.
I worry that we were too conservative in the beginning and now we will need professional help to get them together, if we can ever get them together at all. Our pet sitter definitely thinks we should rip the band aid off but I have images of cats scratching dog's eyes out and dogs pouncing on cats. Next weekend we are going to a friends wedding and will need to stay out of town for one night. I am determined to at least get Jones with the dogs by then. I feel like either way I'm about to hire someone to help before things are irreversibly doomed.
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Cat Sanctuaries and Other Myths
My uncle died from complications from diabetes last week. He was very sick for a long time so while his death was sad, it was expected. Whenever someone dies it is always emotional going through their personal belongings but it is also very healing. Unfortunately my families healing cannot begin because of all the stress involved in re-homing my uncle's cat Jones.
Jones is 8 years old. He has lived his entire life with my uncle. While he has made appearances over the years for other family members he was definitely a one-man cat. I have made calls to every rescue within an hour of my uncle's house and none of them will take the cat. I have been told that an older cat who has only had one owner may take a long time to warm up to new people and will be difficult to place. I knew this and that's why I called places that marketed themselves as sanctuaries and no-kill shelters. I figured they would give Jones the time that he needed to adjust could find him a nice home.
What bothers me the most is that the public is donating money to no kill shelters and sanctuaries on the allusion that they are the last stop for animals that no one else wants. That you should give them your money because they are taking care of those animals that would otherwise be euthanized. In some cases that is true. I know that there are true animal sanctuaries that take everyone and give them a happy life even if they never get adopted. But those places do not exist in this area.
After spending days on the phone I have discovered the following:
1. Many no-kill shelters only take animals that are highly adoptable and, therefore; would not be there for very long. If you market yourself as no kill but just don't take in the animals that another shelter would euthanize you are still sentencing that animal to death, just shifting the responsibility to someone else to do it.
2. A lot of animal sanctuaries focus their attention on shelters with a high kill rate so they can rescue animals that still have a lot of life to live. Because of this, those sanctuaries do not take any animals from the public. You can take your animal to one of the high kill shelters with the hope that a sanctuary volunteer or worker will notice him and rescue him before time runs out but that is an awful risk to take. The reality is that these places have limited space just like shelters and stop taking in animals after a certain point as well.
I have volunteered with animal rescue for 14 years and adopted four dogs and three cats from rescue organizations during that time. I do not want to give the impression that all rescues and sanctuaries are bad. This is just about my personal frustrations with rescues in Maryland where my uncle lived and my shock at discovering that things were more depressing in the animal rescue world than I could have ever imagined.
I think of the stories on the news that I hear about people dying and leaving behind dozens of neglected animals. There are always the news reports that show police and volunteers going into the hoarder's house and rescuing the animals. They show these animals going to local rescue groups and give updates over the next several months as the animals are adopted. But what about when it's just one cat. Those stories don't make the news. Those animals are often sentenced to death when their owner's die or go to jail but we don't hear about that. If the authorities euthanized 20 cats that had no major medical problems the public outcry would be immense. But if they euthanize these cats one at a time from 20 different homes the impact is the same.
I will likely take the cat the 6 hours back to where I live in New York and take it to a true no-kill shelter in my area. A place that takes healthy (and sometimes not so healthy) pets and gives them the time and love that they need to have a chance at life. I will continue to donate my time and money to these organizations and try not to let the experiences of the past week jade me too much. I will not accept that my uncle's best friend's life ends just because his did.
Jones is 8 years old. He has lived his entire life with my uncle. While he has made appearances over the years for other family members he was definitely a one-man cat. I have made calls to every rescue within an hour of my uncle's house and none of them will take the cat. I have been told that an older cat who has only had one owner may take a long time to warm up to new people and will be difficult to place. I knew this and that's why I called places that marketed themselves as sanctuaries and no-kill shelters. I figured they would give Jones the time that he needed to adjust could find him a nice home.
What bothers me the most is that the public is donating money to no kill shelters and sanctuaries on the allusion that they are the last stop for animals that no one else wants. That you should give them your money because they are taking care of those animals that would otherwise be euthanized. In some cases that is true. I know that there are true animal sanctuaries that take everyone and give them a happy life even if they never get adopted. But those places do not exist in this area.
After spending days on the phone I have discovered the following:
1. Many no-kill shelters only take animals that are highly adoptable and, therefore; would not be there for very long. If you market yourself as no kill but just don't take in the animals that another shelter would euthanize you are still sentencing that animal to death, just shifting the responsibility to someone else to do it.
2. A lot of animal sanctuaries focus their attention on shelters with a high kill rate so they can rescue animals that still have a lot of life to live. Because of this, those sanctuaries do not take any animals from the public. You can take your animal to one of the high kill shelters with the hope that a sanctuary volunteer or worker will notice him and rescue him before time runs out but that is an awful risk to take. The reality is that these places have limited space just like shelters and stop taking in animals after a certain point as well.
I have volunteered with animal rescue for 14 years and adopted four dogs and three cats from rescue organizations during that time. I do not want to give the impression that all rescues and sanctuaries are bad. This is just about my personal frustrations with rescues in Maryland where my uncle lived and my shock at discovering that things were more depressing in the animal rescue world than I could have ever imagined.
I think of the stories on the news that I hear about people dying and leaving behind dozens of neglected animals. There are always the news reports that show police and volunteers going into the hoarder's house and rescuing the animals. They show these animals going to local rescue groups and give updates over the next several months as the animals are adopted. But what about when it's just one cat. Those stories don't make the news. Those animals are often sentenced to death when their owner's die or go to jail but we don't hear about that. If the authorities euthanized 20 cats that had no major medical problems the public outcry would be immense. But if they euthanize these cats one at a time from 20 different homes the impact is the same.
I will likely take the cat the 6 hours back to where I live in New York and take it to a true no-kill shelter in my area. A place that takes healthy (and sometimes not so healthy) pets and gives them the time and love that they need to have a chance at life. I will continue to donate my time and money to these organizations and try not to let the experiences of the past week jade me too much. I will not accept that my uncle's best friend's life ends just because his did.
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