Consider going your nearest shelter and checking out the amazing animals they have available.\r\n\r\nWe all have certain looks we love, but like a human life long companion, a relationship is more than about blue eyes or luxurious long hair. It’s about affection and enjoying time together. Think about your lifestyle when considering a cat (or dog.)
Are you at work for long hours? If you’re away from the house during the day or you travel frequently, a mature pet would probably fit better into your lifestyle. If you want a younger pet, consider bringing home siblings. That way they can use up some of that crazy kitten or puppy energy on each other. Kittens, with their strong predatory drive, will wrestle with each other rather than attacking ankles or fingers.
Do you have toddlers? Ah, we all have romantic images of our babies growing up with the puppy or kitten, but kittens are fragile and puppies are rambunctious. Most shelters have a 6/6 rule: no adoptions of kittens under six months to families with kids under six years. A kid can drop or fall on a kitten or small pup and seriously injure him. Conversely, a kitten or puppy struggling to get away from a four-year old who’s holding him too tightly may bite or scratch in self defense. Consider a mature cat or dog. The shelter receives so many family pets who are used to being around kids.
I’ve spent the last 25 years trying to find families for homeless cats. Oftentimes cats and kittens end up in shelters for reasons that aren’t their fault:
Moving
Don’t have time for the pet
New spouse or boy/girlfriend doesn’t like the pet
I’m suddenly allergic
Can’t afford him any longer
Many of these excuses are bogus. The families have simply lost interest in the cat and can’t be bothered. The animals sit in a cage at the shelter, frightened and bewildered. These are wonderful pets who only want the same thing you want: to live, to love and be loved. Is that asking so much? Please go to your local shelter on this National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day and adopt a homeless cat.
You’ll save a life and receive unconditional life.
AdoptAShelter.com editor-in-chief Dusty Rainbolt displays her DWAA Maxwell Medallions.
(April 21, 2015) Tyler, Texas – After being named the 2014 Friskies® Writer of the Year at the Cat Writers Association Awards Banquet last November, AdoptAShelter.com’s Dusty Rainbolt was awarded two Maxwell Medallions at the annual Dog Writers Association of America Awards Banquet in New York City.
Dusty was also awarded CWA’s .Hartz® Every Day Chewable Vitamin Award, the Hartz® Milk Replacement for Kittens Award, as well as the CWA Muse Medallion for Excellence for best Online Article on Health and General Care.
Dusty received the DWAA Maxwell Awards in the categories of “Online Behavior & Training Article” for her article ‘When Is It Time To Say Goodbye To Your Dog?’ and the best “Online Article- Rescue” for, ‘Ten Reasons To Foster A Shelter Dog’. Both were published on Dogster.com.
“Dusty rescued her first cat in 1986. Since then she has rescued and re-homed over 1,500 cats and kittens, 500 of them bottle babies. Oh, and she’s pretty good at writing, too,” says AdoptAShelter.com founder and CEO Chris Ruben. “It is a privilege and pleasure to have her as a long-time partner in helping animals.”
Also at the Awards banquet, Ambassador Susan M. Ewing presented Bernadette Kazmarski with the AdoptAShelter.com ‘Adopt-A-Homeless-Dog’ award. It is presented to the body of work that best describes the plight of homeless dogs, the joy of dog adoption, and/or improving the quality of life of dogs in a shelter environment.
About AdoptAShelter.com
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Freeway recovers at his foster home. Photo courtesy of Arizona Humane Society.
(Look below to watch the heart-stopping and dramatic cat rescue. Spoiler alert: It’s a happy ending.)
In our own personal movie called “Life,” we never really know from minute-to-minute what role we’ll play. When something extraordinary occurred, and Richard Christianson was offered a choice between the part of either the protagonist or an extra lost within the crowd, he rose to the occasion became an unexpected hero.
Last week, as Richard Christianson of Phoenix exited northbound Interstate 17, he passed a chain link fence mounted atop cement barriers. Is that a cat?
