Cat's Name and Description
All the cats I've rescued and found homes for!
What I Should Have Known About my Cat
This is not an adult, thinking human being you're put in charge of. As smart as I think cats are, they're still like small children--and we have to protect them, like we would a baby.
My Dumbest Mistake
I've been a volunteer/foster mom for 10 years now and also do the adoption procedure when one of our kitties finds a home. Even though we spend over an hour talking about all the awful things that can happen to your new pet, people just don't listen! Then we have to hear the stories, i.e. "I thought the screen was safe," "he only goes outside when we're with him," "we didn't think she'd go out the open door(!)." It just goes on and on. We recently spent 6 weeks roaming the neighborhood, looking for one of our cats who had gotten out (propped open door).
The Results of my Dumb Mistake
She was found, locked in a storage area that she couldn't get out of. SIX WEEKS! It's amazing, but she survived severe dehydration, starvation, fatty liver disease and seizures and is now well. Then there's the one we lost to an open clothes dryer door. She didn't survive. One was lost an entire week because of a loose window screen. It's heartbreaking for a foster mom to save a cat from being left in a dumpster, or abandoned in a cardboard box, or living outside in 10 degree weather with a litter of tiny babies with upper respiratory disease, and then have something totally avoidable happen to them because someone else thinks they know better--or just doesn't think at all.
What I'd do differently
- Tell your story to anyone who will listen--and potentially save another cat.
- Keep cats safe. They can't think for themselves and reason that something might be wrong or dangerous.
- I'm not being critical, just hoping that, if we all share our mistakes, we can all learn from them.
- Love those precious kitties!
