At the local cat shelter

As I mentioned, after a month or so of pondering, I had my cat of 12 years put to sleep. Even before I made the decision I knew I would want to get another cat. It's still too soon, but I know it will happen at some point. So this afternoon, out of curiosity I decided to check out a local cat shelter. I found out about them online. They specialize in cats and they have a lot of animals at their shelter. It was a nice place and it seemed that all the cats were well cared for. As it happened, most of the cats there were adults. Adults are harder to find homes for. But I specifically wanted a young adult.

I explained to the ladies (they were all volunteers) about our family and household dynamics and what kind of animal I was looking for and they immediately thought of one big boy. He was about 2 years old and was a huge tabby. He probably weighed close to 20 pounds! He let me hold him and then I set him down and started petting him. After a few seconds he started to lick my hand. When a cat licks you like that it's a pretty clear sign of approval. When I stopped petting him to talk to the volunteers he meowed at me for more attention. He would have been a great match for us. He was a sweetheart; very outgoing and affectionate. As I walked around the place he followed me. Just the kind of cat I want. And definitely big enough to hold his own against a rambunctious 5 year old child.

Then the volunteers started asking me more pointed questions. When we discussed Moe they started to frown. The conversation went downhill from there. I honestly told them that our condos official policy is no pets, but unofficially it's a kind of "don't ask, don't tell". We had Moe here for 7 years and everyone (including management and the condo board) knew. But we were discreet and responsible and no one minded one bit. The cat ladies didn't like that at all. The main woman in charge all but accused me of putting my cat to sleep for absolutely no reason. "13 isn't old for a cat; 20 is old for a cat." She made me feel horrible and made it pretty clear I wasn't good enough to adopt one of her cats.

Making the decision to put your cat to sleep is an agonizing and horrible choice to have to make. It was bad enough to have to do that, but to be treated like that was just awful. I shouldn't have to justify it to anyone.

Meanwhile that lady has a shelter full of animals who need homes. Most of which are adults and will be very difficult to adopt out. The one I liked had been there for a year. They told me they have to cage him at night because he didn't get along with the black cats. (Apparently he had a bad experience with a black cat when he was younger and kept his guard up.) I could have given him a happy home and instead of sleeping in a cage he could have slept in my bed. But I wasn't good enough. They feed him generic grocery store cat food. Over the years I fed my cat Iams, Nutro and Science Diet. It's been my experience that cats usually have a fantastic ability to judge character and in the most successful adoptions it's the cat that chooses the owner, not the other way around. He would have been quite pleased to come home with me. But no, my "excuse" for putting Moe to sleep wasn't good enough for them.

They completely ignored the fact that I was (am) extremely concerned about making sure that we and the cat are matched up well. They ignored the fact that I made it clear that this would be a strictly indoor cat who would have access to a screened patio (perfect for bird watching). They completely disregarded the 12 years I had with Moe. No, I put my cat to sleep so I was an "undesirable".

Oh and interestingly enough, they aren't opposed to declawing, as long as it's a young cat. I thought that was weird for an animal rights group; a bit out of character for cat lovers. I'm not going to cast judgment against anyone for declawing their cat, I know it's something some cat owners feel is necessary, particularly when they have small children in the house. It's just something I would prefer not to do to my own pet given a choice. And the majority of cats in that shelter were overweight. There were very few lean and athletic cats there. Now I happen to like fat cats, but I did think it was a bit odd to see so many of them in one place. I thought it was a sign that they have been there entirely too long.

Ok, so they are making sure the cats aren't destroyed by the humane society or animal control. But how fair is it to the animals to be so incredibly stringent in your adoption guidelines that you effectively rule out people who really would be loving and responsible owners? How fair is it to keep them in a shelter rather than get them into safe and caring homes? A bit more subjectivity would be appropriate and in the best interests of the cats. And in my case the experience just taught me to lie to the next shelter. "No, I haven't had a cat since I last lived with my mom. Sure, my condo association allows pets." Honestly should be the best policy, but apparently that's not always the case.