I’ve spent many years volunteering in animal shelters, helping spay/neuter feral cats and in general advocacy. Years ago I went to San Francisco to meet with the San Francisco SPCA. I toured the new facility and met with its chief legal advocate. Their former director and the wonderful lady I met with were tapped by Dave Duffield to run Maddie’s Fund, which seeks to create a no-kill nation one pet at a time.
Today I got an email from Maddie’s Fund asking for adoption stories because November 30 the Shelter Pet Project is encouraging people to adopt from a local animal shelter. They’ve asked for success stories. My first was not from a shelter, Nathan the Burmese talking cat. My sister’s cat had kittens and I got the one who fell off the 7′ shelf at two weeks of age. He was five weeks when my brother transported him across the country to “surprise” me. Quel surprise, I knew nothing about cats but over the next 13 years I learned to speak cat.
After my family’s Collie died I decided to devote a year to service at an animal shelter in her honor. Thus began a many-year relationship with the Helen Woodward Animal Center and two adoptions. That first year (of 6-7) I spent a lot of time with a scared Golden/X female age one who came in the week I started. She’d been abused by her owner and neighborhood children and was terrified of men (especially in uniform) and kids. While this was a no-kill shelter my Chani started deteriorating after many months there. I had her home the next day, she was two by then, and with love, my training and professional help she was the dog all the kids loved at the playground, the ones she visited with her favorite stuffed animal the day before she died nearly ten years ago.
The next, from the same place a few years later was a 10-week old kitten, Mick, to give Nathan a buddy and some exercise. Didn’t work. Chani became his mother and he hung out with her and only chased Nathan around and basically made his life miserable. My Christmas present to them was a polartec blanket. I’d sit on the sofa, get under it, one cat would get under and one over and as soon as they fell asleep (five minutes) I exited making them both think I was still there keeping them warm. He was a b/w tuxedo shorthair who taught himself to jump over the sofa and catch rolled-up post-it notes and bring them back for me to toss. Yes, a very fetching cat. He went to live with neighbors as they had a Corgi pup he loved and my husband was allergic to cats.
When my husband and I got married years ago people asked if we would have kids. I said we had to get a dog first. So, we adopted Zoe, a herder mix from a TX shelter at age six weeks. She’s moved with us and as a pup we had to have her hips removed for severe dysplasia but she grew her own from cartilage and is the happiest critter I’ve ever known.
Both of my dogs have had “issues.” One I knew was abused and like the Velveteen Rabbit, she became a real dog with a loving home and basic obedience training and bonding with me, her caretaker. With Zoe, I don’t know who would have put the research and money into adoption and two hip surgeries in a matter of months. She might have been euthanized if at the shelter. But she’s ours now, a very demanding and loving animal that we couldn’t do without.
Please adopt from a local shelter. And please wait until after the holidays instead of surprising your family with a pet. Choosing the right one for you and your family involves breed research and interviews. Think of it as a job interview. The pet is interviewing you, and you’re interviewing him/her. If it’s a good fit, good for you! So far I’ve had only winners and I’ve taken on some tough ones! Thanks, cheers and visit your local shelter! Dee
Cooking with Dee 