Unlike thousands of passersby over six hours, Richard stopped. To his shock, he found an orange and white American Curl clutching the cyclone fence.
“I thought someone hit him so hard he flew into the fence cuz he had blood all over.”
The American Curl’s mouth and legs were bloody and a paw reached through the wire, a frantic, but fruitless attempt to escape. His jaw was injured by his attempt to chew through the fence.
As traffic hurried past him, Richard called 9-1-1. They said to call the Arizona Humane Society. The humane society told him to contact Department of Public Safety. DPS said they’d received several calls over the last two or three hours about cat. They’d send a unit out. But when? Every minute that went by, Richard himself grew hotter. He knew that the cat too must be sweltering. By the time DPS eventually made to the scene, the injured cat might have already died.
“He was crying for me. He was reaching for me,” Richard says. Someone had to do something.
Richard, who works as a stagehand for conventions, concerts and locally-performed Broadway plays, tried to jump the fence, but couldn’t without impaling himself on the spikes at the top. He ran to his car. Like General MacArthur, he would return.
He circled around, once again heading northbound on the expressway, and pulled over 20 feet past the cat.
“Nobody’s doing their job,” he says. Angry that all official channels had abandoned the cat, Richard recorded the rescue with his cell phone. “Never did I think anyone would consider me a hero.”
“He was crying for me,” Richard recalls. “He was pressed up so hard against the wire; he was reaching up through the fence.”
Soft food just like the doctor ordered. photo courtesy of Arizona Humane Society.
When Richard saw his bloody jaw and paws, he cried, “Oh my God!” He approached the cat slowly, speaking calmly. When Richard stood next to the pathetic creature, the kitty continued crying, but released his death-grip on the fence and faced his rescuer.
“When he pulled his paw away from the fence, it was like he was saying to me, “Okay, just take me.”
Richard made the not-so-hard decision to sacrifice his favorite shirt, a signed M.C. Magic Rewired t-shirt.
“I wrapped my shirt around him; He just went limp and started purring.”
While the stray was out of harms way, he wasn’t out of danger. Richard still feared Freeway, as he dubbed the cat, might die before he could take him to to the Arizona Humane Society (AHS). This time the shelter came through. They rushed the two-year old kitty into surgery.
Bretta Nelson, spokesperson for AHS, said Freeway had severe trauma: broken teeth, necrotic mouth tissue, he had burns to the pads of his feet. While it was touch and go, Freeway is stable. He is receiving pain medication and antibiotics. He’s on soft food, but the great news is “he’s eating like a little piggy according to his foster mom.” After a meal he likes to cuddle.
“It’s not about me,” Richard insists. “It’s about Freeway.”
Richard remains saddened that the pathetic cat clung to the fence for more than six hours without anyone bothering to help him.
Richard wants people to get involved. “People should be aware of their surroundings. When you see an animal who needs help, don’t assume someone else is going to help. You help him.”
“I was so pissed off at DPS. That’s why I shared the video.”
Richard believes “everything happens for a reason. I could have taken a different exit, but I didn’t. This is a blessing in disguise [for Freeway.] He was hurt, but his life is going to be way different now. He’s going to be okay.”
Can’t a guy get a little sleep around here? Photo courtesy of Arizona Humane Society.
Richard’s been surprised by all of the attention he’s received. A week ago, he had 300 Facebook friends; since Freeway’s rescue his followers have swelled to over 1500…and still growing.
Over $1600 in donations have been given on Freeway’s behalf. “God bless you all,” he says to the people who donated to Freeways care. “Now that Freeway is in safe hands, he’s worried about the other animals who still need help. He’s thinking about starting the Freeway Foundation to help out stray animals with medical needs.
Bretta says people can make donations to help with Freeway’s mounting medical bills at www.Azhumane.org.
When something extraordinary occurs in your life, ask yourself will you choose the part of the hero or will you simply be a faceless extra lost in the apathetic crowd? I hope you’ll choose to help. Following Richard’s example, I’m certainly going to stop.
Today is National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day.
