This is all Katie’s fault! If she hadn’t written such a compelling argument about rescuing pets from an animal shelter rather than purchasing from a pedigreed breeder, I would not have had such a tough decision to make. You can read her blog posting on shelter animals on this blog site. She was passionate in her reasoning about rescuing existing pets rather than opting for other avenues.
My problem was money. We run our homestead on a tight budget and coming up with the vet costs to spade a female or neuter a male was not in line with our goals since we lost both our beloved cat and dog last year.
The solution came about when I read the local paper. I always scan the featured pets posted from our local shelter and there he was, a neutered cat looking for a new home. He had been dumped in the country near a dairy farm. For some reason, city folks think that dairy farmers need an endless supply of cats.
He had been in the shelter for quite some time. Why was he abandoned? Did he have some secret evil habit that caused his previous owner to toss him away? They cared enough to spend the money to have him neutered so at some time someone cared about him. What had he done? Why didn’t they drop him off at the pound? I had lots of questions but none of them were important when I picked him up. This Tom needed a home and I am a sucker for a pretty face.
I signed all the papers and soon we were on our way home.
The staff at the shelter gave me advice on how to keep a Tom cat on my property.
For three days, I kept him in a large cage with a litter box and food and water. I spent time each day with him and took his cage on a trolley out to the gardens so he could watch the flocks and get use to the area. This worked well as he has never tried to run off even though we live out on an open prairie.
There are lots of benefits to adopting a pet or in our case a “farm worker” from a shelter. He was litter box trained and wanted to spend time each day outside. He cleaned out the house within the first week of the tiny mice that were too smart to run into the sticky traps that I always pick up at my favorite Buchheits store. He got them so upset they forgot to run around the traps. Even the really smart mouse, who was laughing at us from the bookshelf, met his end due to our new mouser.
Please consider getting your next member of your family from a shelter. What we received was a loyal pet that seems grateful for his new home. He makes me laugh every day. Sincerely here to serve you. Be blessed! Anne May
Annie,
I’m so happy that you’ve decided to expand your family! I have three rescued dogs and it seems like rescues are the most appreciative pets. (Rescued is my favorite breed). You’ve got a great “mouser” there and he is awfully cute. I chuckled in reading that you took him for trolley rides in the garden.
“Saving one pet may not change the world, but for that one pet the world will change forever.”
Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you so much Katie for the inspiration to try a shelter pet!!! Never would have gotten “Gary” if you hadn’t been so passionate about shelters. He makes me laugh every day. Be blessed!!
Growing up on a farm, we always had room for more stray cat, so much so that my dad said that if we wanted to keep anymore we would have to feed them up at the shed. So that is exactly what we did. At one time we had over 12 cats and one that we called “Thing” because she only had Three legs, a nub and a half of a tail,we suspected that she got caught in a trap so my sister and I “nursed” her back to health and she had a long and happy life out on the farm. “Thing” always reminded us that life throws us challenges and there is always a way to adapt, sometimes solutions were comical and sometimes they weren’t but always changing. Growing up there was always room for one more and now my kids have that same appreciation for all our farm animals.
If you look carefully at the chicken I am holding in my photo: you may notice “Spit”has a crooked beak same reason as your “Thing”! Picked him cause life on the farm is not always pretty but always a joy with great farm animals to love! Thanks for the great comment.
Anne May and Katie,
From our very first and only “chosen” cat Angel, to our current cat P2 and three cats in between… these street cats have all found us. We do our due diligence when we rescue off the street and we have been so far very lucky. Cats see an instinctive “S” blindly tattooed into my forehead… I say it’s for my last name. They say it stands for Sucker. All in all, having a gentle companion in our house lowers my blood pressure, changes my disposition, brings joy to me and my wife Jan and always adds a playful presence and a simple reminder of the possibilities of unconditional love.
We do support rescue/spay/neuter. We help our local H.Soc. when we can as well.
Enjoyed the read. Thank you.
Thank you for your response! I truly was inspired by Kate’s post and couldn’t agree with you more! Gary, our new family member makes me laugh every day!
I have always believed that animals are the best judges of character. They can tell who like them and yes, who’s even a sucker. My last dog started out being a foster dog and that lasted a whole 2 hours before I realized that I couldn’t live without him. I am a major sucker when it comes to helping animals. If the village I lived in did not have a limit on dogs, I would have enough to make a sled team!
From lowering your blood pressure to elevating levels of dopamine and serotonin, there are so many health benefits to having pets. My dogs are the best companions and I am so incredibly thankful for all the ways they have truly enriched my life!