We are pet people. You may already know that. We are neither dog nor cat people, but both. (A few other species have gotten in there from time to time, but it's really mainly a cats and dogs thing.) I have memories of pets we had before I was born, because their places in the collective family love were so strong.
Today is going to be about the cats. I will not name every single cat we have had (though I could), but I will stick with mostly our current clowder of five.
This is not the first time we have had five, but I will say that we have never had more than five of any species - cats or dogs - at one time. (Though since we have had both cats and dogs, there were clearly times when we had more than five animals in the house, and also when we had five dogs of our own we were also doing dog-sitting.)
On our last trip to the vet I was talking to the office manager about how we ended up with so many, at least partially related to knowing a lot of people who run cat sanctuaries. He asked, "Do you have a sanctuary?" "Not officially," I said, feeling embarrassed. At the time, we only had four.
Then Big Boy needed a home. That was fine, but so did another cat. We ended up finding a different home for that one, but then there were another two that needed homes (still do), and we have asked a few people with no luck. Plus, the place we got Big Boy from has about another seventy they need to place.
I love all of our cats, and we will take care of them. I want all of the other cats to have good homes too, though, and we can't take them all.
My overinflated sense of responsibility could be a topic for another day, but today is more about wanting people to do better. With all but one of our current cats, there are holes in their stories. We know where they were found wandering and how long ago, and approximate ages maybe, but not how they got there or why.
We had a boy Cody whom we lost to a fast-growing tumor just about a year ago. Big Boy reminds us so much of him that we can't help but wonder if they are related. There's no way of knowing. A few weeks ago I was walking and saw a tabby near some brambles; our tabby Ashley was hiding in our blackberry bushes for a few weeks before we could start getting close to her. I don't know that it is even that likely that they are really related, or at least closely related, but how many poor cats do there have to be out there?
Human carelessness is a big problem, but there are other problems. Two of the cats that I am worried about are because of a move into assisted living; I can't help but think a lot of seniors would be happier keeping their pets.
I have plenty of scorn for people who claim their animals are emotional support animals when there is clearly no training for being safe in various situations, but I also have some sympathy for wanting to be able to keep an animal with you.
I have heard many people say that you shouldn't have an animal unless you can afford to take care of it, especially in regards to the homeless population. It sounds logical, but should we make it so hard? And if the answer is more people giving pets up, when there are already far too many in need of a home, that can't be the right answer.
I know there are plenty of human problems out there. I am willing to prioritize them over animal problems, but for us to be good, compassionate people we will care about animals too, wild and domesticated. We will want good things for them. I know we can do better.
And if you can make room for another cat or two in your lives, I can probably hook you up. We have connections.
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