Adopt a Senior Kitty During Adopt-a-Senior Pet Month
Our pets’ lives are shorter than ours, and once their age is in the double digits the fear of their seemingly imminent loss can often outweigh the joy of their potential unconditional love. But we never have a guarantee at how long a pet will live even if we adopt it at just a few months old. We are able to give our pets assistance and support as they age so our sweet seniors can surprise us with their intelligence, sensitivity and longevity and live happily and in good health far more years than we expected. A pet whose age in the double digits may still have a decade left to share with you.
It’s not unusual that a senior pet is relinquished by a senior human either from the person’s illness or infirmity or even death. Losing their longtime person and home, often the only one they’ve ever known, can be a trauma in itself, but older pets can weather this with surprising patience and grace. Still, senior pets often languish in shelters, even longer than other adults, and in some shelters are not given a chance at adoption at all.
November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month, brought to you by Petfinder.com. Senior pets deserve homes just as much as younger pets, and I am here to tell you that adopting a senior pet is one of the best things you’ll ever do. A senior or even geriatric pet remembers a lifetime of having a home or homes and while sitting in a shelter waiting to be adopted knows what they are missing in those final years. Our pets deserve to live as long as their natural lifespan allows. If any pet needs the loving support of a human, it’s a senior pet.
I think of all the cats who spent their lives with me into their late teens and early twenties—Stanley, Moses, Sophie, Peaches, Cookie, Kelly, and even my fosters Lakota and Emeraude—and I think of them being homelss at that age and I know those older pets looking for homes right now are no different from the cats I loved. For all the kittens and playful juveniles and lovely adult cats whose photos I see every day looking for homes, it’s those seniors I’m the most moved to rescue and I wish I could do more. Aside from taking them all in, the best thing I can do is take what I can and encourage others.
When we consider adopting a pet we usually think about what we expect from that pet, and that’s a good thing to go into this important relationship with a clear idea of what we expect. Often our ideal pet is one who is full of unconditional love and loyal to us, likes to cuddle and spend time with us, a pet we can spoil a little and they’ll really appreciate it. Often younger pets have another agenda and take years to settle down to where we feel they are truly a companion, so no pet fits this description better than a senior who is ready to just have a nice life for whatever time is left.
Peaches and her sister Cream came to me at 15. We enjoyed life with Creamy for ten months and I’m glad she had the time to adjust to having lost her human before passing. Peaches lived five years that were as complete and fulfilling as if she’d lived with me all of her 20 years—my portfolio of art and photos would be incomplete without her petite dilute calico sweetness, and I simply couldn’t imagine my household of felines without her.
Emeraude and Lakota came to me at age 19 and 20. While Lakota’s time was only measured in weeks, they were six great weeks wherein he had the chance to totally charm and conquer one more human in his lifetime. Emeraude was with us for only months but it was enough time for her to relax and really join our household, enjoy the company of other cats and know that she was special to me. They had the chance to live out their lives to their natural end.
The age considered “senior” for a cat was, and still is in some cases, only seven years old. More recently, though, other authorities and perhaps even your own veterinarian, differ in opinion, especially for cats, varying from eight to twelve years of age. But when you consider adopting, consider welcoming a senior cat into your home.
Can’t adopt? Foster! Can’t foster? Donate or volunteer.
There are so many ways you can help cats who need homes and care. You may not have room to adopt another cat, but can foster a cat or kitten for a few weeks. If not that, you can volunteer at a shelter or with a rescue, or donate. You do this because you love your cat, and by doing so you help all cats. No matter which of these actions you take, you help to save a life, and make life better for all cats.
- Adopt one of the cats I’ve posted here, or from any shelter or rescue near you, or from Petfinder, to open up a space for another cat to be rescued and fostered.
- Offer to foster cats or kittens for a shelter or rescue near you.
- Volunteer at a shelter or rescue.
- Find a group of volunteers who work with homeless cats and help them with their efforts.
- Donate to a shelter or rescue near you.
If you can foster kittens or adults cats to help prepare them for a forever home, please run to your nearest shelter and find a cat who needs you! Anyone can help with this effort at any level, even if all you do is donate to a shelter or rescue so they can help to pay for the food or medications needed for their foster, or the spay/neuter/veterinary care during a clinic.
Need to know more? Read Fostering for Your Shelter and Fostering Saves Lives
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item. Subscribe to The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter. © 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski Weekly schedule of features: Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters Tuesday: Rescue Stories Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork Thursday: New Merchandise Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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