Rescue Journal

so this is how a 12 yr old owner surrendered cat gets into saints today.

Carol · Aug. 15, 2009

i got a call on a cat a couple of weeks ago,,,the kids are grown and gone, the parents now want to travel and they didn't expect the cat to live so long. i offered a couple of suggestions but they were not what was wanted and i was at work and just didn't want to deal with it so i said call me in a week and i will think about it...i think i hoped the cat would just go away.

a week later the phone rang again just i was pulling into my underground parking...the cat still needed to come, i was in a hurry so i said no, too many cats being killed in the shelters. she said she understood but could i help guide her thru how to euthanize. i said i couldn't, she said, oh, i know you don't do it but can you tell me how to go about it?

i tell you my heart was in turmoil..i had this panic inside and just said, no i am sorry, i really can't.

i hung up the phone, parked my car and took the elevator up to my office. as soon as i got to my desk, i phoned her back and said i changed my mind, i would take the cat and to bring him to the sanctuary on saturday.

saints welcomes bobbi, a cat i should have stuck by my no to...i hope he does ok here, and i hope i can do right by him, and i hope this wasn't the wrong decision...i hope for many things, but mostly, just that he can be happy.

welcome bobbi...you are in because i was having a weak moment....i have a lot of those.

Comments

Carolyn

Amy, well put, so true!! Very sad, people that is!

Amy

What gets me, in addition to the parents not caring, they have obviously raised kids to follow their lead. Not one of the them stepped up to the plate to take their "beloved" family pet? How very sad for this cat. How very sad for those of us who take in the cast-offs, that these are the "family values" so often taught.

Carol

here is the thing tho...i have gotten in a fair amount of family pets over the years in the same boat. i think it happens for a couple of reasons...the first is the parents really are not "into" pets, they let the kids get them because they think that they should. then secondly...the kids grow up and leave home...the pet is still there and parked right between them and their final freedom after many long years of 24 hours a day being responsible, tied down and raising a family.
i think that urge to be finally free is sometimes so overpowering that the pet really does have to go.
i can see why it happens, i just wish it didn't. pets deserve to be so much more than just another ball and chain.

Barbara DeMott

I don't get it they euthanize the cat to travel ? There is no such thing as a petsitter?- maybe they should have euthanized the kids so they could have gone traveling sooner??

lynne

dont these people get it. i guess not. so you want to travel and your animal is an imposition, you just get rid of it. oh yes call carol and if she says no you can just guilt her into it. and you do guilt very well carol. i was wondering if you could take the goslings to the reiffel waterfowl range in aldergrove, i have been there before and they have a huge sanctuary. i could call if you like and also take them there if they can go.let me know.