Saturday, November 04, 2006
Old pets need homes, too.
I read Craigslist often; sometimes for fun, sometimes to find out if anyone is talking about the East Bay SPCA, and sometimes to see if there is a pet question I can answer.Like any public posting place, you'll see things that crack you up, make you angry or tear your heart out.
So I am scrolling through a bunch of posts and I read this from someone talking about why they bought a purebred cat at a cattery:
"....Plus, at SPCA they had only old tired cats."
Tired, old cats?! Grrrr.
Let me tell you about "old" pets: Old pets rock. Old pets don't get to be old pets unless they have lived right. You see very few mean, cranky senior shelter petizens, because for a homeless dog or a cat to reach the ripe old age of whatever is "senior" for that breed, he or she has got to be housetrained, is probably very tolerant of other cats or dogs, very lovable to people and, unfortunately, probably missing his or her original home, very much.
I can't help but wonder (and some of the time we do know) what happened to these sweet, obviously well loved cats and dogs, that resulted in them being homeless in their advanced years?
- Did their beloved owner die?
- Was a newborn baby added to the household, and the previously devoted owner said, "this is just too much?"
- Did a partner come into the household that didn't appreciate a tail curled over his or her face in the morning or an enormous paw providing a 5:30 a.m. wake up?
- After years of finding housing that accommodated the whole family, pet included, suddenly it became too difficult to do, so the owners chose the house or apartment over their companion?
- Did the pet get lost, and wander too far, or was brought to a shelter too far away to be reunited? Leaving behind a houseful of heartbroken humans?
With a Silver Muzzle Club pet (our special program for dogs and cats over eight years old), you are getting a pet that will often fit in your home easily, with a personality that you can count on, and have many of the social graces and training expected of a pet down pat.
"Tired old cats..." Bah.Meet some of our Silver Muzzle Club pets at our two shelters:
Our Seniors
Mittens is 11 years old:
Marvin is 8 years old:
Rosie is 7 and a half years old (read about her in the blog below!):
Oliver is 8 years old:
Titan is also 8 years old:
Co Co is 10 years old; be still my heart.....!
Nori is 9 years old:
Socks is 8 years old:
I hope someone is looking out for me when I become a senior citizen. No one deserves to spend their twilight years alone, looking for a family to love them.
This holiday season, give an usual gift -- to a senior shelter pet -- and vow to either adopt, or arrange for the adoption of one of our senior pets, or one of the senior pets around our community.
